Date: 8/25/26 4:56 am From: 'Geoff Niswander' via NHBirds <nhbirds...> Subject: [NHBirds] Re: Just across the bridge, 2 rare ones
Apparently the Crested caracara hasn’t been seen since last Thursday, the
20th, so my apologies for that. Or at least no one has posted it on eBird.
But I wouldn’t yet conclude it isn’t still around, as there is enough area
out there that it could easily stay out of sight for a while.
On Tuesday, August 25, 2026 at 7:40:03 AM UTC-4 Geoff Niswander wrote:
> [image: untitled shoot-319.jpeg][image: untitled shoot-205.jpeg][image:
> untitled shoot-272.jpeg]Greetings to all:
> Extending beyond the NH/ME border just a little bit, there has been a
> Crested caracara being seen pretty regularly in the Kittery-Eliot area of
> Maine. It’s been located mostly around a working dairy farm just a 2 or 3
> minute drive away from the Kittery Trading Post, actually up the road the
> KTP sits along that intersects with Rte. 1. which is called Wilson Rd. Look
> for a little parking lot on the right, at a cornfield, with a Purple Heart
> sign. The bird has been seen out in that field quite a bit. I’ve been
> looking for this bird, but have not managed to see it. However I do have a
> couple of instances where I’ve been out looking for it, seen nothing, then
> moved on to bird #2 here, only to have the Crested caracara show itself a
> short time later 😀, Murphy’s law of birding nicely at work!
>
> Secondly, hanging out along the Piscataqua in the area of the Shipyard,
> and the Kittery side across from the Shipyard, there has been a Great white
> heron being seen regularly. It’s likely an immature heron, a bird on my
> personal bucket list for decades! So it was a thrill to see and photograph
> it. Very generally, in the area of the Kittery town boat launch, it has
> been moving/feeding. As a few of us watched and took photos, our hearts
> went to our throats when it picked up a broken-off fishing lure and fishing
> line several times, looking it over, apparently deciding wether or not to
> swallow it. But in the end, its intelligence paid off, and it did not
> thankfully. We raised our voices at it, while it was doing this, but
> otherwise we were powerless to prevent such a tragedy. There was no way
> even, to get to the water.
>
