Monthly Archives: June 2026

 This Week’s Highlights 6/15– 6/24/2026.

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Caption: Bill Thompson found this Black Skimmer at Pine Point on the 18th, and I was able to successfully chase it with a client from Australia who hoped to “experience a twitch” while we were out together. We saw it about 20 minutes later, just before it flew by Bill for the second time.

After my Bicknell’s Thrush Weekend tour in New Hampshire and Vermont (full-frame views of Bicknell’s Thrush!), I returned home late on the 14th.  I’ll summarize the tour with these two photos from Bill Thompson.

And here’s the full tour report:

2026 Bicknell’s Thrush Weekend Trip Report.

Upon my return, catching up from the yard to the store and everywhere in between, and finding myself involved in a most interesting project, reduced my dedicated birding time. Now in the heart of the breeding season (and with a concerted effort to make time to enjoy it!), my observations of note over the past 10 days included the following:

  • 11 Grasshopper Sparrows, numerous Vesper Sparrows, etc, Kennebunk Plains, Kennebunk, 6/16.
  • 1 continuing drake Northern Pintail and 2 Greater Yellowlegs, Sanford Lagoons, 6/16.
  • 1 BLACK SKIMMER (see above), 2 continuing Purple Martins, 7 American Oystercatchers, etc, Pine Point, Scarborough, 6/18 (with client from Australia).
  • 1 pair ORCHARD ORIOLES (at nest), Capisic Pond Park, Portland, 6/18 (with client from Australia).
  • 1 Green Heron, our property in Durham, 6/20 (Yard Bird # 160!)
  • 1 pair ORCHARD ORIOLES, 8 Glossy Ibis, etc, Old Town House Park, North Yarmouth, 6/20 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
  • 9+ Grasshopper Sparrows, California Fields Wildlife Area, Hollis, 6/21.
You are what you eat!
  • 1 drake Long-tailed Duck, 3 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, Purple Martins and Fish Crows, etc, Drake’s Island and Wells Harbor, 6/22 (with Ian Doherty).

But mostly, I took advantage of my intentionally-reduced June schedule to casually enjoy our summer specialties, from Roseate Terns to Saltmarsh Sparrows to all of our delightful warblers… while also enjoying all of the finer aspects of life in early summer in Maine.   

Upcoming Tours:

Boothbay Harbor Whale-Puffin Cruise with Cap’n Fish’s Cruises

June 28 – 9:00AM.

​​Derek will once again be onboard as Guest Naturalist for this special “Whale Watch & Birding Buffs Combo” Cruise. The itinerary will include a visit to Eastern Egg Rock as well as whale feeding grounds. Nesting colonies and pelagic sightings will be highlighted. Around EER at this time we can expect to find Atlantic Puffins, Common Terns, Arctic Terns, Roseate Terns, Laughing Gulls, Double-Crested Cormorants, Common Eider, Black Guillemots, with a chance of Razorbill and Common Murre. Off-shore sightings may include Northern Gannets, up to 4 species of Shearwaters (Great, Sooty, Cory’s, and Manx), and Wilson’s Storm Petrels. Who knows? Perhaps the wandering TUFTED PUFFIN will be spotted! Sorry, no chumming this time, but we tend to get a little more time around Eastern Egg, and if there’s enough of us, a little more freedom to chase birds offshore!

2026 Bicknell’s Thrush Weekend Trip Report.

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Another incredibly successful Bicknell’s Thrush Weekend is in the books. I could probably simply include just those two photos as proof of a successful trip, but we had a lot of other great birds too! And with three great photographers on the tour, I think I will mostly let the photos do the talking this year.

I’m always adjusting this itinerary to give us the most chances to have the most productive visit to the realm of the Bicknell’s Thrush, and with two nights in town, we had up to 4 chances to visit the high-elevation habitat at the right times of day.

I almost used the first night to make a run for it. Then I made the decision to not go up the mountain on our first morning together, instead electing (for a variety of reasons including the other birds participants were hoping to see) to spend the morning birding Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, in and around Silvio E. Conte National Wildlife Refuge.

