It was sure nice of this Orange-crowned Warbler to sit still long enough for photos, but it sure would have been nice if it was on the other side of that stem! Cape Elizabeth, 11/12.

After a great late October for rarities, November has been incredibly slow for vagrants in Maine so far…unlike surrounding states and provinces. While my increased birding time these past two weeks did not produce any significant rarities, either, it was good to be getting out! And in doing so, I enjoyed some very good birding recently. Here are my observations of note over the past two weeks.

• 1 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, 2 “Yellow” Palm Warblers, 3 Black-bellied Plovers, 42 Laughing Gulls, etc, Wolfe’s Neck Center, Freeport, 11/4 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).  While we are normally reticent to return to the same location two (let alone 4) weeks in a row, it has continued to be very fruitful, and the week-to-week ebbs and flows have been particularly insightful. More complete summaries are on the News page of our website.

• 2 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, 1 “Western” Palm Warbler, 1 Eastern Phoebe, 1 Fox Sparrow (first of fall, finally), 1 Field Sparrow, etc, etc, Bailey Island, Harpswell, 11/6 (with Jeannette).

• Sabattus Pond, Sabattus, 11/10 (with Dan Nickerson): 575 Ruddy Ducks, 290 Common Mergansers, 224 Mallards, 156 Lesser Scaup, 113 Greater Scaup, 82 American Black Ducks, 61 Buffleheads, 32 Hooded Mergansers, 24 distant scaup sp, 21 American Pipits, 15 Canada Geese, 9 Green-winged Teal, 6 Common Goldeneyes, 5 American Wigeon, 4 KILLDEER, 4 Common Loons, 2 Black Scoters, 1 Snow Bunting, 1 Swamp Sparrow, etc. 

• 1 American Tree Sparrow (First of fall), Yarmouth Town Landing, 11/11 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).

• 1 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, Private property in Cape Elizabeth, 11/12 (with Jeannette).

• Sabattus Pond, 11/16: 663 Ruddy Ducks, 442 Common Mergansers, 369 scaup sp, 217 Mallards, 102 Buffleheads, 92 Hooded Mergansers, 79 Greater Scaup, 14 Lesser Scaup, 14 Canada Geese, 12 American Black Ducks, 5 Common Goldeneyes, 2 American Wigeon, 1 Green-winged Teal, and 1 AMERICAN COOT.

• 1 drake Wood Duck, North River Road, Auburn, 11/16.

• 2 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, 25 Snow Buntings, and 1 Black-bellied Plover, Wolfe’s Neck Center, Freeport, 11/17 (with Dan Nickerson).

• 22 Black-bellied Plovers, 91 Dunlin, etc, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 11/17 (with Dan Nickerson).

• 2 “WESTERN” PALM WARBLERS, 1-2 Chipping Sparrows, 150+ Red-winged Blackbirds with a few Common Grackles, Pennellville Road, Brunswick, 11/17 (with Dan Nickerson).

Meanwhile, here in our Durham yard, the birdlife has become decidedly wintery. However, a few lingering/migrants of note recently included 2 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS on 11/4, two American Woodcocks through at least 11/4, and a Winter Wren 11/13-14.

Our feeders have been quite busy again, with varying numbers of all the expected species, but the number of American Goldfinches continuing to impress, with 30-50+ visiting daily. A few Pine Siskins have been mixing in with them as well, and we’re getting the sporadic Purple Finch or two. Our Njyer and hulled sunflower feeders are being emptied daily at this point. Under the feeders, White-throated Sparrows have been quite low, with only a max of 4 recently, while Dark-eyed Juncos have slowly but steadily increased over the past week. We’re down to just a couple of Song Sparrows, however.

Here at the store, we had a Common Grackle and a late Chipping Sparrow on the 15^th. but we’re not seeing nearly the diversity or activity here as we are used to at the season – no doubt an indictment of the surrounding habitat.

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