This molting juvenile (into 1st winter) Stilt Sandpiper was one of a goodly 8 that were in the salt pannes along the Eastern Road Trail through Scarborough Marsh on the 19th.
With numerous nights of clear and calm conditions, or northerly winds, migration continued in earnest almost every night this week. Meanwhile, a couple of days of onshore winds have helped push record numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls to the Maine coast. My observations of note over the last week were as follows:
It was a big week of sparrow migration as well. For example, we had an estimated 100 each of Song and Savannah Sparrows, 25 Swamp Sparrows, etc, at Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport on our Saturday Morning Birdwalk on the 21st.
8 juvenile/1st winter STILT SANDPIPERS and 1 juvenile AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER, Eastern Road Trail, Scarborough Marsh, 9/19.
An incredible 42 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (all but 4 were adults);1 adult presumptive LESSER BLACK-BACKED X HERRING GULL HYBRID (perfectly intermediate in all characteristics); 1 ad with 1 juvenile CASPIAN TERN; and 1 AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER, Popham Beach State Park, Phippsburg, 9/20.
1 Snowy Egret, Auburn Riverwalk, 9/22.
Highlights from morning birding on our Durham property this week included near-daily Philadelphia Vireo, continuing Indigo Buntings, multiple Lincoln’s Sparrows daily beginning on 9/19, the arrival of Palm Warblers on the 21st, a late YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO on 9/22, a bog arrival of Swamp Sparrows on 9/24, and late-ish Scarlet Tanager and Magnolia Warbler on 9/25.
Five of the 38 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Popham Beach on the 20th.
UPCOMING TOURS:
Our annual half-day pelagic with our partners Cap’n Fish’s Cruises out of Boothbay Harbor is only 2 ½ weeks away! Join us on this annual favorite on October 14th – a nice, late date that should put us more in the season of things like Great Skua. More info and link to registration is here.
They might be abundant, but I do love Cedar Waxwings, especially a tree full of them on Monhegan!
Eight great days of birding, including three days on Monhegan, yielded the following highlights:
9/13-9/15: Monhegan Island with Down East Adventures “Migration Workshop” tour group. Brief trip report here. Some of the most noteworthy observations included:
17 species warblers total.
Cape May Warblers dominated the morning on 9/14, including 3 of every 5 birds in Morning Flight and dozens in trees afterwards. Plenty on 9/13 and 9/15, but most of the arriving birds on the 14th seemed to depart for the mainland.
The usual “uncommon” migrants like Rusty Blackbird (2 on 9/14), Philadelphia Vireo (high count of 2-3 on 9/14).
1 first cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull, 9/13.
1 LARK SPARROW, 9/14.
1 fly-by Whimbrel, one probable Clay-colored Sparrow (seen too briefly), and 1 immature COOPER’S HAWK (very rare on offshore islands), 9/15.
1-2 American Pipits (first of fall locally) and 1 hen Northern Pintail, etc, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 9/18.
Meanwhile, I’ve once again spent most of my mornings when home birding our Durham property, which was productive. An impressive 60-80 American Goldfinches continue, while an impressive array of migrants continue. On several mornings this week, I had plans to go elsewhere but then never left the yard. A few of the highlights included continuing single Indigo Bunting and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, 1 Ovenbird, 1 Blackburnian Warbler on 9/16, 6 Common Nighthawks (getting late) at dusk on 9/16, and a nice mix of migrants on the 18th that included 1-2 Philadelphia Vireos and the arrival of more sparrows.
The highlight though was the female-type LAWRENCE’S WARBLER (2nd generation Golden-winged x Blue-winged Warbler hybrid) that popped up on the 18th. After a short but perfect view, I ran for a camera and could not relocate it despite much searching.
Although not in Maine, this spiffy adult Sabine’s Gull was the icing on the cake of an incredible day in Head Harbor Passage, New Brunswick on 9/4 (with Beth Edmonds, Dan Nickerson, Jeannette, and friends). An impressive concentration of gulls was led by 5,000-8,000 Bonaparte’s Gulls, 5,000 Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls, and also including 20+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 20-30 Laughing Gulls (also Ring-billeds and Black-legged Kittiwakes). It was the best concentrations of birds we have experienced here in several years.