Highlights included 2 family groups of Canada Jays,  at least 2 Cape May Warblers, incredible looks at Mourning Warblers, heard-only Red Crossbills, singing Palm Warblers, and much more.

Blackburnian Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Canada Jay
Black-capped Chickadee

We also birded slowly, looking at all matters of life, including insects and plants.

American Emerald
American Toad
Hobomok Skipper
Little Wood-Satyr
Silver-bordered Fritillary
Canadian Tiger Swallowtails
(Dennis) Harris’s Checkerspot
Pink- and White-morphed Pink Lady’s Slipper
American Lady
Chalk-fronted Corporal

And found a new (to me) delicious lunch stop.

After an afternoon break and a great early dinner, it was finally time to head up hill and get to work. And work it was! The mountain was full of Swainson’s Thrushes and wind, and as the sun was setting, only a few Bicknell’s Thrushes were heard at all. I was beginning to lose hope, putting the pressure on for the following morning, when I heard two birds calling back and forth across the road. At 9:01pm, with just enough light for any sort of photograph, this happened (and see Bill’s photos above)!

Celebration ensued, backs were patted, high-fives were exchanged. Success! (And yes, relief, too!)

We “slept in” a few extra minutes on Sunday morning, knowing the primary mission was accomplished. But we returned to the same place, without pressure, and birded casually.

With another picnic breakfast in the field, our musical soundtrack was provided by several singing Bicknell’s Thrushes, and multiple calling birds. At least 6-8 birds were detected in all, but we all decided to just relax, enjoy them, and not even try to see them. It was a great way to really experience the Bicknell’s Thrush.

But we did look at everything else! We had a pair of, uh, “confiding” Canada Jays, 2 Bay-breasted Warblers and several Blackpoll Warblers.

Storm clouds a’brewing!

And then we slowly birded downhill, finding 2 more Cape May Warblers, 4 Mourning Warblers, hearing two Boreal Chickadees, but also lamenting on the apparent disappearance of Philadelphia Vireo here (although we did hear one distant candidate).

Black-throated Green Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler

Lunch, a little tourism stop to see some local landmarks and a Common Loon on a lake in the north woods. As we approached Colebrook, the rain that we had successfully and thankfully avoided all weekend caught up with us and the skies absolutely opened up, bringing the tour to a slightly early end for everyone to take their time in driving home or to airports safely.

Mourning Warbler

 This Week’s Highlights 6/6– 6/11/2026.

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The Great-crested Flycatcher has been the “king bird” of our driveway, declaring dominance over the kestrel house we placed on an abandoned telephone pole. They have nested in it for the last three years.

June is a great month for birding in Maine, and this June has been very good so far with rarities around the state. Meanwhile, staying closer to home for much of the week, my observations of note over the last 6 days included the following:

  • Red Crossbills continue on the coastal plain including 5 at Florida Lake Park in Freeport on 6/6 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
  • 1 adult Red Knot, 1 American Oystercatcher, etc, The Pool, Biddeford Pool, 6/7 (with Ian Doherty).
  • 3 Red-necked Grebes, 1 1st summer Great Cormorant, continuing lingering Black and White-winged Scoters, etc, Ocean Avenue, Biddeford Pool, 6/7 (with Ian Doherty).
  • 1 continuing 1st summer LITTLE GULL, Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 6/7 (with Ian Doherty).
  • 1 Louisiana Waterthrush, North River Road, Auburn, 6/8.
  • 1 continuing 1st summer LITTLE GULL (same paler individual as 6/7), 1 American Oystercatcher, 1 Ruddy Turnstone, etc, Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 6/9 (with clients from California).
  • 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, our property in Durham, 6/11.

NEW TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT:

Boothbay Harbor Whale-Puffin Cruise with Cap’n Fish’s Cruises

June 28 and July 26, 9:00AM.

