Star Island – Sunday May 20, 2012
Depart dock 8am, return to dock 2pm. $50pp. Email me at eric.masterson@myfairpoint.net
My first post in months – I have been getting my life back on track after finishing my first book “Birding in New Hampshire” due on the bookshelves next spring.
But for now, lets focus on this spring. This Sunday, May 20nd I will be leading a trip to Star Island in search of migrant birds. I have been leading this trip for at least five years, but this is the only trip I will be leading to the island this spring. It has been a relatively poor few weeks for passerine migration in New Hampshire. The wind direction has been wrong for much of the past few weeks, and when the direction has been good, the wind has often been weak, which combined with precipitation to our south has largely suppressed migration. This has had the effect of slowing down movement. Thankfully we are due to get a respite toward the end of this week, at least temporarily.
Spring is all about the warblers, and since I have been leading these trips, 22 species of warblers have been recorded. May 2011 we had 19 warbler species, including 150 northern parula alone. The famous apple tree in front of the hotel held about 30 to 40 birds while we sat eating lunch only feet away (mainly parula and black and white, but also black-throated green, black-throated blue, and yellow-rumped warbler).
Please contact me at eric.masterson@myfairpoint.net to sign up – $50pp, with $5 per vehicle parking fee at Rye Harbor Marina (located off Route 1A). Directions to the marina are on www.uncleoscar.com, but in reality if you head north on Route 1A you cannot miss it). Anyone who would like to accompany me birding New Hampshire’s coast after returning from the island is welcome.
Dress with warm clothing. The island has shelter, bathrooms, but no food or water, so bring your lunch. The crossing is 45 minutes from Rye Harbor located off Route 1A.
A full list (and a few photographs) of possibilities (all birds seen on Star Island in spring since 2008).
Northern Parula (Star Island May 2012)
Black and White Warbler (Star Island, May 2012)
Dickcissel (Star Island)
Scarlet Tanager (Star Island)
Star Island Spring Trip List 2008-2012
- Canada Goose
- American Black Duck
- Mallard
- Common Eider
- White-winged Scoter
- Long-tailed Duck
- Red-throated loon
- Common Loon
- Manx Shearwater
- Northern Gannet
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Great Cormorant
- Great Blue Heron
- Great Egret
- Snowy Egret
- Green Heron
- Tree Swallow
- Green Heron
- Black-crowned Night-Heron
- Osprey
- Northern Harrier
- Merlin
- Peregrine Falcon
- Black-bellied Plover
- Semi-palmated Plover
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Greater Yellowlegs
- Willet
- Lesser Yellowlegs
- Ruddy Turnstone
- Semi-palmated Sandpiper
- Least Sandpiper
- Purple Sandpiper
- Dunlin
- Black-headed Gull
- Bonaparte’s Gull
- Laughing Gull
- Ring-billed Gull
- Herring Gull
- IcelandGull
- Glaucous Gull
- Great Black-backed Gull
- Least Tern
- Roseate Tern
- Common Tern
- Arctic Tern
- Razorbill
- Atlantic Puffin
- Black Guillemot
- Mourning Dove
- Yellow-billed Cuckoo
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird
- Northern Flicker
- Eastern Wood-Pewee
- Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
- Alder Flycatcher
- Willow Flycatcher
- Least Flycatcher
- Eastern Phoebe
- Eastern Kingbird
- PhiladelphiaVireo
- Red-eyed Vireo
- Blue Jay
- Tree Swallow
- Barn Swallow
- Red-breasted Nuthatch
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Veery
- Swainson’s Thrush
- Hermit Thrush
- American Robin
- Gray Catbird
- Northern Mockingbird
- Brown Thrasher
- European Starling
- Cedar Waxwing
- Nashville Warbler
- Northern Parula
- Yellow Warbler
- Chestnut-sided Warbler
- Magnolia Warbler
- Cape May Warbler
- Black-throated Blue Warbler
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Black-throated Green Warbler
- Blackburnian Warbler
- Prairie Warbler
- Palm Warbler
- Bay-breasted Warbler
- Blackpoll Warbler
- Black and White Warbler
- American Redstart
- Ovenbird
- Northern Waterthrush
- Mourning Warbler
- Common Yellowthroat
- Wilson’s Warbler
- Canada Warbler
- Chipping Sparrow
- Field Sparrow
- Savannah Sparrow
- Grasshopper Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Lincoln’s Sparrow
- Swamp Sparrow
- White-throated Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Northern Cardinal
- Rose-breasted Grosbeak
- Indigo Bunting
- Bobolink
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Common Grackle
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Orchard Oriole
- Baltimore Oriole
- House Finch
- American Goldfinch
No comments yet.