The 2025 Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch came to a close on Thursday. It did not exactly end with a bang, but we had a great flight for the this late in the season on Monday, including a good movement of immature Broad-winged Hawks and Merlins, such as this one. It, and everything else that has passed over or by the summit for the last two weeks has only added to our record-breaking season.
After last week’s rarity insanity, this was a tamer, more “normal” week for mid-May. While several great songbird flights occurred this week, concentrations were few, but there were “new” birds arriving most every day. Here are my observations of note over the past seven days.
This female Cerulean Warbler at Evergreen Cemetery on 5/6 was the first in Maine for just about every birder who raced to see it! Thanks to Bill for the photo!
Wow! What a week! Although I was out of town for the huge flight Friday night into Saturday morning, my birding with a tour group on an almost-as-productive Sunday morning made up for it. Then, with an upper level low locked into place, migration ground to a halt throughout most of the rest of the week. However, a trickle of new arrivals appeared, and an impressive array of rarities were found around the state. I did a lot more chasing than usual this week (including a personal “state bird”, but a self-found rarity on Friday was a perfect way to put the icing on the cake of a tremendous week of spring birding! My observations of note over the past seven days included the following:
15 species of warblers (FOY) between Evergreen Cemetery and Capsic Pond Park, with Northern Parula the most numerous at both, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
1 ROSS’S GOOSE, Thornhurst Farm/Prince Well Road, North Yarmouth, 5/5. Found by the Boardman family, there was discussion as to its ID. When I was sent photos on the morning of the 5/5, after being present for at least 3 days, I thought it was a “pure” Ross’s Goose. When Jeannette and I then visited the bird to observe it, we left with zero doubt. I posted a series of photos, a short video, and an explanation of the identification on this Facebook post.
1 female CERULEAN WARBLER, Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, 5/6 (with Bill Thompson). Found earlier in the morning by Doug Hitchcox. Bill and I ran into each other on Eastern Road and then raced north together for the twitch. His photo is above. My (and most peoples’) first in Maine, this was #11 on my personal next birds in Maine list, and one that feels long overdue.
1 continuing BLACK-NECKED STILT, Spurwink Marsh, Cape Elizabeth, 5/6 (with Bill Thompson). Well, since we were out chasing together, we figured we might as well visit this elegant rarity found by John Lorence on 5/3.
The continuing CERULEAN WARBLER at Evergreen Cemetery on 5/8 with my Birds on Tap – Roadtrip: Warblers and Wort! Tour group. I don’t generally take photos while guiding groups, but I took a few of this bird…and completely wiffed on them!
After all this “twitching,” I was due to find my own rarity, and did so on 5/9 with an adult breeding plumage female RUFF (REEVE) at Walsh Preserve in Freeport. There are only about 10 previous records for Maine.
My personal “first of years” this week also included:
2 Yellow Warblers, Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
8 Black-throated Blue Warblers, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
2 Wood Thrushes, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
3 Magnolia Warblers, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
4 Chestnut-sided Warblers, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
2 Great-crested Flycatchers, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
2 American Redstarts, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
2 Northern Waterthrushes, Capisic Pond Park, Portland, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
7 Chimney Swifts, Capisic Pond Park, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
1 White-crowned Sparrow, feeders here at the store, 5/4.
New arrivals and “first of years” this week often appeared right in front of us at our feeding stations, as if often the case this time of year. No matter how often we see them, it hard to not get excited about each and every “FOY,” especially when they look as gorgeous as a Rose-breasted Grosbeak!
While there were no incredible flights or fallouts this week, there was a nice steady progression of spring migration on several nights and days. Here are my observations of note over the past seven days, led by a slew of new arrivals.
4 Gadwall, Walsh Preserve, Freeport, 4/27.
It was another exceptional week at the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch. On 4/28, an Osprey was our 6,022nd migrant tallied this season – a new all-time record!
7 species of warblers, led by only 20-30 Yellow-rumped Warblers but including one LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, Morgan Meadow WMA, Gray/New Gloucester, 4/29. A single fly-over Fish Crow here the same day was my first ever for this patch.
