We enjoyed a great turnout of hawkwatchers and hawks for my hawkwatch workshop at Bradbury Mountain on the 29th as part of the 13th Annual Feathers over Freeport weekend of events.
In case you were wondering, the meteorological term for this week is “yuck.” However, despite the weather, some birds were pushing through. The storm also pushed a wreck of Red and Red-necked Phalaropes to the coast, and with reports of some very early arrivals and vagrant southern birds, there seems to be a rather widespread displacement/overshoot event caused by this massive and stubborn upper-level low rotating over the great lakes. I didn’t get out very much to help prove or disprove this, but I did have some decent birding this week. While migrants overall made very slow gains, I did have my best morning of spring so far this year…right in our yard!
My observations of note over the past seven days included:
1 Evening Grosbeak, Bowie Hill Road, Durham, 5/1 (with Jeannette).
3 Lesser Scaup, Sabattus Pond, 5/1.
6 species of warblers led by 50+ Yellow-rumped and 5-10 Palm, but also including 3 Pine, 2 Black-and-white (FOY), 1 Black-throated Green (FOY), and 1 Northern Parula (FOY), our property in Durham, 5/2. After corresponding with other local birders, I believe this was a localized, light fall-out caused by an isolated, dense fog bank that was centered around Lewiston-Auburn. Florida Lake Park, only about 9 miles away to the southeast, was nearly devoid of migrants for example (fide N. Gibb).
1 Red Crossbill, Littlefield Woods Preserve, Chebeague Island, 5/4 (with Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust tour group).
7 Evening Grosbeaks, our feeders in Durham, 5/5.
My other personal FOY’s this week also included:
1 Greater Yellowlegs, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 4/30.
1 Black-bellied Plover, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 4/30.
1 RUSTY BLACKBIRD, our property in Durham, 5/2 through present.
6 Lesser Yellowlegs, Rte 136, Durham, 5/2
1 Least Sandpiper, Rte 136, Durham, 5/2
1 Baltimore Oriole, our feeders in Durham, 5/2 through present.
2 Gray Catbirds, feeders here at the store, 5/3 through present.
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Chebeague Island, 5/4 (with Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust tour group).
5 Laughing Gulls, Indian Point Preserve, 5/4 (with Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust tour group).
3 Eastern Towhees, Indian Point Preserve, 5/4 (with Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust tour group).
1 BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, Indian Point Preserve, 5/4 (with Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust tour group).
1 Great Egret, Cousin’s River Marsh, Yarmouth/Freeport, 5/4 (yeah, it’s been a while since I have been to Scarborough Marsh!)
Despite a few wintery days this week, spring is most definitely in the air. As I have finally seemed to have turned the corner with my dreadfully slow recovery, I am also getting out a lot more. Therefore, with more to report, and more changes week-to-week, I’ll try to get back into my old habit of weekly posts here.
Observations of note over the past seven days:
increasing number of blackbirds
first trickle of migrant sparrows
1 SNOW GOOSE, our property in Durham, 3/27.
increasing number and diversity of waterfowl inland.
1 Tree Swallow (FOY), Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch, 3/31.
Despite only getting out into the field twice this week, I enjoyed some good birding. For now, my birding remains primarily feeder- and yard-watching, but this week, it was more evenly split between our feeders at home in Durham and here at the store in Freeport. Blackbird flocks are officially “in” and several species of sparrows are on the move.
At home, Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds are now present daily, in varying numbers (between 4 and 56 and between 3 and 26, respectively), with one or two Brown-headed Cowbirds on most days. Similarly, at the store, small flocks of Common Grackles come and go, but 7 Red-winged Blackbirds are more consistent. One Brown-headed Cowbird made only one appearance here.
A Fox Sparrow that arrived last Friday departed on Tuesday night, and a second Song Sparrow arrived this week. Dark-eyed Juncos continue, with fewer by week’s end. However, a third White-throated Sparrow arrived on the 30th. Here at the store, four Song Sparrows continue, and 2 American Tree Sparrows arrived on the 26th– surprisingly our first two of the entire winter.
