The 2025 Monhegan Migration Spring Weekend was a shocking success. We went from having a weather forecast that made me worry if there would be any migrants to see at all, to an exceptional weekend that was by far the best Memorial Day weekend of birding out here in quite a few years.

Technically, our tour was to begin on Friday with a little morning birding in Port Clyde before boarding our ferry. But it was raining. A lot. Wisely, most folks held out until the ferry meeting time. Unfortunately, that meeting time was delayed by 5 hours when the first two boats of the day were cancelled due to the storm. It was a bona fide late season Nor’Easter and it was raging out there.

We were lucky enough to get spaces on the 3:00 boat, but even luckier that the seas were dropping dramatically. OK, it was far from calm, and while I might not have thought it was “too bad,” others disagreed. But we made it! And the rain had stopped. And we went from 10-14 foot seas to a few waves that may have approached 8 feet. Not pleasant, but more than manageable. Of course, I have to admit that the “worst ferry ride” bar is pretty high for me.

By the time our luggage was organized, we didn’t have a lot of time, but we decided to try and catch up with the continuing truant Harlequin Ducks that had been seen in and around the harbor. Up to 8 had been reported, but when we arrived at the recommended spot, we found 12!  While common in winter, “Harlies” are usually long gone by now, so this was a treat (it was also an island bird for me!). We also picked up a 2^nd/3^rd cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull for our troubles. There was even a short break of sunshine!

By dusk, winds were light northwest and it was still cloudy. Overnight there were some scattered showers, with winds shifting to the west and then going calm. The fog and showers made the radar hard to decipher, but the wind map for offshore offered some hope.

Note how birds who were offshore of southern New England would be pushed out to sea, but then find a tailwind that could theoretically take them right to the Mid-coast of Maine? The Boston radar was very busy, and suggested birds were indeed well offshore to our south come dawn. We had hope.

But our pre-breakfast walk was not very productive. Uh-oh. Scattered showers had returned, and there were very, very few migrants around. We did see the 12 Harlequin Ducks again, but passage migrants were limited to a handful of Blackpoll Warblers and a Wilson’s Warbler. Was this going to be a very slow weekend?

We returned for breakfast at our respective lodges, and the showers stopped. We met at 9:00 and began our next outing. I was concerned. But then, it happened. All of it.

First, a Lark Sparrow was found – very rare in spring – and while I was going to meet the group, I relocated it in the lawn of the Trailing Yew. It wasn’t there when we returned as a group, but we elected to repeat the southern loop in the hopes of encountering it. And encounter it we did, several times, actually, as it worked its way around the lawns feeding on fresh dandelion seeds.

Meanwhile, something else was happening. Suddenly, birds were everywhere! Pocket after pocket of warbler activity was encountered, and every apple tree had birds in it! Small batches of birds giving flight calls overhead were suggestive of birds only now, at mid-morning, arriving on the island. As these birds were a very different mix of species from the last “birdy” day four days ago, according to a fellow guide, these were in fact “new birds” only now, and rather unexpectedly, arriving en masse.

As the afternoon went on, it only got better! There were warblers in every cluster of trees, with lots of Magnolia Warblers and American Redstarts, but overall good diversity. Birds must have been arriving throughout the day and therefore remained active into the evening. Birds were often low, easy to observe, and the repetition allowed for reinforcing study and comparisons.

Not only was today not the forecast wash-out (just a few brief periods of drizzle and a couple of very light showers), but it was simply amazing! While warblers stole the show as expected, and the Lark Sparrow was a harbinger of things to come, our afternoon at Lobster Cove was rather exceptional, too, with two continuing “Eastern” Willets, a close pair of Harlequin Ducks, and 3 feeding Atlantic Puffins. What a way to end a spectacular day! It was like the good ol’ days out here.

By Sunday, the Low was dissipating over New Brunswick, and while the radar showed what may have been a light migration overnight, there wasn’t much happening in the “morning flight” once again. But as we began our birding day, it was actually quite good! While a lot of birds were left over from yesterday’s flight, they were augmented by some new arrivals, or at the very least, new detections. Once again, the birding was better than expected, and by late morning we already had some partial sunshine.

Unlike Saturday, activity slowly died down as the morning went on as usual, but it was just a downright delightful morning in the field. Lots of pockets of activity were still dominated by American Redstarts and Magnolia Warblers, but there were a lot more Blackpoll Warblers and fewer Wilson’s Warblers today. 8-10 Harlequin Ducks continued, and spiffy Bay-breasted Warblers were particularly cooperative. And we had three irregularly fantastic views of Lincoln’s Sparrows throughout the day.

