Date: 4/28/24 7:06 pm From: 'Kurk Dorsey' via NHBirds <nhbirds...> Subject: [NHBirds] some nice sightings in Durham and Lee
Birders
I had a few interesting sightings in the abovementioned towns this weekend:
--winter wren and parula at Little River Park in Lee
--Black-throated-green Warbler at Bennett Road WMA in Durham
--Green Herons at Gile Road Marsh and Old Mill Road in Lee
--Wood Thrush at the Fogg Drive playing fields in Durham (it was playing hide and go seek of course)
--Sapsucker in my yard in Durham, noteworthy because one of my dogs barked ferociously every time it mewed. The dog chases anything flying bigger than a crow, but it doesn't care about sounds, except for this one. It even ignored and possibly triggered two Barred Owls.
--then the most memorable event: at Old Mill Road I crept down to the edge of the pond hoping for a rail or bittern, only to flush something big and awkward, which quickly separated into smaller and defined and smaller and awkward. The first part was a Cooper's hawk that was obviously very annoyed with me. I froze when I saw it melted me with its death glare and then flew off. I looked around to find what it had dropped—a kingfisher! I was sorry to have interrupted the hawk's feast but also amazed that it chose a kingfisher given all of the LSTs around (large, slow targets, mainly mourning doves).