With our annual early fall weekend with friends to Washington County, a productive eight days of birding included the following observations of note:
Sandy Point Morning Flight, 9/3: 355 total migrants led by 105 Northern Parulas and 88 Cedar Waxwings, and also including a single BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER (Only my 4th morning flight record). Complete tally here.
4 Red-breasted Mergansers, Lubec Bar and Flats, 9/5 (with Beth Edmonds, Dan Nickerson, Jeannette, and friends).
1 adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, Roque Bluffs State Park, 9/6 (with Jeannette).
1 juvenile YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, Jones Creek, Pine Point, Scarborough, 9/10 (with Jeannette).
Our Durham property continues to impress during migration. Another week with at least 15 species of warblers detected in the yard, and highlights including Philadelphia Vireo on several days and a Brown Thrasher at our feeders 9/8-9.
Based on the progressing season, and my upcoming schedule, this was the last week I focused on shorebirds. As always, my peak shorebird season culminates with our visit down east. There are plenty of shorebirds left to enjoy (and count), but my final shorebird “high counts” report of the season – including a goodly 20 species this week – is as follows:
AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER: 4 (2 ad with 2 juv), Pine Point, Scarborough, 9/10 (with Jeannette).
Black-bellied Plover: 8, Pine Point, 9/10 (with Jeannette).
Killdeer: 14, Crystal Spring Farm, Brunswick, 9/8.
Semipalmated Plover: 71, Pine Point, 9/10 (with Jeannette).
Whimbrel: 3, Lubec Bar and Flats, 9/5 (with Beth Edmonds, Dan Nickerson, Jeannette, and friends).
For 2024, I decided to post my Sandy Point Morning Flight tallies here in one blog entry (instead of only to Facebook and the Maine Birds Google-group), or perhaps one entry per month. If nothing else, it helps me organize them, and my thoughts! Hopefully, you’ll enjoy reading them, too. A busy tour schedule this fall, a little personal travel, and the continued decline in the number of strong, sweeping cold fronts due to climate change are all conspiring to reduce the number of days I begin at “my office.”
The following lists are birds counted passing over and through Sandy Point Beach, Cousin’s Island, Yarmouth as part of the “Morning Flight” or Morning Redetermined Migration. For more information about this site, and my counts here, see Site C14 in Birdwatching in Maine: The Complete Site Guide (2024).
September 3rd.
A light flight passed over and through this morning. It was my first visit of the season, as cold fronts have been few and weak so far this fall, so it was great to be back at my office. I was expecting a stronger flight, however. Perhaps the winds were just too westerly overnight, as the northwesterly component is so critical for pushing birds out over the bay and beyond, forcing them to reorient into the wind and concentrating here at the northwest tip of the island.
6:02-8:20am
48F, clear, light W increasing then decreasing.
105 Northern Parulas
88 Cedar Waxwings
56 American Redstarts
41 unidentified
12 Yellow Warblers
10 American Goldfinches
7 Red-eyed Vireos
5 Cape May Warblers
4 Magnolia Warblers
3 Eastern Wood-Pewees
3 Chestnut-sided Warblers
2 Nashville Warblers
2 Red-breasted Nuthatches
2 unidentified flycatchers
2 Black-capped Chickadees
2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
1 Olive-sided Flycatcher
1 Black-throated Green Warbler
1 Baltimore Oriole
1 Black-and-white Warbler
1 Wilson’s Warbler
1 House Finch
1 Least Flycatcher
1 Bay-breasted/Blackpoll Warbler
1 unidentified Catharus
1 BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER (4th Sandy Point Morning Flight Record).
Total = 351
2. September 10th Update.
Well, so much for this plan! A week has gone by and there hasn’t been a decent morning to try at Sandy Point. And, with a massive area of high pressure dominating our weather (and most of the Eastern US) for another week, the next possible day looks a long way off! While several nights have featured at least some northerly component, it has been dead calm by dawn. Most other nights have been calm, and while that’s great for migrants to make progress, it’s not so great for a concentration of birds along the coast. For example, a very weak – and mostly dry – cold front that passed on Monday night briefly changed winds, but they were mostly westerly, and were calm by dusk.
