Phoebe's Patience - Critter Watch Archive

157 Lower Beech Hill Road
Campton, NH 03223
410-987-2759

A Vacation Rental House near Plymouth, New Hampshire

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Critter Watch Archive

2010 Critter Watch --
March 2010. The black bears came out of winter slumber early this year due to unusually light snow fall and warmer than usual temperatures.
5/14/10 Horned Lark was seen roosting and feeding in field. Bluebirds were nesting. Hummingbird was already out and about. Piliated woodpecker flew over field.
End of May/beginning of June. Lots of nests around fields. In the nest boxes: 3 chickadee, 1 tree swallow, 1 bluebird. Three robin nests in the apple trees. One song sparrow nest and one chipping sparrow nest near the house. Three hermit thrush nests up in the grass on the trails.
A black bear wandered by on the morning of June 2nd.
June 14, 2010. Four phoebes youngsters safely fledged from the front eave nest at 9:15 a.m.
Winter, 2010. Quite a number of turkeys around this winter eating apples.

2009 Critter Watch --
Four phoebes fledged from a nest under the front door eave. Lots of exciting wildlife activity last year including the sighting of a yearling moose in the yard (and lots of moose tracks and scat up in the woods); deer; coyotes singing on several nights; bluebirds, chickadees, and tree swallows nesting in the boxes; red spotted salamander eggs up in the vernal pools; frogs and their tadpoles in pools; red-backed salamander found; lots of snakes; ruffed grouse; turkeys... We put up 7 new bluebird boxes. Had a bumper crop of pumpkins for the deer.

2008 Critter Watch--
January - The deer and coyotes have been making good use of the logging "skid" roads. The animals are traveling around on the roads, and the deer are eating the "slash" thrown onto the roads.
July - One sucessful nest of bluebirds so far with two more on the way. A grouse is sitting on ten eggs and is a fierce guardian! A yearling moose wandered by one morning and spent some time in the apple orchard.
Early fall. We ended up with three successful bluebird clutches. We also were overjoyed to have a mama turkey raise a fine family of five poults. This is the start of a turkey flock on our property!

2007 Critter Watch--
In late April, the Ruffed Grouse, Common Nighthawks, Barred Owls, American Goldfinches, and wild turkeys were all busy finding their mates. The Eastern Phoebes arrived April 28th and were very interested in the same nest they used last year.
At 6:30 a.m. on May 2nd, the first two of the Tree Swallows returned. By 10 a.m. that very same morning, there were at least ten of them flying around the house and already squabbling over the nesting boxes.
May 28th - The phoebe nest was discovered destroyed with three broken eggs. We suspect a weasel or cat was the culprit.
July - Bluebirds are very active this year and have a nest in one of the boxes. We were extremely fortunate to see a black bear checking out the bird houses early one morning (see the photo on the "Critters" page).