seeking little birds finding big ones!

[Pam Weeks]

Good morning,

I'm new to "serious" birding but still hope to contribute to this competition this fall. Two birds I think I saw missing from the Rockingham list are two that I would be confident to identify--Winter Wrens and Red Breasted Nuthatches. 

The nature trails that we frequent here in Auburn have been fun learning grounds, and the trail that skirts a large beaver pond has produced Winter Wrens 5-6 times for me. I ID'd my first about 6 years ago and delighted in watching and listening to a pair hunting along the edge of the pond.

When we had that spike in the Red Breasted Nuthatch population 3 years ago, we had a few frequent our feeders, so with these little birds, I'm pretty sure about what I'm looking at.

I set out this morning to look for these guys, and was about to cross the street into Manchester Water Works land for some prime nuthatch territory when I heard turkeys calling, so I walked up RTE 121 toward Auburn Center and to my surprise saw a turkey hen sitting in a tree above the road, with her buddies calling to her from the woods. I kept walking, and on my return trip heard cars honking, and caught up just in time to find the 10+ member flock headed deeper into the woods.

So much for the little guys.

Pam Weeks 

Auburn, NH

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www.portablepatchwork.com