Daily Archives: May 27, 2021

Derek’s Birding This Week, 5/22-27/2021

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This pure-blood (presumably) Little Egret was a surprise in the Dunstan Creek Marsh section of Scarborough Marsh on the 25th. I don’t recall any reports of the Little Egret in Scarborough Marsh so far this season, and many of the identifiable photos that I have seen in Falmouth so far this year have been – or suggested – a continuing Snowy Egret x Little Egret hybrid, so seeing this bird was a treat for me and my clients.
1)The green-gray, darkish lores (not yellow-tinted like the presumed hybrid or bright yellow like a Snowy).
2) The two long neck plumes (not bushy like Snowy, or a combination of two, like the hybrid). I absolutely love the “plume swagger” when they’re blowing in the wind.

Additionally, the overall structure of a skinnier, longer neck, slightly longer legs, and a longer, slightly more tapering and pointed bill more like a “mini Great Egret” than the relatively-more compact Snowy.

My highlights over the past six days included the following:

  • 1 CLAY-COLORED SPARROW (Maguire Road), 2 Upland Sandpipers, 8 Grasshopper Sparrows, 14 Vesper Sparrows, etc, Kennebunk Plains, 5/24 (all personal FOY since it was my first visit here this season).
  • 1 LITTLE EGRET, as previously reported, Dunstan Creek Marsh, Scarborough Marsh, 5/25 (with clients from Connecticut…see photos and captions above).
  • 1 drake NORTHERN SHOVELER and 1 pair Gadwalls, Pelreco Marsh, Scarborough Marsh, 5/25  and 5/26 (with clients from Connecticut).
  • 2 Common Nighthawks, our yard in Pownal, 5/25.

My few other new spring arrivals included only the following:

  • 5 Semipalmated Sandpipers, Pine Point, Scarborough, 5/25 (with clients from Connecticut) and 14 there on 5/26 (with same clients).
  • 1 Willow Flycatcher, Runaround Pond Road, Durham, 5/27.