Mother’s Day Big Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms!

This year, Mother’s Day and Global Big Day ended up being the same weekend. If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile you know that all I really want for Mother’s Day (actually most days haha) is to go birding. So yesterday we went to Pickering Ponds to look for new migrants. It was a lovely morning and we were able to observe 39 species.

Pickering Ponds Highlights

• Rose-breasted Grosbeaks: We saw 5 Rose-breasted Grosbeak males singing. Males arrive at their breeding grounds before the females to establish their territories. I’ve only ever seen a single pair at a time, so it was fun to see so many males singing in one spot. Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are considered socially monogamous and will stay together for the breeding season. Males will approach females while singing and may throw back their heads and spread their wings/tail. However, once a female decides on a mate the male usually rejects her for a day or two before accepting.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak male (Image by David Horowitz)

• 5 warbler species: Chestnut-sided, Yellow, Magnolia, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart

Magnolia Warbler (Image by David Horowitz)

• Broad-winged Hawk being mobbed by Red-winged Blackbirds
• Lots of mating pairs: Baltimore Orioles, Fish Crows on a nest, Eastern Kingbirds, Eastern Bluebirds , Mourning Doves
• A female Bufflehead: There weren’t many birds out on the ponds themselves, but a lone female Bufflehead was found swimming among some female Common Mergansers. It’s late in the season for Bufflehead to still be around, so she has been listed on the NH Rare Bird list.
• Neotropical Migrants: Killdeer, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Eastern Phoebe, Warbling Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Tree Swallow, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, House Wren, Gray Catbird, American Robin, American Goldfinch
• Other species: Hairy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, European Starling, White-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Grackle, Northern Cardinal

Eastern Kingbird (Image by David Horowitz)

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Did you get to go birding on May Global Big Day? What bird species did you see? Tell me about it in the comments!

References

• Kaufman, K. (n.d.). Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Audubon. https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/rose-breasted-grosbeak
• The Cornell Lab. (2023). Rose-breasted Grosbeak. All About Birds. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Rose-breasted_Grosbeak/lifehistory