1 BLACK VULTURE, Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch, 4/29. Our record 6th of the season (but my personal FOY) – previous record was 3.
My personal “first of years” this week also included:
Back for yet another year, Jeannette and I refound the/one of the long-returning LITTLE EGRET X SNOWY EGRET HYBRIDS on the 20th at Tidewater Farm in Falmouth. It was nearly to the date that we relocated it here last year for the first time, and it really favors the tidal creek here at low and mid-tides. The long Little Egret-like neck plumes are highly suggestive of a Little, but they are coupled with some short, wispy neck plumes and yellowish lores indicative of Snowy Egret genes.\
The migratory floodgates opened this week, starting with a big flight Friday night into Saturday morning. Then, during the day, a huge hawk flight occurred. Furthermore, the weather of Friday through Saturday resulted in a small “overshoot” even where birds were facilitated further north than usual for the season, or at all. Locally, this resulted in several rather early dates for returning migrants. Another great hawk flight on the 21st, and good passerine movements on several other nights made for an exciting and productive week of spring birding. A coastal sparrow-heavy fallout for the morning of the 25th yielded another large arrival of birds, with sheer numbers dominated by White-throated Sparrows. Here are my observations of note over the past seven great days, from a returning hybrid heron to a local first Patch record:
35+ Palm Warblers, 30+ Yellow-rumped Warblers, and 20+ Ruby-crowned Kinglets, etc, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 4/19 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
Saturday was an extraordinary day at the Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch. I was fortunate to be able to catch two hours of it, even if it was as the flight was waning. The record-shattering total of 2,712 migrant raptors crushed the old single-day record of 1,814 (5/3/2020). Today’s total was more than 700 birds more than we had for every previous day combined for this season to date. Not only that, but today’s tally eclipsed our two lowest SEASON totals 2,123 (2007) and 2,321 (2011)!
1 returning LITTLE EGRET X SNOWY EGRET HYBRID, Tidewater Farm, Falmouth, 4/20 (with Jeannette). Photo and details above.
2 SANDHILL CRANES, Morgan Meadow WMA, Gray/Raymond, 4/21 (with Jeannette).
~125 Palm Warblers, ~75 Yellow-rumped Warblers, and 2 Pine Warblers, Florida Lake Park, 4/23.
7 Brant, Wood Island (restricted access), Biddeford, 4/23 (with Bethany Woodworth’s UNE Ornithology class).
1 COMMON GALLINULE (FOY), Florida Lake Park, 4/25 (with Noah Gibb and Stacey Huth). First flushed by Noah and Stacey. Was a real challenge to get a look at, but eventually it came out to an edge for a handful of minutes. My 170th species at Florida Lake!
My personal “first of years” this week also included:
1 Blue-headed Vireo, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 4/19 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 BANK SWALLOW (quite early), Florida Lake Park, 4/19 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 Barn Swallow, Florida Lake Park, 4/19 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, Morgan Meadow WMA, Gray/Raymond, 4/21 (with Jeannette).
1 Eastern Towhee Wood Island (restricted access), Biddeford, 4/23 (with Bethany Woodworth and UNE’s Ornithology class).
1 Common Yellowthroat, Florida Lake Park, 4/25.
1 Black-and-white Warbler, Florida Lake Park, 4/25.
Although Black-crowned Night-Herons have likely been around for a few weeks by now, these three at Wood Island in Biddeford on the 23rd were my personal first of the year.
This immature Snow Goose was a surprise to find in the marsh off of the Footbridge Beach Parking lot in Ogunquit on the 15th. Later, my client and I found it much closer (although heat shimmer and distance still confounded my phone-scoping attempts) off of the North Beach parking lot across the river.
