post-Thanksgiving Coast run

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Pam Hunt

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Nov 26, 2021, 8:08:24 PM11/26/21

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Since I didn’t have the time for a long day on the coast yesterday, I took a chance on the rain and headed down there this morning to see what I could find.

I started in Durham, where I added Snow Bunting and Long-tailed Duck to my 2021 Strafford list (now 166) and then spent 1.5 hours at Bellamy WMA in a futile attempt for the Bullock’s Oriole. The hybrid Tyrannus didn’t show either.

A short walk around the southern end of Odiorne yielded a close look at a fly-by Black Guillemot, dull Pine Warbler with chickadees and GC Kinglets south of the Seacoast Science Center (no sign of the Orange-crowned found yesterday. There was still one Barn Swallow perched on a wire over the Little River just north of North Hampton State Beach, and later it spent some time foraging low over the wrack – presumably capturing some of the abundant flies. A single Yellow-rump had the same idea. There were also three Red-throated Loons feeding right off the beach – a species I encountered in good numbers at several other coastal stops during the afternoon.

Hampton Beach SP was home to ~50 snow Buntings, but as I was scanning for longspurs a young Peregrine blew through and scattered the lot. When buntings were swirling about, another 30 appeared out of nowhere, and when that group settled there was a longspur with them. Meanwhile, the falcon was perched on a wire towards Route 1A, and on my second trip to the beach I got some excellent photos since the sun had come out (rainbow to follow – it was an odd afternoon). Turns out this bird was banded: a green/black band with what looks like “C8” on it. I await info from Chris Martin on where it was hatched!

Searches of Seabrook harbor and beach came up empty for shorebirds, so I returned to the state park to check the jetty. The bunting flock was back down to the “original” 50, and again lacked a longspur. There was a single Savannah Sparrow at the edge of the camping area, and a small but diverse cluster of shorebirds on the beach: 14 Sanderlings, 2 Dunlin, and a single BB Plover. My last coastal stop was Meadow Pond, where a highlight was 29 GW Teal (down from recent high counts) and a calling Greater Yellowlegs from the far side.

A last minute side trip to Salem in the hopes of a coot (still needed for Rockingham) was unsuccessful, and as I headed north on 93 in the dark it finally started to rain seriously. We’ll see if Concord gets a dusting of snow or not overnight.

Next adventure: Cheshire County on Sunday. Stay tuned!

Pam Hunt

Penacook

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