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Recent bird sightings

Voices & Views, bird sightings in the Sunapee region: The NH Audubon Rare Bird Alert for May 4, 2020, reported six black scoters and a red-necked grebe seen on Lake Sunapee on May 1.  And the Alert for May 11, 2020, listed two red crossbills seen on Mountain Road in Newbury on May 11.

See the Rare Bird Alerts via the NH Birds Google Group for May 4, 2020, and May 11, 2020.

For helpful birding resources, see nhbirdrecords.org/current-sightings/.

During the Coronavirus pandemic, please enjoy your outings while following guidelines for safe travel and social distancing. Stay local. Stay safe. Be healthy.

Share your local sightings and interest in birding. Contact FOMS or email: catherine@friendsofmountsuanpee.org.

(Stock photos of red crossbill and red-necked grebe)

 

New NH rule, if made permanent, will put endangered species at risk

A list of threatened and endangered wildlife in New Hampshire is available via Fish and Game.

Environmental organizations in New Hampshire “say a new state rule, which has support from the construction industry and could become permanent, puts endangered species at greater risk from development.” See the reporting of Annie Ropeik for NHPR:

Instead of “no adverse impacts,” the new rule says only that project designs must “not jeopardize the continued existence” of a protected species, or destroy critical habitat.

For groups like the Nature Conservancy, this implied that projects could be allowed to move forward as long as they didn’t cause extinctions – which raised serious concerns.

The Nature Conservancy wrote to DES about the issue in January, along with the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, Appalachian Mountain Club and the state Audubon and Lakes Association – See NHPR, Enviro. Groups Say New State Rule For Developers Puts Endangered Species At Risk (February 18, 2020)

A list of threatened and endangered wildlife in New Hampshire is available via Fish and Game. Or view endangered-threatened-wildlife-nh (pdf).

2015 NH Wildlife Action Plan provides new data and maps

FG_WAP_2015_goshen8x11habitat

Shown here: maps for Goshen and Newbury, NH. Click on maps to enlarge.

FG_WAP_2015_goshen8x11scoring

FG_WAP_2015_newbury8x11scoringThe NH Wildlife Action Plan has been updated, and there are new data and information now available, including new Wildlife Habitat maps. Check out NH Fish & Game for town maps showing the “highest ranked wildlife habitat by ecological condition.”

The 2015 Wildlife Action Plan is a blueprint for conserving Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) and their habitats in New Hampshire. New Hampshire’s Plan identifies 169 SGCN, which represent a broad array of wildlife, and it focuses on the 27 habitats that support these species, such as lowland spruce-fir forest, salt marsh, shrublands, warm water lakes and ponds, vernal pools, and many others. – NH Fish and Game via http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/wildlife/wap.html

F&G is hosting workshops around the state to explain what’s new in the 2015 plan. Registration information is available via www.wildlife.state.nh.us/wildlife/wap-events.html.

Share your interest in protecting important wildlife habitat on and around Mount Sunapee. Contact FOMS.

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