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The ‘Birding University - Harris Center Kestrels’ (Katrina Fenton, Steven Lamonde, Nate Marchessault, Will Stollsteimer, and myself) participated in the Superbowl of Birding on Saturday, with sponsorship from Birding University and The Harris Center for Conservation Education. Chad Witko was unable to join us in the field this year, but he provided key support leading up to the event. Each teammate contributed to what amounted to an excellent day of birding. We were particularly pleased with our total, as none of us had been able to scout this year. The Kestrels tallied 77 species and 159 points this year (down from our record high 88 species and 198 points in 2024, when we did scout and access was a bit easier). Amazingly, we bested the 4th and Longspurs species total by one, but fell a single point short of their tally. Still, our species total led us to claim the David Larson Award for the entire event, as the team with the most species.
For the fourth straight year, the Harris Center has used the Superbowl to fundraise for our raptor conservation projects, raising several thousand dollars to grow our American Kestrel Conservation Project (we now have 50 nest boxes installed across 20 Monadnock Region towns) and track the movements of migratory Broad-winged Hawks between their breeding range in NH and wintering grounds as far as Bolivia. This year, we’re raising funds to expand research on rodenticide levels in our American Kestrel population, tracking their movements through the use of transmitters, and investing in new monitoring technologies to bring our work closer to people. We’re more than halfway to our goal, and you can help us reach it! Support Kestrel Conservation | Harris Center for Conservation Education
Our team of five assembled the evening prior to the event to devise a plan, utilizing eBird reports (including many sightings contributed by Steve and Jane Mirick, our friends and perennial ‘competitors’) and a sophisticated planning template with detailed spreadsheets and maps. This strategy, combined with our game day decisions, knowledge of the area, and highly attuned eyed and ears, led us to success – and a really fun day in the field!
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Below is our species list as well as a list of the misses:
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Canada Goose
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American Wigeon – 1 male at North Hampton State Beach
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Mallard
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American Black Duck
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Northern Pintail – 2 females at Gilman Park
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Greater Scaup
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Common Eider
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Surf Scoter
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White-winged Scoter
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Black Scoter
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Long-tailed Duck
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Bufflehead
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Common Goldeneye
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Hooded Merganser – Route 1 tidal creek
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Red-breasted Merganser
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Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
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Mourning Dove
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Sanderling
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Purple Sandpiper
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Black Guillemot – 4 from two different locations on the north coast
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Ring-billed Gull
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American Herring Gull
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Great Black-backed Gull
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Iceland Gull – 1 at Bicentennial Park
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Horned Grebe
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Red-necked Grebe
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Red-throated Loon
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Common Loon
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Great Cormorant
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Black Vulture – 3 at the roost in Hampton
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Turkey Vulture
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Cooper's Hawk
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Northern Harrier
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Bald Eagle
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Red-shouldered Hawk – 1 stunning adult terrorizing Horned Larks in Rye Harbor
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Red-tailed Hawk
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Rough-legged Hawk – 1 dark morph bird spotted perching off Landing Road in Hampton late in the day
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Eastern Screech-Owl – 1 calling at Chapman’s Landing at dawn
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Barred Owl – 1 calling at Osprey Cove
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Red-bellied Woodpecker
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Downy Woodpecker
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Hairy Woodpecker
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Pileated Woodpecker
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Northern Flicker
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Merlin – Hampton Marsh
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Peregrine Falcon – 1 late day find by Will at Hampton Harbor
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Blue Jay
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American Crow
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Common Raven
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Black-capped Chickadee
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Tufted Titmouse
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Horned Lark
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Golden-crowned Kinglet
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White-breasted Nuthatch
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Brown Creeper – Hampton Falls
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Carolina Wren
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European Starling
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Northern Mockingbird
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Eastern Bluebird
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American Robin
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Cedar Waxwing
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House Sparrow
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Evening Grosbeak – 2 along Autumn Lane, previously reported (and our first of two early 5-point birds)
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House Finch
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American Goldfinch
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American Tree Sparrow
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Fox Sparrow – Hampton Falls feeder
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Dark-eyed Junco
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White-throated Sparrow
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Savannah Sparrow
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Song Sparrow
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Eastern Towhee – Hampton Falls; previously reported bird
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Rusty Blackbird – Kimball Road; previously reported bird
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Pine Warbler – Exeter feeder (thanks, Karen!)
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Yellow-rumped Warbler – 1 picked out by Nate at Jenness/Sawyers Beach
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Northern Cardinal
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Painted Bunting – the one and only green bird in Rockingham County!
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Misses:
Common Merganser – didn’t bird Great Bay area during daylight
Wild Turkey
Dunlin – shorebirds flying across Hampton Harbor at lowtide at dusk were almost surely these! But conditions were just too poor to besure
Great Blue Heron
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Great Horned Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – missed at least two reportedbirds
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Winter Wren – wren chittered briefly from marsh at Blake’sLane, but couldn’t rule out Carolina
Hermit Thrush – we didn’t scout any or chase known birds
American Pipit – scanned a lot of tidal wrack, but came up empty
Purple Finch – only a couple of us heard one calling
Snow Bunting
Chipping Sparrow – one picked out at a feeder by Will, butit disappeared and aggravatingly never resurfaced!
Baltimore Oriole – we won’t even talk about how many ofthese we missed
Phil Brown
Captain, Birding University - Harris Center Kestrels
