Morning Sounds and Sights

Every Friday this summer, June 24 until September 2 at 8:00 - 9:30 a.m. we will meet at the Curious George Cottage for the Valley Bird Walks. Although most of the migratory species have yet to arrive, the staff has decided to do some early scouting.

Yellow bellied sapsucker nest entrance hold in tree - above

We gathered this beautiful Earth Day morning and strolled around the walkways of Waterville Valley trekking across fields, sidewalks and trails. Time really flies (no pun intended - well, maybe a little) when you are stopping for birds around every corner. We started out with the regulars, European starling and crow and we checked each group chickadees for any other species that might be tagging along.

We certainly had some highlights this morning like the brown creeper, kingfisher at Corcoran's Pond and some very nice looks at the golden-crowned kinglet. We even spotted moose and bear tracks! Although we are still waiting for our first warblers and swallows in Waterville Valley. Here is our complete species list:

American robin
Red-winged blackbird
European starling
Crow
Black-capped chickadee
Eastern phoebe
Brown creeper
Song sparrow
Golden-crowned kinglet
Northern flicker

Dark-eyed junco

Kingfisher


Eastern phoebe - above

Total species count: 12

Happy Earth Day and happy birding!

Teaching Science

A group of Plymouth State University undergraduates joined me in the field yesterday for a training session on monitoring vegetation phenology. Jessica Brennan, Amanda Hook, and Jax Huckins are our field research interns this spring season. They will be helping out Jim VanGyzen, the Rey Center research assistant, each week by collecting data on the rate of leaf and flower development of trees and herbaceous plants. Jax will work with Jim on Mount Tecumseh while Amanda and Jess will work with him on Mount Starr King in Jefferson, NH. We enjoyed a brisk afternoon in the woods yesterday where there is still plenty of snow pack. We appreciate the willingness of these students to spend a day each week in challenging spring trail conditions to help us keep this ongoing monitoring research moving forward.

(Jess, Amanda, Jax)

Posted by: Kim Votta, Research Coordinator