You may not find your target bird but instead find...Snow Buntings!

We recently went birding to try and find an Iceland Gull that had been seen on Lake Massabesic in NH. We dipped on it (birder talk for missed it) so, on this overcast gray day, we went to other birding spots in NH. We saw many Ring-biled Gulls, such as this Ring-billed Gull, 1st winter at the

Exeter Wastewater Treatment Plant, NH. It looked pretty barren there

but like home to Snow Buntings, birds of the far northern tundra who come down as a winter visitor to lower Canada and the northern half of the US. We found a flock of 38.

They just seemed to disappear into the rocky shore.

Their plumage colors make them camouflaged against the background of rocks and weeds, whose seeds they were eating. How many can you find in this photo?

Next we went to the Concord, NH, Community Gardens on Birch St. The dried weed and flower stalks had ample seeds for visiting sparrows, such as Savannah, Song, Chipping and Tree Sparrows and

this American Goldfinch perched on a sunflower heart!

The two most unusual birds we found there were this late migrating Bobolink

and a Nashville Warbler. (Last two photos are of birds taken in other places, but used to show you what they look like.)

When you go birding you may not always find your target bird, but instead see other cool birds! And that is the fun!
Lillian Stokes

Stokes Garden in Country Gardens Magazine

Our bird garden is featured in the summer issue of Country Gardens magazine, now on newsstands. Get your copy and learn all we share to help you attract birds.

Our 48 acre bird property in southern NH is named Bobolink Farm, here's a view from our deck.

We named our property after the Bobolinks who nest in our hayfields, which we do not cut until late summer so they can complete their breeding.

Everything is landscaped with an eye towards attracting birds. Here are the Prairie Fire crabapples in bloom. Their fruits attract Cedar Waxwings, robins, thrushes, bluebirds, vireos and more.

The article on our garden was produced by well-know garden writer, Tovah Martin and photographed by Rob Cardillo, one of the country's top garden photographers. Editor of Country Gardens, James Baggett also came on the shoot. We had lots of fun working with them all and the article is fabulous. It's titled "A Garden Takes Flight." Here Rob is standing on our deck to get an aerial view of our kitchen garden, and Don and James look on while Tovah is in the garden. There is a lot of work behind-the-scenes, including our getting the garden looking its best for the shoot. It rained for some of the time, but was misty at other times, so Rob was able to take photos.

Our kitchen garden has a hummingbird feeder hanging from the center planter. Pick veggies and enjoy the hummingbirds! We have many more tips for you to attract birds in the article.

We strive for good design and add plantings for the birds. I choose the plant material combinations, Don does much of the heavy work. 

A gazebo to the right has hummingbird feeders hanging from it, so we can enjoy them while sitting and overlooking this perennial border. A blue urn is a focal point.

We have many, many bird feeders, including offering unusual foods, like oranges for the Gray Catbirds.

 We have lots of bird houses and 15 breeding pairs of Tree Swallows, shown here, as well as Eastern Bluebirds. Enjoy the article!