Good for the migrants, not great for the migration-watchers! Let’s hope for a change in the forecast; we need the rain, too!
3. September 11.
I probably should have gone this morning, just based on the huge flight that occurred overnight. But, as with most good nights of migration this season, winds were virtually calm. Maybe there was just enough of a puff from the west to make a count worthwhile, but alas, my schedule didn’t allow for a last-minute change. However, there were A LOT of birds in the air last night.
A huge flight overnight on 9/13-14 resulted in a lot of birds offshore, and while I couldn’t be at Sandy Point, I had an exceptional morning flight on Monhegan – dominated by Cape May Warblers – with my tour group that weekend.
4. September 18th Update.
Yup, another clear and calm night, with migrants passing high overhead. Fog at dawn, too. Another week with no morning flight. Goodness, this blog sucks!
5. September 25th Update.
OK, this is getting ridiculous! Another week with lots of nights of great migration, but with either calm conditions or a light north to northeasterly aloft, not one more was conducive to being on the bridge. Friday and especially Saturday look great though…but alas, I’ll be back on Monhegan. No complaints there. But I’ll go ahead and change this blog title to “September-October” and hope for better conditions next month!
6. October 2nd Update.
Two great flights over the weekend conducive to a good if not great flight at Sandy Point occurred, but my tour group on Monhegan once again reaped the benefits. Next favorable winds might not be until Sunday the 6th. Fingers crossed! Maybe I’ll have some real content for this blog then…and I really need my Sandy Point fix!
6. October 5 – Finally!
I was finally at “my office” on the bridge this morning. Unfortunately, with clouds in the eastern sky and a light northerly wind, only a light flight passed over and through the point this morning. Furthermore, the Caribou radar showed rain into the early night, and likely unsettled weather thereafter, reducing or even eliminating the arrival of birds from the north and northeast (the radar after midnight showed virtually nothing over northern Maine). Nonetheless, it was just good to be back!
6:45-8:45am
45F, partly to mostly cloudy, NNW 5.3-7.0 to N 6.7-8.2mph.
60 Yellow-rumped Warblers
15 Blackpoll Warblers
9 American Robins
7 Palm Warblers
6 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
5 unidentified
4 Golden-crowned Kinglets
4 Red-breasted Nuthatches
4 Chipping Sparrows
3 Northern Flickers
3 Dark-eyed Juncos
3 Common Loons
3 Hermit Thrushes
3 White-throated Sparrows
3 unidentified blackbirds
2 Rusty Blackbirds
2 Blue Jays
1 Blue-headed Vireo
1 unidentified kinglet
1 Tufted Titmouse (did not cross after 4+ false starts)
1 Hairy Woodpecker (finally crossed after 7 false starts)
Total = 140
7. October 10.
A moderately-strong flight overnight on variable W to NW winds suggested many more birds departed last night than arrived. With a light W wind by dawn, only a light flight passed through the point.
6:49-9:15
41F, mostly clear, W 3.5 to 5.0 to W 4.4 to 7.7mph.
This Hermit Thrush kept me company at the point, alternating between snacking on Pasture Rose hips and contemplating crossing the channel (with Catharus thrushes rarely do after sunrise)
After a very slow start on a chilly morning, the flight picked up a bit in the second hour, but was still far lighter than I would have expected given the massive flight detected by the radar overnight. Even by 4:00am, the radar image was boomin’
6:59-9:15
31F, clear, NW 2.7-4.9 to W 1.2 TO 2.6mph.
