Tag Archives: American Goshawk

This Week’s Highlights 3/21– 3/27/2026.

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Bill Thompson and I birded from Bowdoinham through Gardiner on Tuesday, seeking migrant waterfowl and especially Bohemian Waxwings. We hit paydirt while working the side roads in downtown Gardiner, finding a flock of 110 (with 1-2 Cedars) feeding on multiflora rose behind a parking lot on Summer Street. They were, how shall we say, cooperative. A couple of short phone videos of our experience can be seen here. Of course, the next day, 30-40 were right outside the store!

Last week I was lamenting that I have not had enough Bohemian Waxwing time this winter. Happily, that changed this week!    My BOWA-laden observations of note over the past seven days included:

  • 1 Fish Crow, Cumberland Town Landing, 3/21 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
  • 110 Bohemian Waxwings, Summer St, Gardiner, 3/24 (with Bill Thompson; photos above).
  • 30-40 Bohemian Waxwings, eating crabapples here at the store, 3/25.
  • 5 Gadwall, Eastern Road Trail, Scarborough Marsh, 3/27.

The current weather pattern has stalled the progress of spring migrants. Nonetheless, my personal “first of years” (aka “FOYs”) this week included:

  • 1 AMERICAN GOSHAWK, Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch, 3/24.
  • 5 Wood Ducks, private property in Durham, 3/25.
  • 1 American Kestrel, Newell Brook Road, Durham, 3/26.
  • 1 Ring-necked Duck, Eastern Road Trail, Scarborough Marsh, 3/27.
  • 4 NORTHERN SHOVELERS, Eastern Road Trail, 3/27.
  • 3 Great Egrets, Scarborough Marsh, 3/27.

Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch is Underway!

The 20th year of the project began on March 15th. The quickest and clearest way to view daily reports is by clicking on the Hawkcount link contained here. Meanwhile, we will continue to post weekly summaries on the News Page of our website, which can be seen here.

Upcoming Tours.

April 19, 2026; 9:00am – 3:00pm

Portland Explorer (formerly Maine Brew Bus) and Freeport Wild Bird Supply are excited to continue our collaboration for 3 very special outings in 2026. 

These unique, relaxed birding and beer-ing adventures that you have come to love combine great local birding at seasonal hotspots with visits to sample the delicious creations of some of our favorite local breweries. These tours are a perfect introduction to birding and/or craft beer, and a great opportunity to travel with significant others, friends, and family that have interest in one topic, while your interest is primarily in the other (for now!). Seasonal birding hotspots and great local beer – a perfect combination, and we’ll even do all of the driving!

This brand-new itinerary takes us to the Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch at Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal in the peak of northbound raptor migration. Now in its 20th year, this research project by Freeport Wild Bird Supply tallies an average of 4,180 migrating birds of prey each spring from the summit!

After a gentle 1-mile climb through the woods, looking and listening for migrant and resident songbirds, we’ll arrive at the summit and join the project’s Official Counter. Derek will discuss the history and methodology of the project, as the counter points out migrating raptors. Derek will lead us through the basics of hawk identification to give us a hawkwatch primer, and then if the migration action allows, we’ll sit back and enjoy the show until it is time to depart (the walk down is a steep ¼ of a mile on a wide, well-worn trail with rocks and roots and some steps; hiking sticks are suggested if you use them). This is the only Hawkwatch Workshop program that FWBS will be offering this year, so this is a tour you won’t want to miss!

After about 3 hours of birding, we will be transported to two of our great local producers to sample their offerings and learn their styles. Our brewery destinations are subject to change, but the current plan is to visit Maine Beer Company and Goodfire Brewing.

This Week’s Highlights, 12/6 – 12/12/2025.

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One of likely at least 7 Fish Crows that I encountered along the Auburn Riverwalk posed nicely for me on a chilly morning on the 11th. How many Fish Crows are now in the neighborhood, and how many might overwinter?
I guess I’ll try and find out!

Because it wasn’t wintery enough already in Southern Maine, I drove north for my annual early-December Greater Bangor birding visit, which is always a good way to gauge the coming winter’s food resources and irruption status, for better and for worse! Here are all of my observations of note over the past seven days:

  • 1 American Woodcock, Winslow Park, Freeport, 12/6 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
  • Three days, mostly in Penobscot County, didn’t produce nearly as many irruptives as I had hoped. In fact, all finches other than American Goldfinch were scarce. I encountered a few flocks of American Robins, but few other frugivores so far, despite widespread ample crabapple and other fruit crops. Visiting the same spots as I do every year, plus a few additional locations gave me some idea of food recent and current species compositions. Recent bitter cold rapidly froze up many seasonal hotspots were locked in, but my total of 42 species was nowhere near my lowest tally over the years from this route! My highlights included the following:
  • 1 drake Ring-necked Duck, Fisherman’s Park, Brewer, 12/7.
  • 2 continuing Fish Crows and 3-4 first-cycle Iceland Gulls, Bangor Waterfront Park, 12/7.
  • 1 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL (FOS), 1 AMERICAN GOSHAWK, and 11 PINE GROSBEAKS (FOY), Stud Mill Road, 12/8.
  • 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Littlefield Gardens, University of Maine – Orono, 12/8.
  • 1 hen Barrow’s Goldeneyes (FOS), Shawmut Dam from River Road, Benton, 12/9.
  • 1+ Lapland Longspur, ~20 Snow Buntings, and 75-100 Horned Larks, Wyman Road, Benton, 12/9.
  • 6-7+ FISH CROWS in Auburn, 12/11. A small colony of Fish Crows have been frequenting Auburn (and sometimes across the river in Lewiston) for several years now. Two may have overwintered here last year, although I stopped seeing them mid-winter around Anniversary Park and the Auburn/Lewiston riverfront where I tend to bird at that time of year. This winter, at least 2 have been reliable at Anniversary Park, with one eating ash seeds across the Little Androscoggin, and another calling to it from the nearby neighborhood. Then, at least 2 more began calling from further up the Little Andy. All four were audible when I left, and then I walked the Auburn Riverwalk.  There, two more were feeding contently in the Bradford/Callory Pears at the Hilton Garden Inn. Walking back south, I encountered another contently-feeding bird eating ash seeds near the pedestrian bridge. Crows can fly faster than I walk, but there was not a perceptible movement or flow of either the Fish or the abundant American Crows at the time. It’s possible there were only 4, but my guess is there were 7 individuals encountered today. I’ll be keeping my ears open all winter to see if they stick around! Of course, with many thousands of American Crows coalescing to roost here it can be a needle in a haystack to find them and see if they are setting up a resident population (most of Maine’s Fish Crows are migratory, but it seems that outlier colonies – like here and Bangor – seem less likely to migrate. A couple of few individuals of the larger Brunswick colony also seem to stick around now. Will it be long before Fish Crows are a widespread, year-round resident of the state? Photo of one of them above.
  • 2 Red Crossbills in Bradbury Mountain State Park, 12/12, were my only Reds anywhere in the state this week.