ux/ui design | creative design
As my 5MR saga slowly transitions from ice-season to mud-season, birds are beginning to arrive. That doesn’t mean I’ve gotten most of them, but some great surprises along the way have kept me at ease. In fact, the April challenge has allowed me to pick up some great new birds in the backyard and adjacent woods.
My focus for the month was on the April challenge (yard birds) and exploring places on my condo property, which resulted in the discovery of some seriously great habitat right under my nose. The challenge coincided nicely with some early spring migrants including 4 species of Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Winter Wrens, Tree Swallows, Green Herons (first in NH and 5MR for the year) – but the highlight of the “yard list” had to be the AMERICAN BITTERN that I happen to see fly around the wetlands while grilling burgers! Headed to the awesome new beaver pond I found behind my condo…
I’ve been checking it out a few times a week and its been an awesome little spot.
Other highlights from around the Plaistow 5MR include one of my favorite warblers to our area, the Louisiana Waterthrush. A species that I’ve still never seen in Salem, but nearly all the other towns surrounding it. I’m lucky to have a lot of nice hemlock forests in my 5MR, and this bird was at the same spot we had some last year.
South of the border in Mass along the Merrimack River I FINALLY found a Glaucous Gull! The gull flock at the Rock’s Village Bridge has been steadily losing steam, but 250-500 gulls are still gathering along the flow and nearby Kimball Farm. I still need Lesser Black-backed Gull and Bonaparte’s Gull to make appearances.
I was also able to to some cleanup of species that I’ve been missing along the way including Red-breasted Nuthatch, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Belted Kingfisher, Chipping Sparrow. Of course more easy birds have eluded me on their migration north so far, so the ‘should have’ list keeps piling up.
At the end of the month it was a total of 99 species within my 5-mile radius.
Contact me at kyle.wilmarth[at]gmail.com