The tern is still present as of 6:25 this morning, although easy to miss. 

Spencer Hardy

Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 1, 2014, at 10:51 PM, Chris Rimmer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> This evening, while watching for nighthawks at Kilowatt South (8 passed by together at 6:55 pm), I was surprised to see what I first thought was a lone nighthawk over Wilder Dam, swooping and swerving as it hawked insects.  The bird moved steadily north towards me, and it soon became clear that I was watching a tern of some kind.  Light was low, and I had no reference for size, but the bird finally flew within ~100 yards, then landed on one of the floating mats of vegetation near the NH shoreline.  At that point I realized it was a an immature Black Tern, the first I have ever seen in the Upper Valley outside of spring migration.  At 7:30 pm it was still roosting on the mat of vegetation, so perhaps it will linger until morning.
> 
> Just before heading to Kilowatt, I stopped at Ledyard Bridge, where I was treated to a concentrated frenzy of passerine feeding in the strip of vegetation (a mix of native and planted trees and shrubs) on both sides of the path that passes from Route 5 under the bridge.  Highlights included 7 Eastern Kingbirds, 2 Red-eyed Vireos, 4-5 Pine Warblers (possibly a family group?), 10+ Yellow-rumped Warblers, 2 Scarlet Tanagers, 2 Baltimore Orioles, and a Purple Finch.  Interestingly, I walked from this spot under the bridge, across the park and onto the railroad tracks down to Montshire, but it was dead quiet everywhere else.  All the activity - and there was a lot of it - was concentrated in that small area, with a few birds also in the row of spruces and pines that borders the south side of park-and-ride lot.
> 
> Chris
> 
> -- 
> Chris Rimmer
> Vermont Center for Ecostudies
> P.O. Box 420
> Norwich, VT 05055
> 802-649-1431 ext. 1
> www.vtecostudies.org
> 
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