Life in retail during the holiday season, followed by a trip to the Motherland of New Jersey for Christmas resulted in limited Maine birding for me over the past two weeks. However, a couple of good days in the field here in Maine produced several observations of note:
- Recent ice and more snow resulted in a nice little surge of Dark-eyed Juncos and American Goldfinches into our Durham yard. A male Purple Finch on ½ was the first I have seen locally in at least a month, and a Northern Flicker dropped in on 12/30.
- 1 continuing drake Green-winged Teal and 1+ Fish Crow, Auburn Riverwalk, 12/23.
- 2 drake and one hen BARROW’S GOLDENEYES, Bernard Lowne Peace Bridge, Auburn-Lewiston, 12/30 (with Kelley Sharp)
- 3 Fish Crows and 1 1st-cycle Iceland Gull, Auburn Riverwalk, Auburn, 12/30 (with Kelley Sharp).
- 1 pair American Wigeon, Rockland waterfront, 1/1 (with Jeannette).
Rufous Hummingbird in Bath, 10/31-12/26, 2025.
A Rufous Hummingbird arrived in a Bath yard on Halloween. And she stayed until the 26th of December! These birds are just incredible! Unfortunately, it was not in a yard that was conducive to visitation, so we had to keep the sighting under wraps. I really am sincerely sorry about that, but the homeowner’s rights and the bird’s welfare will always be put first and foremost with us. But it was well photographed, well studied, and well monitored. Here’s the story, identification particulars, and more.
Massive Robin Roost in New Jersey!
We only had one morning for birding after visiting family, and we chose to spend it with an estimated 100,000 American Robins!
It was awesome and I hope these videos do it a modicum of justice! This was in Oldwick, NJ, discovered by Evan Obercian (yup, a birding friend of mine since high school who also now lives in Maine!) around 2021 (although he heard of a former roost not far away before this one). This was the largest gathering he has seen, at least around Christmastime. We just enjoyed the show, but he recently made the estimate (based on counting sample minutes and extrapolating). There were also about 1,000 European Starlings – look for a couple of dense flocks exiting the leaning bamboo during the videos. A few hundred Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds were also present (mostly exited before sunrise in the first video), and Jeannette and I picked out a single Hermit Thrush. 3 Cooper’s Hawks and a Sharp-shinned Hawk were present, but they too seemed to be overwhelmed by the masses!
The videos can be seen here:
New Year Predictions Blog!
I know you are waiting with bated breath, but I’ll publish this soon. Of course, when I am delayed in getting it posted, something really rare shows up! So keep you eyes open!
Maine Birding Field Notes 