Connecticut River Valley · Hinsdale

Hinsdale Setbacks

The best inland freshwater migration site in southwest New Hampshire — first open water in spring, last in fall.

The Connecticut valley here is low, broad, and warmer than anywhere else in New Hampshire, so it thaws first and freezes last, which makes the Hinsdale setbacks a concentration point for migrating and wintering waterbirds when the rest of the state is locked up.

Early spring is the classic time: ice-out brings dabbling ducks, Ring-necked Ducks, Hooded and Common Mergansers, Pied-billed Grebes, and pulses of Rusty Blackbirds through the flooded silver maples. Bald Eagles winter along the open river. Ospreys nest. Migrant songbirds move through the floodplain forest in May, and the marshes hold rails, bitterns, and Marsh Wrens.

It’s also one of the more likely corners of the state for a stray heron or egret, a lingering late-fall waterbird, or a vagrant riding the river valley south.

Target birds here

American GoldfinchYear-round resident; flocks wander widely in winter Northern CardinalYear-round resident; still slowly expanding north and up in elevation White-breasted NuthatchYear-round resident in deciduous and mixed woods statewide Tufted TitmouseYear-round resident, southern and central NH; still expanding northward Mourning DoveYear-round resident statewide; more numerous in the south American RobinAbundant breeder statewide; a variable number stay all winter Common LoonBreeds on clear lakes statewide, a state conservation success story; winters on the seacoast Yellow-rumped WarblerCommon breeder in northern and montane conifers; abundant migrant; a few linger into winter on the coast Rusty BlackbirdUncommon passage migrant, March–April and October–November; a very few breed in North Country bogs

See Hinsdale Setbacks on the migration map →