Tag Archives: Back Cove

Recent Highlights, 1/29 – 2/7/2024

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Taking the long road to Augusta for an appointment last week, I checked a few open sections of river, including here at the Gardiner Waterfront Park where a group of 16 Common Mergansers were present. Such a snappy bird!

We’ve been busy catching up from our winter vacation, but I did see a few observations of note over the past ten days.

  • Our feeders In Durham continue to be exceeding active, with at least 70 American Goldfinches and over 50 Dark-eyed Juncos leading the way this week. We’ve also seen increases to 6 American Tree Sparrows, 3 White-throated Sparrows, and a returning two Song Sparrows among all of the resident species. A single Pine Siskin joined the goldfinches on 2/2.
  • 1 hen BARROW’S GOLDENEYE, Bernard Lown Peace Bridge, Lewiston/Auburn, 1/30.
  • 4 Horned Larks and 3 Snow Buntings, Upper/Pearl Streets, Turner, 1/30.
  • 3 drake and 1 hen BARROW’S GOLDENEYES continue, Winslow Park, Freeport, 1/31.
  • 1 adult Red-shouldered Hawk, Rte 9, Lisbon, 2/1.
  • 1 continuing Turkey Vulture, over I-295 in Yarmouth, 2/3 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group). At least one continues to winter in this area.
  • 1 continuing drake BARROW’S GOLDENEYE, Back Cove, Portland, 2/4 (with Gull ID Workshop tour group).
  • 1 2nd-cycle Iceland Gull, Portland Harbor, 2/4 (with Gull ID Workshop tour group).
  • 1 Savannah Sparrow, Seavy Landing Road, Scarborough Marsh, 2/4 (with Noah Gibb).
  • 2+ Red Crossbills, Hidden Valley Nature Center, Jefferson, 2/5 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 imm. NORTHERN GOSHAWK, our yard in Durham, 2/6.
  • 2-3 Turkey Vultures, Mere Point Road, Brunswick, 2/7.

Derek’s Birding This Week, 3/6-12/2021

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Lingering winter birds and arriving spring migrants. Here are my highlights over the past seven days:

  • 1 Red-winged Blackbird (FOY), feeders here at the store, 3/6. Small flocks around the area by week’s end.
  • 1 drake BARROW’S GOLDENEYE, River Road, Benton, 3/8 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 light morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK and 10 Horned Larks, Wyman Road, Benton, 3/8 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 Northern Shrike, Sunkhaze Meadows NWR, 3/9 (with Jeannette).
  • 3 continuing WILSON’S SNIPE, U of Maine-Orono Steam Plant, 3/9 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 Common Grackle (FOY), Veazie, 3/9 (with Jeannette…sure didn’t expect my FOY in Penobscot County, but numbers increased in southern Maine by week’s end).
  • 1 Killdeer (FOY), Highland Road, Brunswick, 3/11.
  • 2 Lesser Scaup, Mill Creek Cove, South Portland, 3/12.
  • 4 Brown-headed Cowbirds (FOY), feeders here at the store, 3/12.

This Week in Finches:

  • EVENING GROSBEAK: 0
  • Red Crossbill: 9 (Type 10 fide Matt Young at FiRN, Viles Arboreteum, Augusta, 3/8 with Jeannette).
  • WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL:
  • PINE GROSBEAK: 1 (Viles Arboretum, Augusta, 3/8 with Jeannette).
  • Purple Finch High Count This Week: 0
  • Common Redpoll High Count This Week: 7 (continuing at Back Cove, Portland, 3/7 with Ian Doherty and Ilsa Tucker).
  • HOARY REDPOLL: 1 (continuing at Back Cove, Portland, 3/7 with Ian Doherty and Ilsa Tucker).
  • Pine Siskin High Count This Week:  1 (Cumberland Town Landing, 3/7).

Random Photos Using SLR and Phone-scoping Techniques Over the Last Few Days.

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Over the past few days, I have squeezed in a healthy amount of birding, giving the season and a life in retail!  It has been fruitful birding, too, and I posted daily highlights to our store’s Facebook Page for the complete story of recent birding outings.

I also took an unusual amount of photos for me.  I’m really not a bird photographer.  Instead, I call myself a “birding photographer.”  I even wrote an article for the recent Birder’s Guide to Gear from the American Birding Association about techniques of birding photography, from traditional digital SLR’s to phone-scoping.

In the past few days, I have employed both techniques to grab some photos while birding.  Some are better than others, and some are nothing more than “documentation” shots. In the shots below,  I employed either a Nikon D80 with a 300mm F4 lens and a 1.4x teleconveter, or a iPhone 4s coupled with a Zeiss Diascope T*FL 65 using a Phone Skope brand adapter.  Unfortunately, fairly thick cloud cover on both days impacted my lame photographing attempts.  Please remember to double-click the photos to get a larger image.

Yesterday, Luke Seitz, Maegan Krieger, and I met at Back Cove in Portland.  While waiting for their arrival, I spotted this Snowy Owl, and phone-scoped it early in the morning.
IMG_2125_SNOWatBackCove,12-19-13IMG_2121_SNOW_BackCove2,12-19-13

When we returned to the parking lot around 2:00pm, the day was marginally brighter, and the bird was significantly closer.  We used an excersize wall in the playing field as a very convenient blind, and I went to the SLR.
DSC_0025_SNOW1,Back Cove,12-19-13

Upon our arrival at Pine Point, this 1st-year Bald Eagle landed nearby.  I was without the SLR, so I snapped these photos using my phone-scoping system!
IMG_2141_1stCBAEA,PinePoint,12-19-13IMG_2148_1stCBaldEagle, PinePt, 12-19-13

We also found some good birds during the course of the day, including these treats at Grondin Pond: a 1st-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull and a male Gadwall – both of which were phone-scoped.
1stWLBBG,GrondinPond,12-19-13IMG_2161_GADW,GrondinPond,12-19-13

This morning, I visited the Hatch Hill Landfill in Augusta to study gulls, such as this rather dark 1st-winter Iceland Gull, which I phone-scoped on top of the hill.
IMG_2173_darkish1stWICGU,HatchHill,12-20-13

However, at least a dozen Bald Eagles of various ages were particularly active today, so I grabbed the SLR and fired away.  There was this 4th-year bird:
DSC_0050_4thCBAEA,HatchHill,12-20-13-best

And this interesting 2nd or 3rd year individual:
DSC_0053_2nd-3rdBAEA,HatchHill,12-20-13DSC_0051_2nd-3rdBAEA,HatchHill,12-20-13_edited-1DSC_0058_2nd-3rdBAEA,HatchHillLandfill,12-20-13