114 Yellow-rumped Warblers
56 American Robins
44 Golden-crowned Kinglets
44 Blue Jays
17 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
14 Dark-eyed Juncos
9 Hermit Thrushes
8 Palm Warblers
7 Black-capped Chickadees (still did not cross after 14 “false starts”)
7 White-throated Sparrows
5 Unidentified
4 Nashville Warblers
4 Blackpoll Warblers
3 Swamp Sparrows
2 Purple Finches
2 Blue-headed Vireos
2 Tufted Titmice (did not cross after 4 false starts)
1 TENNESSEE WARBLER
1 Northern Parula
1 Eastern Bluebird
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
1 Northern Flicker
1 Savannah Sparrow
1 Common Loon
1 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER (in parking lot)
T=351
10. October 23rd.
With only a moderate flight overnight and very light winds, I didn’t have high hopes today for much of a flight. However, with the forecast for the next few days followed by a trip, this very well may be my last chance of the season, so off I went. Well, I was correct…there wasn’t much.
7:10-8:30
43F, mostly clear, NNW 2.7-3.2 to calm.
10 Dark-eyed Juncos
10 Yellow-rumped Warblers
4 Golden-crowned Kinglets
4 Hermit Thrushes
3 Savannah Sparrows
2 Palm Warblers
1 American Rpbin
1 Purple Finch
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Blue-headed Vireo
1 Chipping Sparrow
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
1 Blackpoll Warbler
Total = 42
11. November 6th.
I had every intention of trying one more morning at the bridge after we returned from vacation. Sunday the 3rd may have been the day. But, avoiding the painful early wake-up call of the end of Daylight Savings Time, I decided to twitch the Common Gull in Rockland instead. I feel a little guilty, but ya know, every now and then I like a little chase, and besides, it was kind enough to stick around until we returned, so I felt I owed it.
It wasn’t a great season for me at “my office,” as this was certainly a record low number of visits. And to not catch any big flights is of course disappointing. But it was a good fall for birding – and an especially good fall for birds with little to impede their migration – and I enjoy every chance I can get to be at Sandy Point. And with a lot less pain this year than last year when I was still recovering from complications following shoulder surgery.
So with that, the 2024 Sandy Point Morning Flight season is officially closed. Still plenty of migration left, but it’s mostly diurnal migrants now. There will be a Dark-eyed Junco flight or two, some great flights of American Robins, and likely one last little push of Yellow-rumped Warblers. However, Rarity Season is now in full swing, so it’s time to focus on other birding locations. See you in August! (If there are any real cold fronts).
(And now it’s time to see what Yarmouth’s plans are for the walkway repair and improvement. I’ll need to make sure birding opportunities are improved and vegetation is protecting. Stay tuned…I might need your help)
Jeannette and I spotted these four Red-necked Phalaropes from the Casco Bay Ferry Mailboat run with visiting family on the 26th.
It was a very busy week for me, but when I did get out, birding was productive – especially in the backyard which hosted at least 15 species of warblers this week. Meanwhile, shorebirding continues to be hot. My observations of note over the past 8 days included the following
1 Black Scoter, 2 White-winged Scoters, and 2 Blue-winged Teal with Common Eiders, Reid State Park, Georgetown, 8/27. As scoters begin to increase in September, I’ll forgo reporting the “oversummering” groups from now on.
1 TRICOLORED HERON, Mill River Park, Thomaston, 8/29 (with Jeannette).
1 Northern Pintail (first of fall) and 1 juv, Little Blue Heron, etc, Eastern Road Trail, Scarborough Marsh, 8/30.
3 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Seawall Beach, Phippsburg, 9/2 (with Ed Hess).
My shorebird high counts for 18 species this week were solid considering I didn’t make it to Biddeford Pool (or Pine Point) during this period. Focusing on mostly lesser-visited hotspots, I found several goodies and had a few decent high counts.
Black-bellied Plover: 67, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 9/2 (with Ed Hess).
Brandon Baldwin and Kevin Harding found this American White Pelican off Wharton Point in Brunswick on the 24th. My “lunchbreak chase” ended up taking a few extra hours, but it was more than worth it when a small group of us were treated to the bird flying right over our heads at the end of the Maquoit Bay Conservation Land trail. Luckily, it wasn’t any closer when it decided to lighten the load, as caught in action here.
