Spirits were high as 23 birders eagerly gathered for the
Mascoma Chapter's first birding event of the nascent spring. Even the snowy ground conditions and near freezing temperature could not
suppress the assembled crowd's eager anticipation over the prospect of
viewing the season's first migrants.
It was a rewarding
morning. The group started at Norwich's Foley Park overlooking the
Connecticut River adjacent to the Ledyard Bridge.
There nine species were seen including a pair of hooded mergansers and a
singing male cardinal.
From there the party car pooled
north to "Pompy Flats where the Ompompanoosuc River flows into the
Connecticut. Most of the flats area was ice covered, but there was
enough open water to accommodate six hooded and three common mergansers.
Nearby,
across US Route 5, Kendall Station Road proved well worth the visit as
the group recorded 27 species. Early arriving common grackles (3) and
red-winged blackbirds (7) were noisily making their presence known. A
sharp-eyed observer saw over on the Connecticut's New Hampshire side, an
adult bald eagle barely visible in a thicket of poplars.
On the
river were observed Canada geese (12), mallards (16) and two hooded
mergansers. Four sparrow species were recorded including four
white-throated, three song, two American tree and ten of the ubiquitous,
at least for this season, dark-eyed junco. The day's most numerous
species by far was the American goldfinch with 44 counted at Kendall
Station.
Complete lists of all the counts can be accessed by using the following links.
Many
thanks to George Clark, Blake Allison and Ed Hack for being trip
co-leaders, and extra tip of the hat to Blake for keeping the count
lists.
Our next spring, Mascoma Chapter birding event
will take place on Saturday, April 21. We'll travel up the Connecticut's New Hampshire
side from Hanover's Wilson's Landing to Grant Brook in
Lyme.
--
Mascoma Chapter of NH Audubon