Twitchers out of the Rye in the Superbowl
birdrecords
Posted by New Hampshire Bird Records because I am having trouble with my NHBirds email.
Becky Suomala
The Twitchers out of the Rye had a great day yesterday and did pretty well considering the year. There were four of us, Becky Suomala (captain), Susan Wrisley (driver), Jenna Rosen (navigator), and Kathryn Frieden (chronicler). We were entirely in the town of Hampton, NH and were hoping that some of the birds we scouted would still be there. This is the fifth year the Twitchers have done Hampton and the 15th year I have participated in the Superbowl (not including the year I counted in Antarctica as a fund raiser in 2023).
The highlight was definitely the American Bittern which Susan Wrisley spotted while we were out scouting on Thursday. It took us four tries to find it yesterday, and a push from the Broadwing Hawks whose report made us look extra hard for the bird. It was tucked back along a bank, invisible from nearly all sides, including the street. Our second five-pointer was American Pipit, but the Broadwings scooped us on that also when we made a strategic error and waited for the sun to appear at dawn.
We had Barred and Great Horned Owl, Razorbill and Black Guillemot, all three “expected” shorebird species (never a sure thing), Lapland Longspur with the Horned Larks, and Snow Buntings at Hampton Beach State Park (absent when we scouted), all the winter seabirds expected from shore, Winter Wren (only seen once before by the Twitchers in Rye), and all the one-point birds on the official Superbowl checklist except Mute Swan (and nearly all the 2-pointers).
Total species: 65 (one short of our Hampton record of 66)
Total points: 109 (Hampton high 119)
We’ll find out later tonight if we won the Townie Award. Last year a team from Massachusetts won it.
Biggest disappointments:
The Peregrine Falcon that flew up to its perch on the Hampton water tower at 5:03 pm – just after the end of the competition.
Missing the 5-point Chipping Sparrow in Hampton despite four visits (although I don’t know of any team that found it).
Misses:
Wood Duck – scouted bird present on January 23 (I don’t think anyone else found it.)
Cooper’s Hawk
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker (scouted)
Brown Creeper
Red-winged Blackbird (scouted)
Fish Crow and Merlin – seen by the Broadwings at the Hampton Cemetery which we visited 4 times
As usual, we were raising money for New Hampshire Bird Records and NH Audubon:
https://nhaudubon.org/make-a-donation-to-twitchers/
Thanks to those who already made a donation or sent a fun pledge (e.g. a bonus for each alcid species, bonus per 5-point species, bonus for new-to-the-Twitcher birds).
Kathryn’s much-anticipated and enjoyed full summary of the day’s adventures will come out as soon as possible.
Becky Suomala
for The Twitchers out of the Rye