It was an exceptional week of late summer birding. Once again motivated by shorebirds, I ran into quite a few other species of note while working the usual hotspots. My non-shorebird observations of note over the past 7 days included:
Common Nighthawks were on the move this week, while some other widespread migrants and frequent visitors to our Durham property included American Redstart and Yellow, Black-and-white, Magnolia, Tennessee and Cape May Warblers.
1 adult Little Blue Heron and 2+ Surf Scoters, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 8/21 (with Anniversary Day Birdwalk group).
2 FORSTER’S TERNS, 2 CASPIAN TERNS, and 1 adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 8/23 (with Noah Gibb).
1 female LONG-TAILED DUCK and 2 Surf Scoters, Biddeford Pool Beach, Biddeford, 8/23 (with Noah Gibb).
1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, 2 Cape May Warblers, etc, Old Town House Park, North Yarmouth, 8/24 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 8/24. A State Bird for me, it was found about an hour earlier by Kevin Harding and Brandon Baldwin. After it was displaced by a passing airboat, I arrived at about 12:30 and relocated it on the rocky ledge at the southern end of the bay. Brandon and I cut the distance in more than half by walking out to the end of the Maquoit Bay Conservation Land trail. Although closer, the light was brutal, but a small group of us waiting until the tide had inundated the ledge. Then the pelican took off. First it started heading south, but circled back, passed directly overhead (see photo above) and then gained altitude high over Wharton Point before disappearing off to the north.
26 Surf Scoters, Maquoit Bay Conservation Land Trail, 8/24 (with Brandon Baldwin).
Meanwhile, fueled by a successful 19-species “shorebird mini-Big Day on 8/23 with Noah Gibb, my shorebird high counts for a total of 20 species this week were as follows:
AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER: 2, Little Whaleboat Ledges, Casco Bay, 8/25 (with Birds of Casco Bay Boat Trip tour group).
Black-bellied Plover: 150+, The Pool, Biddeford Pool, 8/23 (with Noah Gibb).
Killdeer: 26, Crystal Spring Farm, Brunswick, 8/21 (with Anniversary Day Birdwalk grpup).
Semipalmated Plover: 400, The Pool, 8/23 (with Noah Gibb).
Piping Plover: 1, Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 8/23 (with Noah Gibb).
“Eastern” Willet: 3, The Pool, 8/23 (with Noah Gibb).
Greater Yellowlegs: 8, Royal River flats, 8/25 (with Birds of Casco Bay Boat Trip tour group).
An adult LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER was a fun find for Jeannette and I this week at the Walsh Preserve in Freeport. It could have been closer, but this photo shows some of the pertinent identification features in the bird to the right including the larger size and very round shape, hunched back, and uniformly reddish tone throughout much of the undersides.
Far from being my best shot of the week, our Saturday Morning Birdwalk group enjoyed 2 Stilt Sandpipers at Freeport’s Walsh Preserve. Here’s one of them (pardon the lousy hand-held phone-scoped photo) flanked by Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs for a perfect comparison. Instructional shorebird identification was the name of the game for my tours this week!
Two shorebird-focused tours, plus a few mornings out on beach/mud on my own produced some solid shorebird high counts. My species list and a few high counts would have been added were in not for the rapidly-approaching thunderstorm as my Shorebird Workshop group arrived at Hill’s Beach on the 15th! Landbird migration is really picking up as well, with lots of the expected early warblers on the move, including a Cape May Warbler at the Walsh Preserve in Freeport (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group) on the 17th.
Non-shorebird observations of note this week:
28+ continuing Surf Scoters, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 8/12.
2 Common Nighthawks (First of fall), over our property in Durham, 8/13.
2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Pine Point, Scarborough, 8/15 (with Down East Adventures Shorebird Workshop tour group).
6 Surf Scoters, Popham Beach State Park, Phippsburg, 8/16.
Shorebird high counts this week:
Black-bellied Plover: 91, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 8/12 (with Jeannette).
Killdeer: 35, Crystal Spring Farm, Brunswick, 8/12 (with Jeannette).
Semipalmated Plover: ~300, Pine Point, Scarborough, 8/15 (with Down East Adventures Shorebird Workshop tour group).