At both locations, breeding activity is heating up, too, with more territorial and courtship behaviors observed each day.
The yard highlight, however, was the Snow Goose – Yard Bird #125! -I spotted passing low over our yard on the 27th. While I didn’t technically see it from bed, I did get out of bed – where I was doing some of my physical therapy exercises to look at a large group of geese passing overhead. You may not be surprised to know that we have a pair of binoculars in every room, which is a good thing, as I was able to pull out the lone Snow from a flock of about 75 Canadas.
Speaking of binoculars, I need to take a moment to plug my Zeiss SFL 8×40’s. I fell in love with them when they came out last year, and I was very thankful for them when my shoulder was in pain. They’re just so incredibly lightweight, but I have found minimal tradeoff in brightness, color, etc. Since I am still a one-armed birder, they have been absolutely critical for my ability to look at birds when out and about now. Great balance combined with the light weight just makes them perfect for holding steady with one hand. I do need to rebuild my stamina, however, as there has been a lot of atrophy of field birding muscles over the last 2+ months!
Anyway, back to waterfowl….another highlight this week was the arrival of Wood Ducks in our backyard. A pair have been frequenting a vernal pool we can see from the house for the last few days, and Jeannette spotted them sitting in the trees just off of our porch on the 29th. Three more drakes are frequenting a pond across the street, where a pair of American Wigeon (my first of the spring) plopped in on the 30th).
Finally this week, I was able to get back up to the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch for a couple of hours on Friday. A few raptors were on the move (much less than we expected given the conditions), but I did pick up my first Eastern Phoebe and Tree Swallow of the year. Later that afternoon, another phoebe was staking out a territory around our house.
Quite likely the same individual that was first found in Portland before relocating to Thornhurst Farm in North Yarmouth, this Barnacle Goose was found on North River Road in Auburn on the 22nd. Dan Nickerson and I caught up with it two days later, here, on the 24th.
This (Two) Week’s Highlights:
Birding in Kentucky with the Beckham Bird Club
Changes at the feeding station.
Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch gets underway!
American Woodcocks are going wild!
2 Brown-headed Cowbirds (FOY), our feeders in Durham, 3/17 (with Dan Nickerson)
2 Common Grackles (FOY), our feeders in Durham, 3/18.
3 displaying American Woodcocks (FOY), our property in Durham, 3/18.
1 continuing BARNACLE GOOSE, North River Road, Auburn, 3/24 (with Dan Nickerson).
1 Fox Sparrow (FOY), our feeders in Durham, 3/24.
In contrast to my previous 8 weeks (summarized here and here), this period began with actual birding…in Kentucky! I had the pleasure and honor of giving a presentation at the Annual Meeting of the venerable Beckham Bird Club of Louisville. It was my first time birding beyond Greater Durham in two months; a most welcome change of scenery. But I must say, flying with a recovering shoulder really kinda sucks.
My new Kentucky state list kicked off on the morning of the 14th thanks to a local birding tour from Andrew Melnykovych. Starting at his patch, the Grand Allie section of Beckley Creek Park, I started to familiarize myself with the local wintering avifauna. I enjoyed revisiting with Carolina Chickadees in particular, with Black Vultures joining Turkey Vultures overhead. The weather didn’t feel like it, but I was definitely in the South!
That evening, I spoke to over 100 people at the banquet, offering my program about the Morning Flight at Sandy Point to describe concepts and techniques described in my first book, How to Be a Better Birder.
The following morning, I joined club members on a birdwalk to the delightful Anchorage Trail in the nearby town of Anchorage. Passing through a variety of habitats on an easy, paved, two-mile trail, we spent the morning slowly working through the various species we encountered (43 I believe was the official tally). Being from Maine, it was nice to hear Eastern Phoebes (overwintering and/or returning migrants), oodles of Carolina Wrens, and a nice variety of ducks in the pond: one Green-winged with a half-dozen Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers, Gadwall, Hooded Mergansers, Gadwall, Ring-necked Ducks, and Mallards (photo above). I also enjoyed the woodpecker sweep: Downy and Hairy, Pileated and Red-bellied, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and Northern Flickers.
