Hi all,

My name is Adam Burnett, and I’m a birder and a freshman at Dartmouth College. I grew up in Westmoreland, New Hampshire, probably just outside of the “Upper Valley” proper, and I have been birding thoroughly for about the past four years. I have had a nice fall migration here in Hanover, with today’s sightings bringing me to a total of 87 species since September 9. The trails along Mink Brook have been especially good for birding, and I have made an effort to cover them regularly.

Despite the rain today, I walked the trails, and I came up with several nice sightings. One was of a late Magnolia Warbler, an apparent adult male, in the company of Yellow-rumped Warblers and chickadees. This is the second late warbler I have had here recently, as I also found an adult male Black-throated Blue Warbler here back on October 17. On today’s walk I also ran into a big flock of juncos, at least 90 by my estimate, perhaps twice that many. With them were 50+ White-throated Sparrows, and handfuls of Song and Chipping Sparrows, but nothing rarer. A flock of sixteen Pine Siskins and an ‘Eastern’ Palm Warbler were two other highlights here.

In hopes of finding waterbirds, I also have been routinely checking the Connecticut River from Ledyard Bridge. Today was my best showing here yet. After seeing them earlier from farther downriver, I was able to get good views of three drake Common Goldeneye in the river below the bridge. As I arrived at the bridge, a flock of eleven Ring-billed Gulls also arrived and touched down in the river. Just below the bridge there is a large setback (labeled by Google Maps as “Bloody Brook”) on the west side of the river, and this often hosts some waterfowl, too. Along with mallards and Common and Hooded Mergansers, today there was a Red-breasted Merganser in there too, keeping loose company with the Commons. Alas, not visible from the New Hampshire side, but a nice surprise bird nonetheless.


Adam Burnett
Dartmouth College
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