Mountain Bluebird, Portsmouth, NH, April, 2016

It was early Saturday morning and I had just settled in to get caught up on some paperwork.  Then my cell phone rang and it was David Donsker – he was in route to a Mountain Bluebird just found at the Pease Golf Course in Portsmouth, NH.  I hadn’t heard about this sighting yet, so I was very happy that David had called me.  Needless to say that changed my plans in a big way.  Within 10 minutes I was out the door heading to Portsmouth.  Along the way I got an update call from David reporting that he was on the bird as it was perched with some Eastern Bluebirds on top of the fence separating the golf course parking lot and the airport area.  I was most optimistic with these very explicit micro-directions.  But then he gave me a second call a few minutes later suggesting I get there quickly because the bird was working its way down the fence and could eventually move out of sight.  Unfortunately I was still 20 minutes away but crossed my fingers that I could still get there in time.

When I arrived I quickly found a small group of birders at the far edge of the golf course parking lot, but no one was looking at the bird.  Then I got the scoop from Jason Lambert who first spotted the bird - just a couple minutes before I arrived the Bluebird had worked its way down the fence line and out of sight, just as David had predicted.  Jason then wondered if we could walk farther down the fence line to try to refind the bird, though that would mean leaving the parking lot and walking into the golf course proper.  Without any “No Trespassing” signs in view, and the possibility staring at me that I had missed the bird by mere minutes, I quickly said that we should take our chances and walk farther down the fence line to give it a try.

With just a 50 yard walk from the parking lot we were able to see a section of fence that was not visible from the parking lot.  I quickly spotted a Bluebird perched on the fence but it was just an Eastern.  Then I spotted a second Bluebird and it was indeed the female Mountain Bluebird.  We got some acceptable views of the bird, but at considerable distance.  Just then the Mountain Bluebird flew up the fence line and landed practically right in front of us next to the parking lot.  This cooperative bird offered up these “Kodak moments” -

It is reported in “The Birds of New Hampshire” by Keith and Fox that there was only one previous record of Mountain Bluebird in NH “which was never verified and for which adequate details have not survived”.  So perhaps this is the first accepted NH record.  And along with sightings of Tufted Duck and Redwing (also both NH state firsts) in March, this continues a remarkable string of excellent rarities in the Granite State. 

Mountain Bluebird was #361 for me in NH, and my 4th New England State for this species.  Plus of course I’ve seen this common species throughout almost all of its regular range in the west.