Lakes Region · Ossipee
Ossipee Pine Barrens
One of the last pitch pine–scrub oak barrens in northern New England — a fire-dependent habitat with its own bird list.
Pine barrens are strange, dry, fire-shaped places, and there aren’t many left. The Ossipee barrens sit on deep glacial sand where pitch pine and scrub oak grow in an open, sunny woodland that burns periodically and depends on it. The Nature Conservancy keeps it that way with controlled fire.
The bird community reflects the habitat. Eastern Whip-poor-wills call from the open pine at dusk in late spring and summer — this is one of the more reliable areas in the state to hear them. Prairie Warblers, Field Sparrows, Brown Thrashers, and Eastern Towhees nest in the scrubby regrowth; Common Nighthawks have used recent burns. Nashville Warblers and Pine Warblers work the pines.
Come at dusk in June for the whip-poor-wills, or in the morning for the barrens songbirds. The kettle ponds nearby hold breeding Common Loons.