While it will be a little while longer before our Saturday Morning Birdwalks return, it was sure nice to get out in the field on a pleasant (by Maine standards that is!) early spring morning to help folks see some birds!
But then it was back to my usual routine. Arriving at home at 1:30am on Thursday the 16th, it wasn’t exactly an early start to my window-watching day, however. Not surprisingly, I spent less time looking out at our feeding station over that week than I have at any point over the past two months. Being out of town for three days coupled with a few visits to the store and lots of physical therapy resulted in fewer hours spent evaluating feeder bird numbers. Sharp-shinned Hawk presence didn’t help either, with our adult male continuing.
This continuing adult male continues to wreak havoc at the feeders, but my consistent observation this winter has offered me insight into this species’ natural history.
Nonetheless, there were plenty of changes in species composition and quantity noticed this week. We only received about 5-6 inches of snow here in Durham as temperatures hovered around the freezing mark for most of the day on the 14th, preventing accumulation until the late afternoon. In fact, there was less snow on the ground two days after the storm than there was the day before the storm (that was far from true for most of the state, however.
Not surprisingly, there were fewer Dark-eyed Juncos and American Tree Sparrows this week. Three Red-winged Blackbirds are regular, while the high counts of Northern Cardinals and Eastern Bluebirds continued to decline as territories began to be established and enforced. We also saw a noticeable decrease in the size of our American Goldfinch flock this week. Then, in the afternoon, my first two Brown-headed Cowbirds of the year (in Maine, that is) appeared.
The following week was much more spring-like, and the avian changes were even more evident. At least here in Durham, and changes to species composition and quantities are happening fast now.
Natural food is becoming more available as the snow recedes and the first “new” food sources emerge. A new uptick in American Goldfinches to 45 on 3/23 saw most of the birds spending most of their time eating aspen buds. Although a Pileated Woodpecker remains in the area, I did not see it visit the feeders once this week. We still have 8-12 Dark-eyed Juncos around, but they are often dispersed under brush away from the feeders. Our overwintering male Red-bellied Woodpecker, pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches, and our Carolina Wren have also spent considerably less time at the feeders this week. And not a single House Finch.
The last of our two American Tree Sparrows of the winter departed on the 17th, but a presumably new bird – a migrant – was at the feeders on the 21st through the end of the week. Our first Song Sparrow of the year arrived on the 18th and has been under the feeders since. Two White-throated Sparrows continue as well, and our first Fox Sparrow of the year appeared in the evening on the 24th.
While one Brown Creeper has been regular in the trees immediately behind the feeding station for a couple of weeks now, we now have a pair, and on the 23rd I spotted one of them creeping on the ground under a hulled sunflower tube. I didn’t see it eat anything, so I won’t count it on the feeder list quite yet, but I can see its bravery increasing.
Red-winged Blackbirds are now here to stay, with 2-3 territorial birds occasionally joined by migrants (high of 14 on the 21st), while we had Brown-headed Cowbirds (1-2) on two days this week. After our first two Common Grackles of the year briefly visited on the 18th, a flock of 22 dropped by on the 21st.Also on the 21st, we had 2 Pine Siskins – our first here since January 21st. I also spotted our first Turkey Vulture over the yard this year later that day.
Meanwhile, my yard-listing gears shifted from sorting through commuting gulls to commuting geese. With growing numbers of Canada Geese beginning to arrive starting on the 17th, flocks would often be visible from the window and over our yard as they commute between the Androscoggin River and local fields.
Our suspicion that the area right around our house would be a perfect place for displaying American Woodcocks was confirmed on the first warm and calm night of the spring: 3 birds displaying closely and vociferously right over our driveway on the 18th with two displaying and one silent fly-by (a female?) on the 22nd. Speaking of American Woodcocks, our first tour of the season is right around the corner: Woodcocks Gone Wild at Pineland Farms is only a week away!
