Part of this fall’s incursion of Cattle Egrets into the Northeast, we caught up with this cooperative individual while birding in Vermont at the Goose Viewing Area of the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area on 11/13.
After spending a long weekend in Vermont – including quite a few birding highlights – it’s been mostly catching up here at the store. Nonetheless, I did have a great morning at Sabattus Pond on Friday.
1 Winter Wren, Highland Road, Brunswick, 11/18.
Sabattus Pond, Sabattus, 11/19 – 16 species of waterfowl!
520 Ruddy Ducks
444 Mallards
251 Lesser Scaup
154 American Black Ducks
74 Green-winged Teal
48 Greater Scaup
41 Common Mergansers
19 Hooded Mergansers
18 Canada Geese
16 American Wigeon
13 Northern Pintails
8 Buffleheads
3 Common Goldeneyes
2 Surf Scoters
1 White-winged Scoter
1 Ring-necked Duck
X Mallard x American Black Duck hybrid
37 Turkey Vultures
1 Carolina Wren
This out of place Brant graced the Burlington Waterfront Park when we spent the morning strolling it on the 11/14.
No shame in chasing a bird that is this stunningly gorgeous! And like the chase of the ATFL earlier this week, we put in the effort to find out own beforehand – and then rewarded ourselves with another exceptional rarity! What a dapper goose.
Despite my best efforts, my “best” birds of the week were all chased and not found. Nonetheless, I had a great week of birding and birdfinding. My highlights over the past six days were as follows:
1 continuing CATTLE EGRET, 2 Common Yellowthroats, 1 Pine Warbler, 4 Semipalmated Plovers, 8 Laughing Gulls, etc, Wolfe’s Neck Center, Freeport, 11/6 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
This week’s Orange-crowned Warbler was “slightly” better photographed than the individual I had here two weeks ago!
With “Rarity Season” now in full swing, my observations of note over the past seven days included the following:
2 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, Kettle Cove, Cape Elizabeth, 10/31 (with clients from Maine and New Mexico).
2 Indigo Buntings, Private property in Cape Elizabeth, 10/31 (with clients from Maine and New Mexico).
1 Great Egret, Mill Creek Cove, South Portland, 10/31 (with clients from Maine and New Mexico).
1 Indigo Bunting, Capisic Pond Park, Portland, 10/31 (with clients from Maine and New Mexico).
1 WHITE-EYED VIREO and 4 “Ipswich” Savannah Sparrows (FOF), Reid State Park, Georgetown, 11/1 (with Jeannette).
1 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER and 1 RED-EYED VIREO, Sandy Point Beach, Cousin’s Island, Yarmouth, 11/3. My 9th-ever here and 2nd of the season. Photo above.
1 continuing CATTLE EGRET (present for 4 days), Wolfe’s Neck Road, Freeport, 11/4. Video here: https://fb.watch/93PdvTCQmg/
3 Common Goldeneyes (FOF), Wolfe’s Neck Center, Freeport, 11/4.
1 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER (likely continuing from 11/3), 1 American Woodcock, 32 Snow Buntings, etc, Kettle Cove, Cape Elizabeth, 11/5.
2 “Ipswich” Savannah Sparrows, Crescent Beach State Park, Cape Elizabeth, 11/5.
These two Savannah Sparrows of the “Ipswich” subspecies were most obliging at Crescent Beach State Park in Cape Elizabeth on Friday morning.
Thanks to our annual note in our newsletter to keep hummingbird feeders up through early November – and to give us a call if one shows up after the first week of October – we received another call about a late October hummingbird this year. I raced over as soon as it returned to study it and get documentation photos. Unlike last year, however, this was “just” a Ruby-throated. I should have known it wasn’t another “mega” rarity as it was way too easy to photograph closely, and I only waited 5 minutes for its arrival!
Before and after the storm, it was a rather great week of birding for me. Rarity Season is now underway! Here are my observations of note over the past seven days:
1 Field Sparrow, 2 Common Yellowthroats, 7 Semipalmated Plovers, etc., Wolf’s Neck Center, Freeport, 10/24 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 juv RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, private property in Freeport, 10/28. First seen on 10/26, but not on the 27th. See photo and caption above.
1 DICKCISSEL (photo below; Abner Point Road), 1 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL (first of fall locally), 2 male BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLERS, and 2 American Tree Sparrows (first of fall), Bailey Island, Harpswell, 10/29.
Here’s the world’s worst photo of the Orange-crowned Warbler that appeared at Sandy Point on Tuesday. I drew an outline around it to (maybe) help you find it. It was my 8th ever here.
My non-Sandy Point observations of note over the past seven days included:
This truant Bobolink was at Wolfe’s Neck Center for our Saturday Morning Birdwalk, and was still present on the 13th when I snapped this photo through my binoculars.