Least Sandpiper: 20+, Great Pond, Biddeford Pool, 8/15 (with Down East Adventures Shorebird Workshop tour group).
White-rumped Sandpiper: 12, Pine Point, 8/15 (with Down East Adventures Shorebird Workshop tour group).
Semipalmated Sandpiper: ~1750, Biddeford Pool Beach, 8/15 (with Down East Adventures Shorebird Workshop tour group). Honorable mention of ~1200 at Pine Point on 8/15 (with Down East Adventures Shorebird Workshop tour group).
Short-billed Dowitcher: 8, Popham Beach State Park, 8/16.
Spotted Sandpiper: 2, multiple locations this week.
“Eastern” Willet: 14, Pine Point, 8/15 (with Down East Adventures Shorebird Workshop tour group).
Greater Yellowlegs: 41, Wharton Point, 8/13 (with Jeannette).
Tours and Events:
The 20th Anniversary Celebration Month is underway here at the store. All the details can be found here, including a silent auction for conservation, and several chances to win a new pair of binoculars!
Two of the three Lesser Black-backed Gulls present at Hill’s Beach in Biddeford on the 8th included these two 3rd-cycle birds, seen here with a likely 4th cycle Herring Gull for a nice comparison.
Once again, I focused on shorebirds this week, and not surprisingly the non-shorebird highlights I encountered were while looking at said shorebirds. Meanwhile, passerine movement is really ramping up, with lots of early warblers like Yellow, American Redstart, and Black-and-white on the move. Some of the other migrants on our Durham property this week included Canada Warbler, Eastern Kingbird, Bobolink, and Barn Swallow.
3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (one 1st-summer; with Dan Gardoqui and two 3rd-summers arriving later), Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 8/8.
The adults of a lot of species of shorebirds are peaking now, and a growing number of juveniles are arriving, providing for some good numbers at a variety of locations. Shorebird high counts this week:
Black-bellied Plover: 86, The Pool, Biddeford Pool, 8/8.
Killdeer: 21, Crystal Spring Farm, Brunswick, 8/5 (with Jeannette).
Semipalmated Plover: 150+, Pine Point, Scarborough, 8/11 (with Birds on Tap – Roadtrip! Tour group).
Semipalmated Sandpiper: 1500+, The Pool, Biddeford Pool, 8/8 (with Dan Gardoqui).
Short-billed Dowitcher: ~40, The Pool, 8/8 (with Dan Gardoqui).
Spotted Sandpiper: 2, multiple locations this week.
Solitary Sandpiper: 1, several locations this week.
Lesser Yellowlegs: 71, Walsh Preserve, 8/9.
“Eastern” Willet: 18, Pine Point, 8/11 (with Birds on Tap – Roadtrip! Tour group).
“WESTERN” WILLET (FOY): 1, Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 8/8.
Greater Yellowlegs: 12, Wharton Point, 8/6 (with Jeannette).
Tours and Events:
The 20th Anniversary Celebration Month is underway here at the store. All the details can be found here, including free raffles for dinner (get your tickets in soon; drawing on Wednesday!), a silent auction for conservation, and several chances to win a new pair of binoculars!
Birds of Casco Bay with Seacoast Tours, originally scheduled for 8/4, has been postponed until Sunday, 8/25. Call Seacoast Tours to see if any spaces have opened up.
Despite being focuses on shorebirds this week, my most productive photo session were with Roseate Terns on Hill’s Beach on 7/30. This was my favorite shot, of a juvenile still hungry while its banded parent went out in search of more fish.
Shorebird season is in full swing, and since our return from our summer vacation, shorebirds have been my birding focus. As I often do at this time of year, I like to organize my weekly (or thereabouts) observations into a “high counts for the week” summary. This is really for my own organization of notes and allows me to quickly evaluate ebbs and flows across the summer, and across various years. To get a good sample, I need to hit at least one high tide and one low tide hotspot each week, along with one “grasspiper spot,” freshwater location, and “local hotspot.” I never accomplished that in any period in July before our trip, so I will start that pursuit this week. I hope you too find values from these brief syntheses.