Another sure sign that spring really is here, the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch kicked off on March 15th as usual, albeit delayed by 2 hours as the last of the precipitation cleared. It absolutely pains me that I cannot be up there, but thankfully Zane Baker has returned for his 5th season as Official Counter. While Jeannette and I will be up there much less than usual for a while longer at least, we know the count is in great hands!
I did, however, make a cameo on the 20th, spending an hour and a half to test drive my stamina. A handful of migrant raptors were spotted, and I was rewarded for the effort with a flock of 6 Northern Pintails flying by. This was my personal 144th species at Bradbury Mountain State Park, and we believe a first record for the Hawkwatch -and therefore the park itself!
Speaking of appearances, Jeannette and I appeared on Newscenter Maine’s 207 last week, discussing birds, bird feeding, and the changing climate and bird populations. Check it out!
I think my friend Dan Nickerson took pity on me – or was just tired of reading about our feeder birds? – so he was kind enough to pick me up and take me birding for the morning on the 24th for some local birding. It was great to get out, and I was most appreciative. And what a day we had!
We worked our way up the Androscoggin River, finding one 1st-winter Iceland Gull still at the Auburn Riverwalk and some new arrivals at the south end of North River Road in Auburn, including the boat launch area: a total of 10 Ring-necked Ducks and 3 Double-crested Cormorants (both being my first of the year in Maine), and off the boat launch, a small flock of 5 Lesser Scaup with one female Greater Scaup hanging out with them. The first of our three Ring-necked Ducks joined them briefly.
Further up the road, we looked for a previously-reported Barnacle Goose in the farm fields, but we couldn’t find it. There were a goodly number of Canada Geese around though, and with birds in and out of gulleys and presumably moving back and forth from the river, we decided to check back later.
We looked for Snow Buntings and the like along Upper Street in Turner, kept an eye out for frugivores, and then paid the Lower Street Harris’s Sparrow a visit. I saw this bird back on January 13th, but it was too good of a bird to not see again. When it immediately popped out of its favored bush, Dan got a life bird and I enjoyed a nice long view (but not so much photographs with one hand in a cold and gusty wind!).
We then returned to North River Road where I spotted the Barnacle Goose immediately this time. We savored this sighting – Dan’s second lifer in an hour! – and photographs were more successful (see above). We decided to celebrate with Thai food and broke for an early lunch as my shoulder was starting to whine a little about all of this excitement and activity. Thai food made everything better though, as it usually does.
Hopefully, I have finally turned the corner on my slow recovery, and next week will feature a little more time in the field and at the store, but for now, I will continue to track feeder birds in between.
This stunning Prothonotary Warbler headlined my best warbler day of the spring so far when I found it at Florida Lake Park early in the morning on the 12th. Details below. This photo does not do the Swamp Canary justice!
It was another slow week of migration. This week, high pressure dominated, and a northerly to easterly flow continued essentially unabated from Saturday through Thursday. Winds were at least light enough at night that some birds fought the unfavorable conditions and “new” birds arrived almost every day, just never in large numbers. But it remains slim pickings, especially at migrant traps this week. Even on Thursday morning (more calm winds overnight allowed a few more birds to proceed) – my best day of the spring so far – numbers at Florida Lake were still very low for the date. The quality more than made up for it, however!
My observations of note over the past six days included:
10 species of warblers in one place for the first time this spring – finally – but led by only 14 Yellow-rumped Warblers and 8 Black-and-white Warblers, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 5/7 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 continuing Louisiana Waterthrush, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/11.