A few additional non-boat and non-Sandy Point observations of for me over the past seven days for me included:
1 Vesper Sparrow, 1 Bobolink, 1 White-rumped Sandpiper, etc, Wolfe’s Neck Center, Freeport, 10/9 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk). Bobolink still present as of 10/13 (see photo above).
I counted exactly 59 Laughing Gulls at Wolfe’s Neck Center on both 10/9 and 10/13; a good count for this late in the fall.
1 Pine Siskin (first of fall), Green Point WMA, 10/12 (with Jeannette).
~70 American Pipits, Highland Road, Brunswick, 10/15.
Overall, it was a great week of sparrow migration, with a nice high count on 10/8 from Wolfe’s Neck Center of 125 Song, 100 Savannah, 75 Swamp, 25 White-throated, 2 White-crowned, and 1 Lincoln’s.
Sabattus Pond season is underway as well! On 10/8, I had early-season tallies of 76 Ruddy Ducks (first of fall), 33 Lesser Scaup, 18 Greater Scaup (first of fall), 2 Ring-necked Ducks, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers (first of fall), etc.
This Blue Grosbeak was among the stars of the show from an exceptional weekend of great birds on Monhegan Island.
I haven’t yet posted a Monhegan tour blog from last weekend, so I figured I’d at least post some of the highlights from our extremely exciting weekend chock-full of great birds!
9/24 (with Monhegan Fall Migration Weekend tour group):
1 adult GREAT BLACK BACKED X HERRING GULL HYBRID
1 adult Lesser Black-backed Gull
1 Sora
9/25 (with tour group):
1 adult PROTHONOTARY WARBLER. Found by me at “Chat Bridge” and refound nearby a short while later by Kristen Lindquist and part of my group. Only bird of the weekend not seen again.
1 YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT
8 DICKCISSELS (in flock together at one point)
2 CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS (in flock with 8 Dickcissels).
The weekend will likely start off wet, but with several days of an extensive southerly flow originating all of the way from the Gulf Coast and Deep South, vagrants – like Blue Grosbeak, Hooded Warbler, Summer Tanager, and much more will be on our minds.
Similarly to last week, my birding time was woefully limited thanks to excuses including a trade show and a morning meeting. Therefore, my birding this week was mostly limited to our Saturday Morning Birdwalk and one great flight at Sandy Point.
Speaking of Sandy Point, I did not make it out for what was presumably a light flight on Monday morning, and of course a Clay-colored Sparrow – a long-overdue Patch Bird – was found. It wasn’t until Wednesday morning that I had a chance to look for it. While I didn’t find it, I did get a consolation prize. With a flock of about 400 Semipalmated Sandpipers in the cove on the north side of the point – the largest peep flock that I have seen here, I grabbed the scope. Among them was a single Sanderling, but also a single molting juvenile Dunlin – my 191st all-time species at Sandy Point!
There was a big movement of White-throated Sparrows this week however, augmenting productive feeder-watching. Granted, my extended period of afternoon feeder-watching on Monday was mostly limited to the entertainment of a constant dog-fight between a Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawk for backyard supremacy
Now, let’s hope the forecast for the weekend is a little drier than currently called for! That being said, the pattern that we are in looks really good for southern vagrants (see photo above), and especially after 5 days of poor winds for migration, once this mess clears, the migration could be huge!
Philadelphia Vireos have been particularly conspicuous this week at Sandy Point, especially because of their propensity for stopping by the trees right next to “my office” as they contemplate crossing.
I didn’t get out birding much this week, other than at Sandy Point (see tallies here), and when I did, it was mostly just enjoying the local, regular passerine migrants.
In fact, my only observation of note was a good evening at the Walsh Preserve in Freeport on 9/14 with Jeannette, where a great late-season array of shorebirds included: 1 juv. LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER, 1 juv Dunlin (FOF), 76 Lesser Yellowlegs, etc,
Meanwhile, limiting most of my outings to local dog-walking patches and our two yards (home and the store), afforded the opportunity to enjoy lots of up-close migrants this week, including a Nashville Warbler that has been frequenting our dripper at home. Unfortunately, the LARK SPARROW that Will and Jeanne had here at the store on Monday, 9/13, has not returned.
Comparing my notes to last year, the first stages of the “super flight” of irruptives over the winter was already prevalent in these parts with many more Red-breasted Nuthatches and Purple Finches than normal, and the first Pine Siskins of the season. This year, Purple Finches have been in short supply so far, Pine Siskins have been virtually non-existent, and migrant Red-breasted Nuthatches have been limited (although it seems we had a good breeding season locally). Also at this time last year, a massive early flight of Dark-eyed Juncos and well-above normal numbers of White-throated Sparrows were around, likely signaling a low year of seed productivity. This year, those species are around in more seasonable numbers so far this season
