Tag Archives: Barrow's Goldeneye

Recent Highlights, 3/2– 3/10/2024

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We birded Rhode Island for a couple of days this week, and found this Pink-footed Goose, about the 7th or 8th ever recorded in the state as we drove through Middletown!

Despite 4 days of birding out of state during this period, I had a handful of observations of note here in Maine over the last nine days, including the vanguard of spring migrants. They included:

  • The first significant influx of Red-winged Blackbird and Common Grackles arrived this week, and waterfowl are definitely on the move. Scattered Red Crossbills continue, including around our Durham property and around the store area this week.
  • 4 drake and 2 hen BARROW’S GOLDENEYES continue, Winslow Park, Freeport, 3/2 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
  • 1 Fox Sparrow (FOY), our yard in Durham, 3/8.
  • 1 pair GADWALL (FOY), 1 Peregrine Falcon, 1 Red Crossbill, etc, Broad Cove Preserve, Cumberland, 3/9 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
  • 3 American Woodcocks (FOY), our property in Durham, 3/9.
  • Total of 12 Killdeer (FOY) from several locations around the “Greater Yarmouth Goose Fields, 3/10.
  • 1 pair Northern Pintail, Thornhurst Farm, North Yarmouth, 3/10.

TOURS AND EVENTS:

Only a four spaces remaining for April 6th’s “Woodcocks Gone Wild.”  This year, we are requesting pre-registration for the first time, with evening-of walk-ups only if we have extra space; sorry for the inconvenience. You can register here.

BRADBURY MOUNTAIN SPRING HAWKWATCH

We get underway for the 18th season on Friday, March 15th. We’ll be welcoming Zane Baker back for his record-shattering 6th season! All the pertinent information, and link to daily counts, can be found here.

This Week’s Highlights: November 26 – December 2, 2022

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I found this rather cooperative, late Orange-crowned Warbler at Pond Cove in Cape Elizabeth – my 10th of the fall. Unfortunately, my camera was insisting it was the sticks I wanted a photo of, so this is the best I did.

Some of my highlights over the past seven days included the following. For the most part, my birds of note were decidedly more wintery than in the past weeks, although “late/lingering” oddities are making an appearance with the slow progression of the season and resultant concentration at seasonal hotspots.

  • 1 Red Crossbill, private property in Freeport, 11/24 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
  • 1 Hermit Thrush, private property in Freeport, 11/25.
  • 1 light morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (FOS), Hinckley Road, Clinton, 11/28 (with Jeannette).
  • 59 Green-winged Teal (late, especially for such a large number), 1 Wood Duck, 6 Lesser Scaup, etc, Sebasticook Lake, 11/28 (with Jeannette).
  • 4 drake BARROW’S GOLDENEYES (FOS), University of Maine – Orono Steam Plant Nature Trail, 11/28 (with Jeannette).
  • 1+ PINE GROSBEAK (FOS), Sunkhaze NWR, 11/29 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 immature Northern Shrike (FOS), Veazie Waterfront Park, 11/29 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 1st-winter Iceland Gull, Bangor Waterfront Park, 11/29 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER and 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Pond Cove, Cape Elizabeth, 12/2.
  • 1 FIELD SPARROW, 2 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS, 1 imm. White-crowned Sparrow, and 1 Winter Wren, Private property in Cape Elizabeth, 12/2.
  • 4+ Red Crossbills, flying over the store, 12/2.

This Week’s Highlights, 1/15-21, 2022

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Barrow’s Goldeneyes are one of my favorite visitors to Maine in winter. The hens provide a nice challenge to pick out, too. This was one of two distinctive Barrow’s visible from the
Bernard Lown Peace Bridge in Auburn/Lewiston on the 13th.

Especially in November – and often again with the first cold snap in December – I talk about “rarity fever,” when there is that additional motivation and encouragement to go birding thanks to the expectation of the unexpected. And usually we in Maine talk about the “winter doldrums” in an non-irruption year. And this year, there are virtually zero irruptives in the southern half of Maine – other than Snowy Owls. But with the Steller’s Sea-Eagle (as you may have heard!), a Bullock’s Oriole at a feeder in Damariscotta Mills, a Townsend’s Warbler in Cape Elizabeth (I missed it twice this week with a limited amount of effort), and a Barnacle Goose in Rockland, there is no doubt I – and many other birders – are experiencing a little mid-winter Rarity Fever!  And that has helped motivate me to get out birding as often as I can. The to-do list can wait until February, right?

With the fairly sudden arrival to a bitter “real winter” cold, once again “pioneering” waterfowl made up most of my highlights this week, as I spent most of my birding time searching for the next big deal. My observations of note over the past seven days include the following:

  • 1 Northern Flicker, Village Crossings/Cape Elizabeth Greenbelt Trail, 1/16 (with John Lorenc).
  • 7 Brant, Kettle Cove, Cape Elizabeth, 10/18 (with Jeannette).
  • At least 2 hen BARROW’S GOLDENEYES.  A third hen is suggestive of an odd Barrow’s or a Common x Barrow’s hybrid (see photo captions), Bernard Lown Peace Bridge, Auburn/Lewiston, 1/20.
  • Fun to hear two Carolina Wrens counter-singing across the Androscoggin River – one in Lewiston and one in Auburn – from Little Andy Park, Auburn, 1/20.
  • 1 drake Northern Pintail and 3 1st-winter Iceland Gulls, Auburn Riverwalk, 1/20.
  • 1 female Northern Pintail, Westbrook Riverwalk, 1/21.
In addition to a bright-orange-billed classic Barrow’s, and the perfectly good smudgy-billed individual above (and here, on the left), there was a third bird that I am pondering. It’s either a third female Barrow’s (a great tally, especially for Androscoggin County) or perhaps a hybrid between Barrow’s x Common – the males of which do occur in Maine and are fairly straightforward to identify.