Migratory Songbirds and Becoming a Birder
This time last year, I knew only commonly seen birds, such as robins, eagles, corvids (crows, ravens, and bluejays), owls, woodpeckers, and chickadees. My real interest to build my repertoire of bird identifications came this past winter as I started to simply spend time walking and enjoying the forests and various habitats here in New Hampshire. I’ve spent loads of time outdoors, but it wasn’t until this past winter that I told myself to slow down and, simultaneously, challenged myself to be more observant. I began to become more aware that, even in the dead of winter, little songbirds were out and about. At this point, I began caring my camera with me every time I went into the woods, with the hopes of seeing a new species or observing a new behavior. Each new species I saw or could snap a picture of, I would identify later on. Little by little, my list of identified species grew. By April, I had my list of identified species down: black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, brown creepers, golden-crowned kinglets, red and white-breasted nuthatches, and downy, hairy, red-breasted, and pileated woodpeckers. Suddenly, in April, I began seeing new birds! It began slowly, but come late April and May, I was struggling to keep up with the variety of species that were appearing; all species that were migrating back north after the winter. The forests were becoming livelier by the day with bird calls. What I was challenging was that the birds I was observing and where I was observing them did not always align with field guides. I later came to realize that many of the songbirds that I was seeing were only spending a few days at most in an area before continuing north to their breeding grounds, which made perfect sense.
The bird life I have seen in the Squam Lakes region has been stupendous. This is due to the rich diversity of natural habitats coupled with some forestry and agricultural practices of the region. Throughout this summer, I have observed, photographed, and heard a couple dozen new species of birds, including elusive black-billed (first spotted by Pete Helm) and yellow-billed cuckoos. Now that the summer is coming to a close, the same birds that had traveled north in April and May are now traveling back south. This has enabled me to observe a few new species, including blue headed vireos and an assortment of warblers: black-throated green, black-throated blue, Wilson’s, bay-breasted, palm, blackburnian, and magnolia warblers.
Keep your eyes and ears open when you’re out there! There really is life everywhere if you take the time to tune in to nature.
Ben is serving through October with the LRCC, at the Squam Lakes Conservation Society host site . You can learn more about Ben here!