February 7, 2021: Common Redpolls visit the Lakes Region

Hello February, what a great winter month!  The days are already longer; the sun a little brighter, a little warmer.  New snow comes frequently to freshen the world and cold weather is consistent enough to allow a host of winter activities.  Lake Winnipesaukee is now iced-in so the Pond Hockey Classic on Meredith Bay was a go for this weekend, as is the fishing derby next weekend.

As the winter progresses and cold temperatures take over the northern hemisphere, the Lakes Region sometimes hosts transient birds visiting all the way from the artic in search of food - and maybe warmer weather.  It's the only time of year we are able to see the beautiful snowy owl, for example.  Another visitor from the north stopped by our bird feeder this week, a whole flock of them in fact.

Common Redpolls

Common redpolls spend the summer far up in Canada, breeding in pine, spruce and birch forests as far north as Greenland.  In winter they head south, sometimes all the way down to the southern Massachusetts border depending on the available food supply, often in large flocks, and this is when we might see them.  Redpolls prefer small seeds like thistle and millet that fit in their beak, both of which we have in at least one of our feeders.  

Those tiny seeds are perfect for crunching in their small beaks.

Traveling in large flocks, they can be aggressive toward other birds, even those in their own flock when feeding.

The flock commandeered the feeder.

I watched them fluff their feathers and thrust their open beaks at other birds to shoo them away; even the usual bully white-breasted nuthatch was put off.  But sometimes a nuthatch or a brave chick-a-dee would flit in quickly to steal a seed from an open perch.

A chick-a-dee braves the rebuff of the redpolls (note upper left) to steal a seed.

When I saw the first bird I didn't know what it was and had to look it up.  The black face is good identifying feature if you can get one to look at you.

Note the black face.

It's always a treat when you get to see a bird that doesn't regularly visit the area.  

A fellow birder just north of the Lakes Region shared a picture (thanks EKJ and RH!) of a pine grosbeak in they saw in Campton.  

Edie Kressy caught this pine grosbeak in Campton.

This is another northern bird; the Cornell Ornithology range map shows it just sneaking down into the northern half of New Hampshire, a part of its range listed as "scarce".  Like the red-bellied woodpecker that's moved north into our region, the pine grosbeak may soon move farther north and out of New Hampshire altogether to find the climate it needs, so that was a nice sighting.

I mentioned that the ice on Meredith Bay is sound enough for the winter activities this year. 

The Pond Hockey Tournament was on, but at reduced size and without spectators in the rink area.

But one should still be careful travelling on the ice as many areas on the larger lakes are still not safe for travel.  Even Lake Wicwas which has been iced-in for over a month still has dangerous spots, as we discovered this week poking around in some shallow areas near shore.  

Unsafe ice still exists in spots on Lake Wicwas

I'll finish out the week with a few pictures of February in the Lakes Region.

Nature never disappoints.