Connie Snyder and I were out walking at the Town of Thetford's Post Mills Nature Area as part of our annual walk of the land (it is conserved by the Upper Valley Land Trust). The open fields and hedgerows are teeming with bird life. However, it was hard for us to make definitive ID's on most, as they were just to fast to fly off as we approached. We did see numerous house wrens and sparrows and a couple of flycatchers. The highlight came as we were leaving. There is an old sand pit near the back of the capped landfill, and we wanted to see if there were any interesting plants growing there. Disturbed areas like this often have very interesting plants! That is when we noticed two kestrels perched at the end of dead branches in a pine tree at the edge of the field. We were able to take long looks at them through the binoculars, which was a welcome change from the speedsters in the field! They are such striking birds! Eventually they flew off together, perhaps sick of sharing the tree with the pair of bluejays who arrived.

Jason Berard

Stewardship Director

Upper Valley Land Trust

603-643-6626

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