Greetings all,

I had a chance to visit my old stomping grounds around Mascoma Lake this
morning, when I led a field trip as part of NH Audubon's Annual Meeting.
While the official trip didn't start until 9, I did some "scouting" and
started at 7:30. We had 11 people for the official trip, and the whole
morning yielded a quite respectable 49 species. Highlights as follows:

Four species of waterfowl on "Main Street Pond" in Enfield, including 11
Wood Ducks, 7 Mallards, 4 BLUE-WINGED TEAL, and 3 Hooded Mergansers. The
teal are in all caps because despite living in Enfield for 11 years, and
walking around Main Street Pond well over 600 times, I'd never seen a BW
Teal there before this morning!

A fairly close Common Loon near the Mascoma Lake Dam

An adult Bald Eagle caught a fish near the shore of the lake near the end of
the trip, and we got to watch it eat through the scope as it sat on a deck
across the mouth of the Mascoma River.

Noteworthy migrants included a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, American Pipit,
multiple Blue-headed Vireos, both species of kinglets, 6 Purple Finches, and
a late Indigo Bunting.

Warblers were few, and mostly Yellow-rumps, with single Palms and
Black-throated Greens and 2 Common Yellowthroats thrown in.

Sparrows, on the other hand, were quite common, with 6 species. Most were
Songs, Chippings, and White-throats, but there were quite a few White Crowns
and Swamps at Main Street pond on my "pre-trip," along with single Savannah
and Lincoln's.

Rounding out the list - and rare bird when I lived here until 2000 - a
Carolina Wren sang a couple of times around 8 a.m. in the residential area
near the Shaker Bridge.

Pam Hunt
Now back in Penacook, NH