New Hampshire Bonaparte’s

After reading that the Seacoast Chapter of New Hampshire Audubon were offering an all day pelagic, we decided to make a long weekend of a visit to a new birding state and see what was on offer. We stopped at the comfortable and well placed Hoyt’s Lodges at Rye and had Sunday to enjoy birding in the area. We spent a full morning at Ordione State Park, an excellent little place right on the coast, tucked between industrial Portsmouth and the seaside town of Hampton Beach. While wandering around Ordione, we came across a small bay containing lots of Bonaparte’s Gulls feeding at the tide edge. I took a few distant shots then edged forwards expecting the birds to drift away at the sight of me, but they didn’t. I managed to get a log to perch on and enjoyed half an hour photographing the phalarope like gulls as they fed a few yards away. The light was very bright and nearly overhead and the gull’s largely white plumage tended to blast out any subtle colours, but the photos are not too bad. As I process the photos I’ll post more of the trip. For the record we saw 89 species of bird which was not bad for a morning’s and part of an afternoon’s birding and a day at sea.

Young Bonaparte’s

Thursday 23rd August I went out to try to see a Marbeld Godwit near Beauharnois, unfortunately the fates conspired against me and the people who wrecked their cars causing the road to close just short of the turn off. Undeterred I dropped in for a look at the outflow below the hydro and was amazed by how many Bonaparte’s Gulls and Common Terns there were. The low water levels have left some rocks exposed and the immature Bonaparte’s Gulls were loafing and preening and fending of the occasional young Common Tern that tried to pitch down.

Below a few shots, note the poor bird with the growths on each knee, not long for this World probably.

Finally a Bonaparte’s Gull

Friday 19-August I finally added Bonaparte’s Gull to my pits list. It might not sound much but I’ve missed about five that I know of and have put in extra effort this year, below a digisnap. Also present were the now traditional late summer Caspian Terns, an adult and juvenile. All three birds sat together on a small patch of mud, mud that I hope will have a few more nice birds before this fall passage is out. Later I took a watch over the Birch woods north of the pits and around 18:20 four Common Nighthawks popped up and did their thing.

Its turning out to be a pretty good year at the pits so far with, hopefully, more to come.