Date: 5/17/26 11:23 am From: 'Kurk Dorsey' via NHBirds <nhbirds...> Subject: [NHBirds] Durham and Newmarket this weekend
Birders
I had a fun time poking around Durham yesterday in an effort to hit 100 species for the day, then added a few nice birds in Newmarket and Durham this morning.
The dogs and I walked the Woodridge neighborhood yesterday, and we were rewarded with 51 species, highlighted by a pair of loons gaining altitude as they headed north. Canada was the most unusual warbler, but I counted 11 Parulas (well, 5 Puh-rulas and 6 Pair-uhlas). I noted the dearth of turkeys, flickers, and white-throats but figured that they'd be elsewhere (Narrator: "they were not").
After a stop at home to feed one dog twice (their decision, not mine), I headed out to West Foss Farm. I ran into Ted Bradshaw who pointed out the Virginia Rail that was ducking in and out of cover on the trail in the increasingly wet field. I was lucky to get a great look as a Black-billed Cuckoo clocked in, and totaled 15 species of warblers. Also finally had a pewee, and heard an orchard oriole and green heron in the swampy area near the RR tracks. I would also add that Phoebes are doing fine here in Durham (SNAPHU, situation normal, all phoebed up).
I ran to the grocery store to acquire the breakfast of birding champions, chocolate milk and a donut, and noticed that downtown was very quiet for a UNH commencement Saturday. I headed toward Spinney Lane but hit gridlock just past the hockey arena, so I pulled an entirely legal U-turn (at least according to the one officer out of three watching who decided not to chase me). I stopped instead at Oyster River Forest, where the highlight was seeing Sam Stoddard and Mark Hatfield. After that, nothing really compares, but Cooper's hawk, Indigo Bunting, and Traill's Flycatcher were decent finds. Still, it was kind of quiet by comparison for mid-May.
I made a quick stop at Thompson Forest for the usual scrub birds (no luck finding warbler #20), and then headed home because I needed to get ready for graduation. I am pleased to report that all present were allowed to move their tassels in the appropriate direction, but there were no birds in the hockey rink (not even an osprey to catch the fish thrown on the ice).
I was at 84 species for Durham and felt good about hitting 100 for the day, so I headed to Moore Fields to pick up Bobolink, Meadowlark, Killdeer, Solitary Sandpiper, and Kestrel in quick order ( I ended up with 4 solitaries for the day), then to the town landing and on to the end of Durham at the US 4 bridge, where I had the highlight of the day, 5 Common Eider looking quite pillowy. There were also a surprising number of people sitting in their idling cars (at $4.59/gallon?), probably waiting for the eiders to come closer.
Anyhow, I sat down to dinner (the only turkey for the day—not sure if I can count that), at 98 species, so I was determined to pick up some obvious things, like a mockingbird. How hard can it be to find a mockingbird? And why was I driving around the various edges of campus looking for one for really no good reason? Yes, you should mock me for that, because it turns out that they all go to sleep at 7:30. I finally picked up Woodcock about 8:30 in the gloom, then left the windows open and watched hockey on mute for the eventual Barred Owl at 10 PM to put me at 100 for the days, and zero ticks.
This morning I stopped at Lubberland Creek in Newmarket, where the highlights were multiple occupied heron nests, yellow-billed cuckoo calling, 26 Least SPs and 2 semi-palm plovers at the creek mouth, no saltmarsh sparrows, and almost no migrants. But I got to watch three otters munching on fish up close, had a bobcat sneaking around behind me (I heard the robin alarm calls that got my attention), and then a fox at the marsh on Beech Street.
My last stop was the Bennett Road WMA, where I nearly stepped on a woodcock (not sure who was more surprised), and then had an olive-sided flycatcher calling on the wrong side of the tracks. As I was leaving I found a mylar balloon (3rd one this month!), which I picked up—got my karmic award when a Lincoln's Sparrow popped up just a few feet away (maybe it was his balloon?).
And just as I finished typing this, a flicker landed on my suet!
