Two Black-crowned Night-Herons, including this one, were a nice find for a South Portland Big Day on the 21^st. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough good finds to make up for a slow morning at the favored migrant traps.

I had just a handful of observations of note over the past six days before I head out to Monhegan, including the following:

• On Tuesday, John Lorenc and I did a South Portland-only “Big Day,” trying to see as many species as we could within the city’s boundaries. With limited migrants at Hinckley Park, we clawed our way to a decent tally of 94 species by day’s end with a lot of regular migrants being undetected. Highlights for the city and the date were limited to Long-tailed Duck, Black Scoter, Glossy Ibis, Black-crowned Night-Heron, White-throated Sparrow, and Red Crossbill.  We unfortunately did not turn up any rarities.  My personal FOY’s were limited to Swainson’s Thrush (1 each at Clark Pond Trails and Trout Brook Preserve) and Common Nighthawk (two over John and Terez’s yard at dusk for our last species of the day, followed by 4 over our yard in Durham when I returned home).

• Two tours over the weekend and private guiding on Monday were likewise fairly slow for passage migrants, but there was a distinct increase in territorial birds with each passing day, as it seemed birds were dropping into their desired habitats and not migrant traps. A big overnight flight on 5/22-23 yielded more territorial birds, but surprisingly few passage migrants on the ground.

• 2 American Bitterns, surprisingly high over the yard in the evening on 5/22. Really threw me off at that altitude!

• 3 Greater Scaup, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 5/23.

Additional personal first-of-years this week also included:

• 1 briefly glimpsed MOURNING WARBLER, Capisic Pond Park, Portland, 5/19 (with Birds on Tap Roadtrip! Warblers and Wort! Tour group).
• 1 Alder Flycatcher, Hidden Pond Preserve, Freeport, 5/20 (with clients from Oregon).

Tours and Events:

• There will not be a Saturday Morning Birdwalk on 5/25 as I’ll be on Monhegan with our tour group. 

I like Eastern Kingbirds! This one posed for me at South Portland’s Calvary Cemetery on the 21^st.