![]() Not only that, each nest successfully fledged a single chick. ![]() With an increase of eyes focused on Newmarket, incredibly a second nest was discovered in August of 2008, and a minimum of five adult or subadult Mississippi Kites were confirmed-all in Newmarket. On July 18, hatching was confirmed when a single chick was seen being fed (Ben Griffith, personal communication). On, or shortly after June 17, it was thought that an egg or eggs had been laid and incubation had started. By the third day, they were seen copulating again, and also building a nest. The next day they were found again and were seen and photographed copulating. That first day, June 14, the kites were observed gracefully feeding together all afternoon and coming down to roost and spend the night in the same area. The story became more and more amazing almost by the hour. Thanks to a few phone calls and the Internet, the entire New England birding community learned of their presence and scores of birders swarmed to Newmarket and saw the birds that day. How could anyone see the fiery red eyes of a Mississippi Kite in New Hampshire? Absurd!įinally, the "cork came out of the bottle" and the story unfolded to the birding world, when birder Ben Griffith, along with Charlie Wright, were driving through Newmarket on June 14, 2008, and spotted two kites flying across South Main Street. He described them as having "an unmistakable white band across the secondaries and the male had bright fiery red eyes." Once again, the birding world seemed to turn its collective head and deny the implausible. On June 3, 2008, a birder named Darin Franceschini reported in his first post to NHBirds (the statewide birding email list) that he had seen a pair of Mississippi Kites along the Lamprey River in Newmarket on (Donsker 2008). The story would grow stale until the spring of 2008. Unfortunately, Roy's record was disregarded and I had just moved out of Newmarket, so there were no birders ambitious enough to try to relocate or confirm this report in subsequent years. After all, how could it be possible that a Mississippi Kite would be building a nest in New Hampshire? The record, with good descriptive details, was belatedly submitted to the New Hampshire Rare Bird Committee however, the committee could not in good conscience accept this record due to the implausible nature of the sighting. He reported that he saw a Mississippi Kite land in a tree 100 feet away, where it broke off a branch and carried it away as if building a nest. The story began on May 30, 2004, when Robert Roy was fishing from a boat along the Lamprey River in Newmarket. There were no unambiguous state records, so the species was on the hypothetical list according to the New Hampshire Bird Records committee. At that time, there had been only two single observer sightings ever for the state and both of those came from the 1980s (Keith and Fox 2013). The story of Mississippi Kites nesting in New Hampshire is a remarkable one that dates back to 2004. But starting in the early 2000s, the town has become famous for new residents-Mississippi Kites. ![]() ![]() Newmarket is also famous as the former residence of many noteworthy birders including Ben Griffith, Lauren Kras, Kurk Dorsey, Christopher Ciccone, and yours truly. The small town of Newmarket, New Hampshire, which lies about 14 miles north of the Massachusetts state line, became famous in the birding world in 1998 with a visit from a Little Egret that stayed for several weeks and entertained hundreds of birders from all across the country. The Murmuration: Rhode Island eBird Hotspots.The Murmuration: Massachusetts eBird Hotspots.Birding Birding Plum Island and Vicinity. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |