I take a lot of photos this time of year of birds with Multiflora Rose stems in front of their faces. Like this – and every other – Ruby-crowned Kinglet shot from the Saco Riverwalk on 12/9.
I found this rather cooperative, late Orange-crowned Warbler at Pond Cove in Cape Elizabeth – my 10th of the fall. Unfortunately, my camera was insisting it was the sticks I wanted a photo of, so this is the best I did.
Some of my highlights over the past seven days included the following. For the most part, my birds of note were decidedly more wintery than in the past weeks, although “late/lingering” oddities are making an appearance with the slow progression of the season and resultant concentration at seasonal hotspots.
1 Red Crossbill, private property in Freeport, 11/24 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 Hermit Thrush, private property in Freeport, 11/25.
I had a nice photo session with the late-season shorebirds at Biddeford Pool Beach on the 22nd, including this Dunlin – one of 54 present that day.
With the colder weather, we’re starting to see “late/lingering” migrants concentrating at the coast, and a smattering of rarities around the state. My observations of note over the past seven days included the following:
I found this presumptive BLACK-HEADED X RING-BILLED GULL HYBRID along Greely Road in Cumberland during steady rain in the late morning of the 13th. It looks very similar to the individual of this hybrid pair that wintered on the Falmouth waterfront for at least two years, 2019-20, and 2020-21. Could it be the same bird with a little more black on the head due to the earlier date?
Rarity season is upon us, but most of my birding this week was in and around our yard. Not that that wasn’t extremely enjoyable though! A few forays afield did not produce those hoped-for November “Megas,” but I did see a few things of note over the past eight days including:
Evening Grosbeaks have been present daily at our feeders in Durham all week. 7 on 11/11 peaked at 32 on 11/12 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 Lapland Longspur (FOF), over our yard in Durham, 11/11.
1 PUTATIVE BLACK-HEADED X RING-BILLED GULL HYBIRD, Greely Road, Cumberland, 11/13. First distant observation in driving rain suggested a much, much darker head and mantle, but finally relocated closer to the road. Joined by Nick Lund and Reed and Laura Robinson.
Red Crossbills have been regular fly-overs in our Durham yard this week, but 10 were feeding on Eastern Hemlocks on 11/17.
Evening Grosbeaks are predicted to head south in good numbers this fall and winter, and the first indications of that are appearing locally. Here’s one of the 8 that arrived at our Durham feeders on the morning of the 3rd.
My observations of note over the past seven days included the following:
One of two Nelson’s Sparrows at Kettle Cove in Cape Elizabeth on Thursday, this one had much more well-defined streaking than the other. It doesn’t seem crisp and clear enough to be an “interior” subspecies, however, but I can’t help but wonder if there are Saltmarsh Sparrow genes in here, too.
A good week of October birding – at least when it wasn’t pouring again – included a goodly total of 5 Orange-crowned Warblers and a nice mix of “late” migrants. And finally, a morning at Sandy Point! My observations of note over the past seven days included the following:
1 CLAY-COLORED SPARROW and 1 BAY-BREASTED WARBLER, Wolfe’s Neck Center, Freeport, 10/22 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk Group).
1 Orange-crowned Warbler and 1 Common Yellowthroat, Elphis Pond, Biddeford Pool, 10/23.
1 Orange-crowned Warbler and 1 Blackpoll Warbler, etc, East Point, Biddeford Pool, 10/23 (with clients from Maine and Pennsylvania).
Scoter sweep at Sabattus! All three scoters were present on Sabattus Pond on 10/25 – perhaps only the second time I have ever had the hat trick here. 26 SURF SCOTERS, 21 BLACK SCOTERS, and 16 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS joined 302 RUDDY DUCKS, 80 Greater and 44 Lesser Scaup, etc. (with Jeannette).
2 Orange-crowned Warblers, 2 Nelson’s Sparrows (see photo above), and 12 Semipalmated Plovers, Kettle Cove, Cape Elizabeth, 10/27.
Sandy Point Morning Flight, 10/28: 692 individuals of 37 species including late warblers and the first Morning Flight record of…House Sparrow! Full count here.
I spent a lot of time looking at sparrows this week, as I love to do in October. This snappy immature White-crowned Sparrow was at Wolfe’s Neck Center on the 16th.
My observations of note over the past seven days included the following:
1 continuing HUDSONIAN GODWIT, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 10/15 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group; the 247th all-time Saturday Morning Birdwalk species!). Observed at closer range later from the Maquoit Bay Conservation Land.
1 Indigo Bunting, Wolfe’s Neck Center, Freeport, 10/16.
Incredibly morning at Bailey Island, Harpswell with Jeannette on 10/17: 1 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, 1 CAPE MAY WARBLER, 1 Blue-headed Vireo, 1 Red-eyed Vireo. 6 total species of warblers; 7 species of sparrows. 400+ Dark-eyed Juncos, 200+ Yellow-rumped Warblers, 150+ White-throated Sparrows, 150+ Song Sparrows, etc, etc.
1 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, our yard in Durham, 10/17.
2 EVENING GROSBEAKS, 1 Common Yellowthroat, 50+ Swamp Sparrows, etc, Old Town House Park, North Yarmouth, 10/21.
I whiffed on phone-binning an Orange-crowned Warbler at Bailey Island on the 17th as I apparently followed the wrong bird. Turned out the other bird was this tardy Blue-headed Vireo, however.
My birding levels were closer to par for me this week, albeit concentrated on building our new yard list! The last two group tours of the year – both by boat – were conducted this week, with overall great success. It was also nice to have a few mornings to get some casual birding in before work. This is my favorite time of the birding year, afterall!
1 Marsh Wren (in a dry patch of burdock!), our yard in Durham, 10/8.
1 Long-tailed Duck (first of fall), 3 Snowy Egrets, 115 Surf Scoters, etc, Birds of Casco Bay Boat Tour, 10/9.
1 Indigo Bunting in a very light morning flight at Sandy Point, Cousin’s Island, Yarmouth, 10/10 (total – 87 migrants).
½ Day Pelagic out of Boothbay Harbor on 10/11: 1 Common Murre, 1 Parasitic Jaeger, 1 Pomarine Jaeger, 3 Northern Fulmars, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, etc. Full trip report with photos and annotated checklist, along with my Stercorariidae mea culpa can be seen here.
Our third and final ½ Day Pelagic with our partners Cap’n Fish’s cruises out of Boothbay Harbor took place on a glorious fall day on Tuesday, October 11th.
OK, let’s get right down to business: it was NOT a South Polar Skua. This is not the first time a mea culpa was issued over a Stercorariidae. It won’t be the last. Certainly not my last, anyway. But yeah, I got this one wrong, and I apologize.
We spotted a large, dark, and very heavy-looking skua/jaeger in flight parallel to the boat. Captain Nick did an exceptional job of staying with it, staying parallel to it, affording incredible views for an unusually long amount of time. We were traveling at 18.2 knots, and the bird was slowly taking the lead. When it looked like it was thinking of landing, I had Nick angle slightly away so as not to make the bird concerned. It worked! It landed, we slowly worked our way up to it, and almost circled it before it took off. High-fives were exchanged. Smiles reigned. We got a skua! Big, barrel-chested, thick dark bill, and short tail. The very cold tones and extensive molt strongly suggested South Polar Skua. It would be a life bird for many.
I was convinced in the field, and I was convinced when I got off the boat. Everyone I talked to was convinced too. Other than a small feeling that the bill looked a little long, and the bird looked a little, well, not-menacing on the water, I had little doubt. But as I announce on all of my pelagics, all jaeger and skua identifications are provisional until I can review photographs.
The doubt -err, fear – began in the evening, as I looked over Jeannette’s shoulder as she began to sort photos. Starting with the skua, I wanted to make sure it was in fact a South Polar, and not a Great. That was my only real concern. But then I saw her pics. I was observing through 8x binoculars, she was shooting at 400mm. Details would likely emerge that I could not see in the field. And I didn’t like those details.
That rear end did look a little tapered. The bill did seem a little thin. And wait, is that barring in the underwings? Uh-oh. Are we sure? What about the location of white within the outer primaries? Is it too narrow? And boy, it looks cuter on the water than I expected. And that bill does look two-toned and kinda long.
Photos were sent to a friend. The shadow of doubt cast over the room. He immediately said “Pomarine.” But we discussed, and he left it off as “but I could buy this as a skua.” Another friend “That’s a skua.” “I’m flip-flopping…maybe a hint of barring on the undertail and underwing coverts, but it looks so skua-like…the molt pattern is identical to one I saw a couple of weeks ago.” Back and forth with these three friends continued. I posted to the Skuas and Jaegers of the World Facebook page; “Definitely a skua…” said the first commentor. Books and papers were referenced.
More photos were received. And discussion continued. Some photos showed what could be nearly impossible to argue was anything other than a South Polar Skua. I only wanted to look at these.
I mean, look at that short little tail!And those dark underwings!
Sheepishly – knowing how tired he must be after a long drive to and from in the same day, I asked my friend Bill Thompson to check his photos. He jumped right on it, and sent this.
Well, crap.
Is that the beginning of the long, round-tipped central tail feathers of a Pomarine Jaeger? They’re so broad. And the rest of the tail is a worn, ratty disaster. That would explain why it looked so short-tailed in the field. But that bill looks short, stout, and all-dark.
I asked for an underwing shot.
Yeah, that looks barred. But still, that bird was a massive keg.
These photos were entered into the various discussions, and uncertainty ruled as I finally passed out from boat and skua-induced exhaustion.
I awoke – stalled in turning my phone on – and what little glimmer of hope was crushed when I opened some emails from Tony Carapella that clearly showed a Pomarine Jaeger. I mean clearly, unequivocally, without a doubt.
“And upon further review, the call on the field is overturned. After the play, personal foul, unnecessary roughness on the trip leader’s self esteem. 15 yards…”
Sorry, folks, I got this one wrong.
But, hey, the rest of the trip was decent, too, even if we scratched the headliner off the top. Right? Please tell me it’s all OK?
Of course, this wasn’t the only quandary on the day either. Late in the trip, three jaegers gave us the slip. I am hoping someone got some distant photos that might yield a hint, but for now, they will go unidentified. There were also two larger dolphins within a small group of Atlantic White-sided Dolphins. Kelsey and I are still trying to figure things out. Stay tuned. They were not skuas, either, however.
Several Northern Fulmars included one that eventually gave fantastic views. We had a few Black-legged Kittiwakes, and Captain Nick did an amazing job getting us a close look at the first one that was loafing on the water. We also had an American Pipit fly-by, and a Yellow-rumped Warbler land in the cabin and rest for a while before departing.
And it was an absolutely, insanely gorgeous day. The water had only a slight ripple, there was virtually no swell, and it was warm with plenty of sun (but just enough high clouds to reduce the glare). There could not be a better day to head into deep water in the Gulf of Maine.
In fact, the unreasonably benign conditions allowed us to motor even further offshore than usual to explore a new area. After finding two of our favorite spots a little, well, low on birds, we headed out about 28 miles to an area we found on the map known as “Mistaken Ground” where the bottom plunged to a depth of 918 feet. I accept the name as a warning that maybe this would not be a good decision. But alas, it was where most of our action was. I could have spent all day here.
Northern Gannets
While the chum slick failed to work, perhaps because it wasn’t windy enough to waft the odor towards hungry birds, and there were long stretches with virtually no life in sight, overall, we had a solid list for merely 4.5 hours offshore. The proximity to deep water and interesting underwater topography afforded by starting from Boothbay Harbor allows us to run these trips in a shorter timeframe, especially for those learning to get their sea legs. And today was definitely a day for building up one’s oceanic confidence. Confidence in skua identification, however, well, that is another story. Apparently, my “mistaken ground” was thinking I could identify these birds before studying photos on the computer!
Here’s the annotated trip list:
8 Canada Geese
970 Common Eider
113 Surf Scoter
12 White-winged Scoters
24 Rock Pigeon
1 POMARINE JAEGER (see treatise above)
1 PARASITIC JAEGER (one of the three distant birds that turned out to be identifiable from photos)
2 Unidentified jaegers
1 COMMON MURRE (spotted in outer harbor by a few observers)
1 Razorbill (confirmed from jaeger photo bomb)
9 Black Guillemots
7 Black-legged Kittiwakes
2 Bonaparte’s Gulls
145 Herring Gulls
1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
With Great Black-backed Gull (right)
51 Great Black-backed Gulls
3 NORTHERN FULMAR
With Great Black-backed Gulls
1 Red-throated Loon
15 Common Loons
242 Northern Gannets
75 Double-crested Cormorants
2 Great Blue Herons
2 Bald Eagles
1 Merlin
8 American Crows
1 American Pipit
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 Unidentified passerine.
Mammals:
1 Minke Whale
1 small pod of Atlantic White-sided Dolphins
2 unidentified larger dolphins (still working on ID possibilities but we have no conclusive photos yet)
“Warblers on the ground” was the theme of this year’s Monhegan Fall Migration Weekend tour. While Blackpoll Warblers dominated the apple piles, this Cape May Warbler was my favorite photo subject.
It’s been a crazy two weeks! Other than two wonderful weekends on Monhegan – personal and professional – and an incredibly Sandy Point Morning Flight last week, my birding has been seriously limited. With the weather pattern and so many rarities around, this was frustrating, but as of today, we have (mostly) completed our move from Pownal to Durham.
Monhegan Island, 9/22-9/26. Highlights included 1 LARK SPARROW, 6 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS, 3 CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS, 2 DICKCISSELS, 1 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, 16 species of warblers, and an insane falcon show. Complete Tour Report and daily checklist here.
Sandy Point Morning Flight, 9/29: 6,183 migrants of 69 species highlighted by 1 BLUE GROSBEAK, 20 species of warblers, and my 195th all-time patch bird in 2 high-flying Little Blue Herons! It was a great enough day to deserve its own blog, which can be found here.
1 Brown Thrasher, here at the store, 9/29. Our second ever in the garden here.
Pownal Morning Flight, 9/30: 289 individuals of 29 species. Complete list here. Our last morning flight at our old property, with a final yard list of 136.
Monhegan Island, 9/30-10/2 with Jeannette. We were here for a friends’ event, so birding was not always the priority. Nonetheless, we had some good birds included the continuing juvenile RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, at least one continuing CLAY-COLORED SPARROW and DICKCISSEL, 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker, our first coastal Pine Siskin of the fall, a late Veery, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers in every apple tree, warblers on the ground, and a big Yellow-rumped Warbler morning flight on the 1st.
And finally, there is a limited amount of space remaining on Tuesday’s Mini-pelagic out of Boothbay Harbor! Click here for more information.
Maine Birding Field Notes 