A recent camping trip with my son to Pillsbury State Park yielded a slew of quality wildlife sightings.

It started right away as I made my first entry to our remote camping site on the edge of North Pond, one of the smaller ponds at the park. A greater yellowlegs, a relatively large shorebird often seen at freshwater ponds and lakes during migration, worked the shallow water around the rocks looking for morsels.

Three half-mile walks to the car and back later, I headed out for my first canoe ride. It proved to be a bit of a challenge to launch, as the extremely dry weather in New Hampshire had the pond as low as it’s been in years, according to the park ranger.

Nonetheless, I managed to get the canoe out into the water without scraping the bottom too badly. The rest of the pond proved to be 90 percent choked by thick vegetation, with the water only a few inches deep in many parts.

The shallow water did not dissuade a great blue heron working the far end of the pond, nor did it discourage a young bald eagle that flew overhead and landed on a towering pine overlooking the water. The young eagle, still mottled brown and lacking the telltale white head and tail, would remain a frequent sighting over the next three days. At one point, an adult bald eagle flew over the site and across the pond.

I saw the great blue heron and the young eagle again on my canoe ride the next morning. As I headed back and approached the campsite, I noticed what I thought were a few ducks in the shallow cove by the site. I had seen wood ducks the previous day and assumed that’s what they were.

As I drifted closer to the birds in question, I realized they weren’t ducks at all. They weren’t even birds. It was three otters with their heads poking out of the water and working their way across to the opposite shoreline. As quickly as I identified them once I was close enough, they disappeared into the woods.

That was about it for the excitement on my canoe rides, other than the pitcher plants that dominated the west shoreline. I hadn’t seen these carnivorous plants in many years, and it was fun to catch a glimpse of them again.

The many walks I took yielded a variety of songbirds, many of which were likely on their southward migration. The birding hotspot at the park centered around a chokecherry tree bursting with fruit. That is where I saw most of my out-of-the-ordinary bird sightings, including black-throated green warblers, yellow-rumped warblers, common yellowthroats, blue-headed vireos, and, of course, many American robins. A walk to the park’s biggest pond yielded a nice view of the resident common loons.

While there were sightings here and there of the aforementioned birds and mammals, there were also a few constant companions. Although I never saw a single one within the thick leafy canopy, the nasally “yank” call of the red-breasted nuthatch provided a constant din. The din was frequently interrupted by squawking blue jays. At night, the most prevalent sound was the “who cooks for you, who cooks for you all” song of the barred owl. Sometimes it sounded as if the birds were right above the tent.

Although the grand prize of a moose eluded me, it was a great camping trip in the woods with quality wildlife sightings and memories to hold onto.