​​Sorry for the delay on scheduling these tours, but we now have set dates. Derek will once again be onboard as Guest Naturalist for this special “Whale Watch & Birding Buffs Combo” Cruise. The itinerary will include a visit to Eastern Egg Rock as well as whale feeding grounds. Nesting colonies and pelagic sightings will be highlighted. Around EER at this time we can expect to find Atlantic Puffins, Common Terns, Arctic Terns, Roseate Terns, Laughing Gulls, Double-Crested Cormorants, Common Eider, Black Guillemots, with a chance of Razorbill and Common Murre. Off-shore sightings may include Northern Gannets, up to 4 species of Shearwaters (Great, Sooty, Cory’s, and Manx), and Wilson’s Storm Petrels. Who knows? Perhaps the wandering TUFTED PUFFIN will be spotted! Sorry, no chumming this time, but we tend to get a little more time around Eastern Egg, and if there’s enough of us, a little more freedom to chase birds offshore!

This Week’s Highlights 5/29– 6/5/2026.

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Little Gulls are simply adorable. This is a scientific fact. This continuing 1st-cycle (born last year) individual was at Hill’s Beach in Biddeford on the 31st.

While there are still plenty of migrants moving through the region, especially shorebirds, breeding season is fully upon us now. This June, I have intentionally reduced my tour schedule to take full advantage of what June has to offer, including exploring new areas and enjoying Maine’s astounding array of breeding diversity, and yeah, doing some scouting, too. Here are my observations of note over the past seven days:

  • Scattered Red Crossbills continue around the area, including here on the coastal plain. Blackpoll Warblers and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers were among the later migrant passerines still on the move this week; I had several sightings of both species well outside breeding range. A Common Nighthawk over our yard in Durham on 6/2 was also likely a migrant.
  • 36 White-winged Scoters, 41 Black-bellied Plovers, 25 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 4 Dunlin, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, etc, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 5/30 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
  • 200+ Chimney Swifts, Maine Street and Androscoggin River, Brunswick, 5/30 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
  • 1 continuing 1st cycle LITTLE GULL, 2 Brant, 6 Roseate Terns (FOY), etc, Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 5/31 (photo above).
  • 13 species of shorebirds, led by 85 Black-bellied Plovers but including 1 White-rumped Sandpiper (FOY), and 5-7 American Oystercatchers, between The Pool and Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 5/31.
  • Lingering seaducks around the Biddeford Pool area on 5/31 included 120+ Black Scoters, a small number of White-winged and Surf Scoters, 5 Red-breasted Mergansers, and 2 RED-NECKED GREBES (off Ocean Avenue. Back for another summer?).
  • 2 1st summer Great Cormorants, East Point to Ocean Ave, Biddeford Pool, 5/31.
  • 1 Willow Flycatcher, Bethel Rec Trail, Bethel, 6/1 (with Jeannette).
  • 6 (visually confirmed) Philadelphia Vireos, Grafton Notch State Park, 6/2 (with Jeannette).
  • 2 CANADA JAYS, Grafton Notch Forest Wilderness Preserve, 6/2 (with Jeannette).
  • 5 Long-tailed Ducks, 1-2 American Oystercatchers, 16 Semipalmated Sandpipers, etc, Pine Point Beach, Scarborough, 6/5.

2026 Monhegan Spring Migration Weekend Tour Report.

Another remarkable Monhegan Spring Migration Weekend is in the books. Every day out here is different in migration, and every tour is unique. But this one was particularly full of superlatives.

It seemed slow. Low numbers, low diversity, but yet with new birds being seen every day we ended up with a very good, above-average tally of 95 species, with the 18 species of warblers being just about the long-term average.

While numbers of individuals, especially warblers, were dreadfully low, we more than made up for it with quality. Quality of species, but especially quality of sightings. Just about everything was seen so well. A recurring theme of the weekend was definitely “wow, that was a great view!” or “what a fascinating behavior!”  The bird-watching was simply divine!

Here’s the photo-laden tour report, including daily birdlists.

2026 Spring Monhegan Migration Weekend Tour Report