More notes from this weekend

So, I've already told you about Saturday, here is part two of the weekend...
We decided that we were going to join Steve and Jane Mirick on their BBC trip along the NH coast. More of my old stomping grounds from when I lived up there, but just don't seem to get up there any more except for this annual trip or if there is something rare. They are both great birders, and nobody know the birds or the locations of southeast NH like Steve does - he wrote the book on birding the NH seacoast.

Our first stop for the day was at the Yankee Fisherman's Co-op in Seabrook, which is a great place to see shorebirds in the fall, and it seems to turn up rarities on a semi-regular basis. Oddly enough, the sparrows were the noteworthy birds here this day, with Fox, White-crowned, White-throated, Chipping, Savannah, & Song sparrows hanging around the lobster traps and piles of rope. We then moved on to Hampton Beach. The parking lot is a fantastic place to see Snow Buntings, and there are often Horned Larks and one or two Lapland Longspurs mixed in with the hundreds of SNBUs. We didn't get any Horned Larks, but we did find a longspur in the flock. No photos of the longspur unfortunately, but the Snow Buntings can be quite accommodating if you stay still and give them time to work their way towards you.

We also spent some time working the dunes and beach area and had excellent scope views of the Ipswich race of Savannah Sparrow. (Too far for any photos though)

We continued on up the coast, and thanks to some sharp eyes in the crowd, we found my second Dickcissel of the weekend. (Not a really common bird around here)

When he turned and the sun hit him just right, the yellow on his breast really stood out!

After that the group was going to continue north, but Pamela and I broke off and started heading back south again. I wanted to stop in at Salisbury Beach State Park to check out what was happening there before having to go home, change clothes, and go to work - the worst decision I made all weekend. At the next stop, Steve's group had crippling looks from less than 50' at a Snowy Owl at Ragged Neck in Rye. My friend Len got some absolutely stunning photos.

Meanwhile, things in Salisbury were a little less exciting. The only real interesting sighting was a Merlin that Pamela spotted from a distance, in the bare branches of a tree dining on something. (was never able to determine what though!)

Can't wait to see what turns up next weekend!