This is New Hampshire Audubon's Rare Bird Alert for Thursday, March 22, 2007. If you would like to leave a message about a bird sighting without listening to the recording first, press the pound key now.

Waterfowl are beginning to arrive as ponds, rivers and lakes open up and they highlight the beginning of this report.

A flock of 5 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE was seen along the southern section of the Connecticut River in Hinsdale on the 18th. They were seen on Lake Wantasiquet above the Vernon Dam and one was still present on the 22nd. Other waterfowl reports from Hinsdale on the 18th included 3 NORTHERN PINTAIL, 3 LESSER SCAUP, 2 GREEN-WINGED TEAL, 41 RING-NECKED DUCK, 35 COMMON GOLDENEYE, 30 WOOD DUCK, and good numbers of CANADA GEESE and HOODED MERGANSERS. Many of these ducks were still present on the 19th as well as 2 AMERICAN COOT. There were also several early TREE SWALLOWS and EASTERN PHOEBES along the river in Hinsdale. On River Road in Charleston there were 100 HORNED LARKS, 10 SNOW BUNTINGS and 100 SONG SPARROWS on the 18th, and on River Road in Westmoreland there was an EASTERN MEADOWLARK on the 22nd. 

The "COMMON TEAL" was reported again in East Kingston at the Bodwell Farm fields on Route 108, opposite Sanborn Road on the 16th. Unfortunately the fields froze over with the subsequent storm and no waterfowl were present on the 17th. The Common Teal is the Eurasian race of the GREEN-WINGED TEAL.

Large numbers of GREATER SCAUP are still present on Great Bay and 30 AMERICAN WIGEON were mixed in with them and with CANADA GEESE on the Greenland side on the 17th.

Over 100 RING-NECKED DUCKS continue to be reported at Powwow Pond in E. Kingston along with at least 10 HOODED MERGANSERS. A PIED-BILLED GREBE was reported there on the 17th from the causeway on New Boston Rd. Good numbers of RING-NECKED DUCKS have also been reported at the Exeter wastewater treatment plant, with 73 on the 18th.

A few SNOW GEESE have been reported moving through including 5 in Plymouth on the 19th, and 2 in Nashua on the 19th. There have been quite a few reports of WOOD DUCK and HOODED MERGANSERS from a variety of locations.

A dark morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was reported perched on a roadside snow bank on Route 49 in Waterville Valley on the 19th.

A LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL and a BLACK-HEADED GULL were seen with a large group of about 2,000 gulls at the Rochester wastewater treatment plant on the 22nd along with 5 ICELAND GULLS, 1 GLAUCOUS GULL, 1 AMERICAN COOT, 14 HORNED LARKS, a few RING-NECKED and WOOD DUCKS, and good numbers of BLACKS and MALLARDS. The treatment plant is on Pickering Road in the Gonic section of Rochester. It is only open on weekdays from 7:30-3:00 and visitors must check in at the office. Please be out of the plant by 2:45 so that plant personnel do not have to ask birders to leave. Do not drive on the dikes and do not block the road. The Trails at Pickering Ponds, located east of the plant, are not gated, and are always open during daylight hours.

A LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL was also seen on the 18th at the Newmarket Town Landing where one has been seen most of the winter. An ICELAND GULL was seen the same day in Exeter on the Squamscott River ice at the Phillips-Exeter Academy boathouse.

An ICELAND GULL was also seen in Seabrook Harbor on the 21st. Other highlights from the coast include a BROWN THRASHER, probably overwintering on Harbor Road in Rye on the 18th, a YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER off Hillside Drive in Greenland, a LAPLAND LONGSPUR at the Pease Golf Course parking lot on the 17th and 18th, and another off Island Path in Hampton on the 18th, both with flocks of HORNED LARKS. HORNED LARKS continue to be seen at Hampton Beach State Park with 20 on the 21st along with a single SNOW BUNTING.

A flock of 30 HORNED LARKS was also reported in Concord at the post office field on Loudon Road on the 19th, and there were 7 SNOW BUNTINGS on Route 175 in Holderness on the 19th.

Two OREGON JUNCOS were reported at the AMC-Cardigan Lodge on March 17 feeding with the DARK-EYED JUNCOS. They have not been reported since. 

A NORTHERN SHRIKE was seen at Powdermill Pond in Hancock on the 21st and one continues to be seen on Martin Road in Fremont.

There was something of a deluge of FOX SPARROW reports in the past week, especially right after the snow storm on the 16th. Other spring migrants are also still here despite the subsequent colder weather with a few KILLDEER, EASTERN PHOEBES, and AMERICAN WOODCOCK, and many TURKEY VULTURES, SONG and WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, COMMON GRACKLES and BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS.

This message is also available by phone recording: call 224-9909 and press 2 as directed or ask to be transferred. If you have seen any interesting birds recently, you can leave a message at the end of the tape or send your sightings to the RBA via e-mail at: [log in to unmask] Please put either "bird sighting" or "Rare Bird Alert" in the subject line and be sure to include your mailing address and phone number. The RBA is also available on-line at the New Hampshire Audubon web site, www.nhaudubon.org 

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