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White Mountains & North Country · Whitefield

Pondicherry Division, Silvio O. Conte NWR

The most accessible boreal birding in New Hampshire — walk a flat trail into spruce bog.

Pondicherry is where a birder from southern New Hampshire goes to get “north” birds without a Pittsburg expedition. The old rail grade runs straight and level through spruce-fir and past two boreal ponds, so the habitat comes to you.

The target list is the boreal specialty set: Black-backed Woodpecker in the standing dead timber, Boreal Chickadee by voice in the spruce tops, Gray Jay (Canada Jay) in family groups, Rusty Blackbird in the wet edges in migration and a few in summer, and Spruce Grouse — genuinely possible here, though never guaranteed. Add American Bittern, Ring-necked Duck, Palm and Wilson’s Warblers, Lincoln’s Sparrow, and Olive-sided and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers in the breeding season.

Go early on a June morning for song, or in October when the tamaracks turn gold and the Rusty Blackbirds move through.

Target birds here

Black-capped ChickadeeYear-round resident, every countyPurple FinchState bird since 1957. Breeds statewide in conifers; numbers swing year to year with the cone cropDark-eyed JuncoBreeds in the mountains and North Country; floods the whole state as a winter feeder birdDowny WoodpeckerYear-round resident, every habitat with trees, statewideHairy WoodpeckerYear-round resident, mature forest statewide; less numerous than the DownyAmerican RobinAbundant breeder statewide; a variable number stay all winterRed-breasted NuthatchYear-round in northern and montane conifers; irruptive elsewhere, abundant some winters and nearly absent othersYellow-rumped WarblerCommon breeder in northern and montane conifers; abundant migrant; a few linger into winter on the coastNorthern Saw-whet OwlUncommon breeder in northern and montane forest; a heavy, mostly invisible migrant in OctoberSpruce GrouseRare year-round resident of boreal spruce-fir in the far North Country; a state-listed speciesBlack-backed WoodpeckerRare, local year-round resident of northern spruce-fir, especially recently burned or beetle-killed standsBoreal ChickadeeUncommon, local year-round resident of North Country and high-elevation spruce-firRusty BlackbirdUncommon passage migrant, March–April and October–November; a very few breed in North Country bogs

See Pondicherry Division, Silvio O. Conte NWR on the migration map →