After another complex and long-duration storm system put the brakes on migration from Friday night through Tuesday, there was a huge flight of birds into the area for Wednesday morning and a great hawk flight on Friday. Here are my observations of note and new arrivals over the past seven days:
Our last Fox Sparrow at our home and here at the store departed the night of 4/15. Not seeing one on the 16th anywhere ended my streak of 120 consecutive days of seeing a Fox Sparrow when in Maine! Of course on appeared/reappeared at home on the 17th.
A sparrow fallout was experienced along the immediate southwestern coast of Maine on the morning of 4/15. I caught a small sample of it with 50-75 Savannah Sparrows, 150+ Dark-eyed Juncos, 30+ Song Sparrows, 1 Fox Sparrow, etc, at Beach Plum Farm in Ogunquit (with a client from New York).
7 Harlequin Ducks and 12 Purple Sandpipers, Perkin’s Cove, Ogunquit, 4/15 (with client from New York).
1 immature SNOW GOOSE, Footbridge Beach parking lot, Ogunquit, 4/15 (with client from New York). Relocated later from the North Beach parking lot. Photo above.
The large rafts of several hundred (mostly) Greater and (at least a few) Lesser Scaup, along with White-winged Scoters, continues this week at Wharton Point in Brunswick, at least through 4/17.
My personal “first of years” this week also included:
2 Palm Warblers, our property in Durham, 4/13.
10 Broad-winged Hawks, Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch, 4/16.
3 Yellow-rumped Warbler (FOS), Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 4/17.
1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Florida Lake Park, 4/17.
Some Greater Yellowlegs (usually males) can look very dainty, and at this time of year have a virtually all-dark bill, suggesting Lesser Yellowlegs. Luckily, this one called to confirm, which is always helpful at this season when breeding plumage is often not fully developed.
There were not a lot of days this week that felt like spring, but spring birding was in full swing this week, at least when I was actually out in the field. Rare and once-rare waterfowl led the way once again, with an increased appearance of new arrivals of a wider range of species as well. Here are my observations of note and new arrivals over the past seven days:
Three Fox Sparrows continued at our home feeders in Durham through week’s end, while at least 1 continues here at the store as well.
1 continuing Brown Thrasher, 450+ Greater with a few Lesser Scaup, 350+ White-winged Scoter, 3 Swamp Sparrows, etc, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 4/5 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 Eastern Phoebe at the store on 4/6 – feeding on dried mealworms from within the starling-proof bluebird feeder. This was a first for me. They rarely eat mealworms, let alone dried mealworms, and I have never seen them enter a restricted-space feeder.
1drake “EURASIAN” GREEN-WINGED TEAL, Mouth of the Abby, Bowdoinham, 4/7 (with Jeannette. Perhaps the same individual I found here on 3/27 with Bill Thompson.
An incredible 44 Gadwall in the salt pannes at the Eastern Road Trail, Scaborough Marsh, on 4/9. This is likely a new state record high count.
My personal “first of years” this week also included:
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (first of spring), here at the store, 4/5.
3 Piping Plovers, Pine Point Beach, Scarborough, 4/9.
14 Great Egrets, total in Scarborough Marsh, 4/9.
18 Greater Yellowlegs, total in Scarborough Marsh, 4/9 (see photo above).
A week-long immersive skill-building seminar for beginning and intermediate birders based in Steuben.
Caption: While there have been a few nights with decent songbird migration so far this year, the night of the 10th-11th was the first one with a sizeable enough flight to be clearly detectable on the overnight NEXRAD radar. It’s on!
This Rusty Blackbird singing up a storm at Florida Lake Park on 4/2 has likely been present here since way back when I first saw it on 2/26! I don’t stop at Florida Lake very often this early in the season, but every time I have, he’s been in the same corner, often singing, making me think it’s the same individual. Even now, it’s on the early side for Rusties.
It was an up and down week of weather, to say the least, but slowly but surely spring migration was progressing. Considering fairly limited time in the field this week, I had a decent early season slate of observations of note and personal “first-of-years” over the past seven days:
Fox Sparrows at our feeders in Durham peaked at a goodly 6 on 3/30. 3 continue here at the store through week’s end.