Bay-breasted Warblers were really conspicuous this trip, and we enjoyed great looks at both males and females daily.

A longer walk out to Burnt Head and a check of the island’s interior in the afternoon found some of the birds that had melted away from the edges, while an uncharacteristically skulky Great-crested Flycatcher gave us a jolt of excitement until finally revealing itself.

With the storm pulling away, light northwesterly winds and mostly cloudy skies dominated the overnight Sunday into Monday, and therefore there was little or no migration overnight, and therefore almost nothing in the Morning Flight. However, it also meant that most birds didn’t leave. And while slower than the last two days, it was still decent, good views of fun species were to be had, and the sun came out for good.

Magnolia Warblers,  American Redstarts, and Blackpoll Warblers continued to dominate, along with the ubiquitous Yellow Warblers. Flycatchers were up, offering ample opportunity for instruction – and for eyes to glaze over. Morning highlights ranged from a particularly good tutelage from a Willow Flycatcher, a raft of 50 Surf Scoters offshore, and a really amazing Common Nighthawk repeatedly flying low over our heads and foraging over the island as noon approached.

It was warm and sunny, and with a sea breeze pushing birds out of the edges and deeper into cover, we decided to enjoy more of the island with a visit to the lighthouse grounds and a stroll deep into the spruce woods. In addition to building our list with island residents like Golden-crowned Kinglet and breeding species such as more Black-throated Green Warblers on territory, we enjoyed the plantlife of the Acadian habitat and a healthy dose of phytoncides. And in between, the occasional pocket of migrant warbler activity to bring us back to birding.

Our tour concluded with an impressive 91 total species, but I admit to being a little frustrated by having to give up with 19 species of warblers…20 sounds so much better! But given the unexpected big arrival on Saturday, and the minimal rain and wind after Friday, the tour was truly an incredibly success, far exceeded expectations, and did live up to what Monhegan birding legends are made of.

Then, as per usual, Jeannette – who joined us late on Sunday – and I enjoyed a day off together on the island on Tuesday. Unlike the magically-appearing flight on Saturday, this was a more predictable great morning. A moderate to strong flight overnight lit up the radar on light southwesterly to west winds. That put a lot of birds in the Gulf of Maine come dawn, and the morning flight was hoppin!

Consisting mostly of Blackpoll Warblers, American Redstarts, and Magnolia Warblers, it was quite diverse overall. A few “new” species included a Pine Siskin and a Wood Duck, and 3 Red-breasted Mergansers were a fun Morning Flight fly-by.

Before and after breakfast, the birding was excellent. It was the best day by far in volume, but a lot of the birds were “on the move” and departing the island throughout the morning. But there was more of pretty much every migrant species, save for Wilson’s Warblers in particular. Birds weren’t held low by clouds and drizzle, or exhaustion, so it wasn’t as mind-blowing as Saturday, even with more birds around overall.

It was also getting warm on a perfectly sunny sky, and birds took to the shadows earlier than in days past; the hotspots got much quieter by late morning with the increasing seabreeze. Nonetheless, pockets of activity continued right up through lunchtime.

We rapidly added to our collective weekend list (which do not count for our tour total, of course), including finally reaching 20 species of warblers with an uncommon-out-here Pine Warbler. We then eclipsed it with a stunning male Mourning Warbler, and finally in the afternoon, picked up an Ovenbird for our 22^nd and final species of warbler. Locally-rare Hairy Woodpecker, a truant Long-tailed Duck, at least one continuing Harlequin Duck, and we found my first Nelson’s Sparrow of the year at Lobster Cove. We even got a little hike in to try and burn a few of the extra calories we consumed from all of the islands’ scrumptious meals. And, anytime we stopped at a favorable looking patch of vegetation, migrants would appear, everywhere we went. It’s always tough to leave, but we at least went out with a bang!

So back here in the Real World now, we can reflect on this past weekend as one that we will most surely always remember!

Here is the trip list four the five-day tour. I didn’t bother including the first day though, but it did net us a Lesser Black-backed Gull that we didn’t see any other day.

* = seen from ferry only.

The above birds follow the “guide plus one” rule, meaning both me and at least one client need to see the bird for it to go onto the list. This year, the only two birds I saw without the group that we didn’t later encounter was a fly-by Belted Kingfisher and an American Woodcock at dusk, both on the the 24th, for a total of 91 with the group and a 5-day tally of a respectable 106 species.

In other words, it was a great weekend!