There was a beautiful rainbow at the end of the day.
The Ruby-throated Hummingbird, male, entertained us. He came regularly to the feeder. Here he is sitting on the perch we attached above the feeder, zipping in and out his tongue. Did you know rubythroats have long tongues and they lick up (not suck) the nectar at up to 13 licks per second.
Part of our team; Don in middle, Henry beyond with scope, Carl in chair, and Corgis, Abby (sitting) and Phoebe (typically, lying down).
The Gray Catbird loves the oranges in the Stokes Select Snacks'N'Treats feeder.
A Northern Mockingbird showed up at 7 pm, fed on suet, and left. We very rarely see mockingbirds here, nice of it to show up and be counted!
We participated in the NH Audubon's Birdathon fundraiser over the weekend. We did the Big Sit category where you stay in a 17 foot diameter circle all day and count all the birds you see or hear from the circle. There are other categories of participation as well, such as surveying the whole state. The circle was on our deck. People pledge a certain amount of money per species of bird you locate and the funds are donated to a cause, in this case, NH Audubon. So a fun birding time for a worthy cause.
We lucked out because, unlike all the completely rainy days we have had forever (so it seems), there was some clearing in the middle of the day and a few hawks rose up on thermals.
We had a few friends drop by to help with the count, and were even rewarded with a rainbow at the end of the day. We saw 72 species, not bad for an inland location in one spot:
Wood Duck
American Black Duck
Hooded Merganser
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Merlin
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Blue-headed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Eastern Bluebird
Veery
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Pine Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
Purple Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
1 comment:
You have a wonderful setting for birdwatching. I'm wondering how you manage to keep birdfeeders up once the bears come out of hibernation. We can't even put out a nectar feeder for the hummingbirds or there's a good chance a bear will rip it down.
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