This week’s non-shorebird highlights:
1 White-throated Sparrow, our property in Durham, 7/29. They don’t breed withing several miles of the property, and this was our first summer record. It was a molting adult. I think short-distance “molt migration” in songbirds of the Eastern Forest is under-appreciated (see, for example, recent spate of boreal warblers on offshore seabird islands).
1 1st-summer Lesser Black-backed Gull, Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 7/30.
1 Black and at least 23 Surf Scoters, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 8/4.
Shorebird high counts this week:
AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER: 3, Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 7/30. Plus 1 at Pine Point on 8/1.
Black-bellied Plover: 44, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 8/4.
Killdeer: 32, Crystal Spring Farm, Brunswick, 8/4.
Semipalmated Plover: 343, Pine Point, Scarborough, 8/1.
Piping Plover: 6, Biddeford Pool Beach, Biddeford, 7/30.
Whimbrel: 3, Pine Point, 8/1.
Ruddy Turnstone: 11, Hill’s Beach, 7/30.
Sanderling: 8, Hill’s Beach, 7/30.
Least Sandpiper: 40+, Eastern Road Trail, Scarborough Marsh, 8/1.
Pectoral Sandpiper: 1, several locations this week.
Semipalmated Sandpiper: 800+, The Pool, Biddeford Pool, 7/30.
Short-billed Dowitcher: 88, Hill’s Beach, 7/30.
Spotted Sandpiper: 3, Eastern Road Trail, 8/1.
Solitary Sandpiper: 1, our property in Durham, 7/29.
The 20th Anniversary Celebration Month has begun here at the store. All the details can be found here, including free raffles for dinner, a silent auction for conservation, and several chances to win a new pair of binoculars!
Birds of Casco Bay with Seacoast Tours, originally scheduled for this morning, has been postponed until Sunday, 8/25. Call Seacoast Tours to see if any cancellations have opened up any spaces.
This Tropical Kingbird, a long-overdue third state record, was discovered at the Skelton Dam Boat Launch in Dayton. Many of us saw it on the morning of 7/18, but it may have been present for nearly three weeks before being identified!
It’s been a busy 12 days, with a weekend in Quebec City and summertime human visitors. Of course, the last day in Quebec City was when the Ferruginous Hawk was 20 minutes from our home. Oh well…brunch was absolutely fantastic. Sadly, life and work minimized my birding during this period, despite a suite of rarities now appearing around the Northeast. Luckily, I did have a couple of good mornings in the field before we head out on our summer vacation, including hours of quality time with a Tropical Kingbird in Dayton that was happily identified while I was around and somehow free of responsibilities for the morning! I wonder what will show up while we are gone this time!?
Both Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos have been calling on our Durham property all week.
2-3 Grasshopper Sparrows, Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport, Auburn, 7/15 (with Doug Hitchcox et all).
1 continuing TROPICAL KINGBIRD, Skelton Dam Boat Launch, Dayton, 7/18 (with m’obs). Third state record, first chase-able. Long overdue state bird for me! After years of expecting, predicting, and looking for one, in my frustration, I pulled it off my “Next 25 Predictions List” and so I don’t get any credit for this one. I still enjoyed it though. Photo above, and video here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/4qyGf1VSmw1wpSon/
The salt pannes along the Eastern Road Trail in Scarborough Marsh are exceptional right now due to low water levels. On the morning of the 19th, a few of the tallies included 125+ Snowy and 50+ Great Egrets; 50+ Glossy Ibis; and 20+ Great Blue Herons. Shorebird numbers included a nice number of Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers; 50+ Greater and 30+ Lesser Yellowlegs; 16 Short-billed Dowitchers; and 2 Pectoral Sandpipers (FOF). Of course the highlight for me, however, was “Patches Jr, Jr” – the proposed HYBRID TRICOLORED HERON x SMALL WHITE EGRET(S) SPP back for another year. In fact, it’s already year 12 of this complex here. Unfortunately, it was too far for photos today. For more information, see: North American Birds, Volume 72: No 2, pp 28-40.
Maine Birding Field Notes 