1 continuing Rusty Blackbird (likely present here since 2/26; note and photo above), 1 Pied-billed Grebe (FOY), 2 Eastern Phoebes (FOY), and 1 Tree Swallow (FOY), Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 4/2.
One of two Eastern Phoebes at Florida Lake Park on the 2nd, this one seemed to be contemplating its life choices with yet another spring snowstorm on its way.
2 Rusty Blackbirds, our property in Durham, 4/3.
8 Double-crested Cormorants (FOY), Mailley Park, Bowdoinham, 4/3.
1 drake NORTHERN SHOVELER (FOY), Mouth of the Abby, Bowdoinham, 4/3.
It wasn’t a very photogenic week, but I did snap this phone-scoped shot of a Bald Eagle feasting on a Red-breasted Merganser through the fog off Eastern Road on the 20th.
Spring made only slow progress this week, but some early migrants and other new arrivals, along with a few seasonal highlights were among my observations of note over the past seven days:
Our overwintering Fox Sparrow at home in Durham was joined by a second on the 15th. 1-2 continued through the week’s end. Meanwhile, the overwintering Fox Sparrow here at the store continued through 3/16. With more migrants moving around now, I’ll forgo further Fox Sparrow reports. But it was quite nice to have birds overwinter at both of our feeding stations this year – a first for us at either location.
3 BARROW’S GOLDENEYES (1 pair and 1 female), Winslow Park, Freeport, 3/15 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
5 Wood Ducks (FOS), Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 3/16.
2 American Woodcocks (FOY), our property in Durham, 3/16.
1 pair Gadwall, 14 Northern Pintail (FOS), 10 American Wigeon, 75 Green-winged Teal, etc, Mouth of the Abby, Bowdoinham, 3/18 (with Jeannette).
The 19th season of the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch started last weekend. Free and open to the public, we welcomed Zane Baker back for his 7th season as Official Counter. 9-5 every day, weather permitting. The first week was highlighted by a great first day and two Black Vulture sightings.
Don’t panic – this wasn’t in Maine! But it was my bird photo highlight over the past two weeks. This Boreal Owl was spotted a short distance north of Duluth along the famous North Shore Road on the first day of a visit there with friends on March 1st. I don’t usually chase birds out of state, but this winter has been incredible for Boreal (and Great Gray) Owls and we just couldn’t resist any longer! Photos from this, and other recent trips, are currently being posted regularly to the store’s Facebook page.
After a quick last-minute trip to Duluth, Minnesota for a birding weekend with friends (Boreal and Great Gray Owls!), Jeannette and I did our usual pre-hawkwatch long weekend and used it to visit friends in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (Green Jay fix and other Lower Rio Grande specialties!). In between and thereafter, it’s been mostly catching up at the store and life, but in some free moments, I had a few observations of note, including the vanguard of spring migration.
Our overwintering Fox Sparrow here at the store continued through week’s end, although it has become much more sporadic at the feeders.
Our Fox Sparrow at home in Durham continues as well, often singing in the morning.
1 Red-winged Blackbird (FOS), our feeders in Durham on 3/5. Increased to 3 on the 6th. 20-25 by the 12th, etc.
1 Common Grackle (FOY), our feeders in Durham, 3/12.
3 Brown-headed Cowbirds (FOY), our feeders in Durham, 3/12.
There was a nice little arrival of Song Sparrows to the area on the morning of the 12th.
1 probable CACKLING GOOSE, Rte 136, Durham, 3/12. Among 600+ Canadas, I had to reposition for a better and confirming view and shortly thereafter all geese were flushed by an eagle. Subsequent searches failed to relocate the suspect bird.
4 Fish Crows (FOY), Anniversary Park, Auburn, 3/13.
1 Killdeer (FOY), Thornhurst Farm, North Yarmouth, 3/13.
Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch
The 19th season of the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch starts tomorrow! Free and open to the public, we welcome Zane Baker back for his 7th season as Official Counter. 9-5 every day, weather permitting.
Maine Birding Field Notes 