Another windy cold trip to the ocean Sat 1/18 but no rain [light] until we were headed home as we birded from the northern end of the NH coast down to Salisbury - like always fortunately, we had many special birds along with the scenic coastline making the trip with many highlights to enjoy.Starting point was new to most all was Fort Stark located on New Castle Island - a location giving you excellent views of Portsmouth Harbor, Little Harbor and the open ocean - as soon as we open the doors of the vans, a Sharp-shinned Hawk whipped low overhead, a Red-tailed Hawk flew over - later a Cooper's Hawk was spotted - the waters on either side of this Fort had all 3 scoters, Buffleheads, C Goldeneyes, Long-tailed Ducks, 1 Harlequin Duck, many C Eiders, Red-b Mergansers, several C Loons - no shortage of birds to sort through along with a few passerines around the Fort area.Just south of Fort Stark is Odiorne Point SP where we birded along the trail on the south end scanning the ocean - the highlight were 6 Red-necked Grebes close to shore along with many of the same species as the Fort, a few distant Great Cormorants & N Gannets off over the ocean and among the coastal rocks was a male Common Merganser [probably scared out of the marshes due to the hunters] - missed was the Black Guillemot I spotted their Mon. when scouting.As we worked our way south stopping at various scenic views of the ocean, we enjoyed many sea ducks, C Loons, all the common gulls, Black Ducks & Mallards - included was a Razorbill and a Bald Eagle.=C2=A0Always a highlight from a birding standpoint is Rye Harbor SP [Ragged Neck] - this park juts out into the ocean so that you can scan the Harbor and Foss Beach - wonderful location for viewing Horned Grebes, C Loons, close viewing of Long-tailed Ducks, etc -a special treat we had was a flock on Snow Bunting, in full sunlight, lit on the rocks along the grassy lawn, just yards from us - just stunning looks for all !We stopped at Eel Pond to check for the Lesser Blk-backed Gull among all the gulls on the ice - no luck but had a Greater Scaup in a same patch of open water.While down at Hampton Beach SP checked out the Snow Buntings and 2 N Horned Larks, we were told by a birder that a Dovekie was spotted close to shore in the rolling waves by Little Boar's Head - given flexibility, we returned to the location and there was a Dovekie that a few saw - a totally unexpected find.We ended up at Salisbury Beach SP where we were greeted by 3 N Harriers feeding over the marsh plus 1 Short-eared Owl fluttering over the grass before dropping down. No other owls but did have tons of C Eiders, scoters, etc plus our 1st Red-thr Loon at the entrance to the harbor on the incoming tide.For the trip, we ended up with 50 species as we worked the coastline from north to south on the windy cold day but sunny for the most part - like always, thanks to a hardy group of participants, Dan Fournier and Leslie Bostrom for all their great spotting skills. Next trip for Leslie, Lindsay & I will be South Texas from 2/6th - 11th searching for all the South Texas specialty species along with all the volumes of winter migrants - all the participants will be their first time birding this area, thus these folks will be blown away by the Green Jays, Altamira Orioles, Wht-tailed and Harris's Hawks, Whooping Cranes, Long-billed Curlews, etc, etc