1 PROTHONOTARY WARBLER among 15 species of warblers, Florida Lake Park, 5/12, led by ~25 Yellow-rumped Warblers and 9+ Black-and-white Warblers. The PROW was my 169th all-time species at the park! I first found it along the base of the long dike at the north edge of the pond, as it belted out a song within about 8-10 feet from me. Foraging in low shrubs along the pond edge, in perfect light, I was of course without my camera. I did get some identifiable video and a recording of the song with my phone, before taking off in a sprint to the parking lot. I returned with my camera and eventually refound the bird when it sang again from the small wooded island in the lake (photo above), just as Noah Gibb arrived. It then flew right past me as it disappeared into the woods. It reappeared a short while later on the island and was seen by several more people. I am still kicking myself, however, for leaving the camera in the car when it was so close. Such a stunning bird deserves a better photo.
If the owlet is asleep and doesn’t know you are even there, you are a safe distance away! Great Horned Owl chick at an undisclosed location.
And my list of personal “first of years” this week also included the following:
1 Veery, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 5/7 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 Nashville Warbler, Florida Lake Park, 5/7 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler, Florida Lake Park, 5/7 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow, Florida Lake Park, 5/7 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 Northern Waterthrush, Florida Lake Park, 5/7 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
Maine’s 4th ever observation of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks have graced downtown Camden for over a week now.
It was a slow start to the week with just a trickle of migrants arriving from the weekend through the storm system on Wednesday. However, a successful twitch, and a couple of light flights overnight made for a great week of spring birding. Of course, there was also another successful Feathers Over Freeport: A Birdwatching Weekend on Saturday and Sunday. Even though they didn’t produce any birds of note, it was a wonderful weekend full of birdwatching highlights. Photos will be posted soon, while the summary of our morning birdwalks is posted here.
My observations of note over the past seven days included:
1 SANDHILL CRANE (Finally, my FOY after missing a bunch of them at the watch this year), Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch, 5/1.
My personal highlights over the past six were as follows. Not surprisingly, it was mostly first-of-year new arrivals. The new bird for my Bradbury Mountain list, however, was definitely more of a surprise!
3 male and 1 female NORTHERN SHOVELERS (FOY), 100+ Greater and 10+ Lesser Scaup, 1 drake American Wigeon, 1 Bonaparte’s Gull (FOY), etc, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 3/19 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
4 Horned Larks and 1 American Wigeon, Highland Road, Brunswick, 3/19 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
2 Eastern Meadowlarks (FOY) and 5 Brown-headed Cowbirds (FOY), Chesley Hill Road, Durham, 3/20.
1 Great Blue Heron (FOS), Cousin’s River Marsh, 3/20.
4 American Kestrels (FOY), Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch, 3/20.
1 adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, fly-by at the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch, 3/20 (with Zane Baker). This was my 142nd all-time Bradbury Mountain State Park species!
20 Ring-necked Ducks (FOY), 2 American Wigeon, etc, Mouth of the Abagadasset River, Bowdoinham, 3/21 (with Jeannette).
6 Fish Crows (FOY), Maine Mall Road, 3/22.
6 Brant, Kettle Cove, Cape Elizabeth, 3/22.
7+ American Woodcocks, Pownal, 3/23 (with Jeannette).
And finally, our spring tour season gets kicked off next Saturday with our annual “Woodcocks Gone Wild!” See the Tours page of our website for more info.
It’s warbler season! This obliging Northern Parula was in the canopy surrounding the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch on May 14th. You know the hawkwatching season is coming to a close when there are more species of warblers around the summit than migrant hawks tallied overhead!
My highlights over the past seven days included the following:
12 species of warblers led by 40-60 Yellow-rumped Warblers and 10 Black-and-white Warblers, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 5/8 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk Group).
17 species of warblers, led by 30+ Yellow-rumped and 9 Common Yellowthroats, Florida Lake Park, 5/11.
1 Rusty Blackbird continues at Florida Lake Park through week’s end; regular in early May here.
My Leica V-Lux camera went to the doctor, and it finally arrived after about two months. This Snowy Owl on our first Saturday Morning Birdwalk of the year was a great way to break it back in!
My highlights over the past seven days included the following:
2 Evening Grosbeaks, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 4/21.
Big push of White-throated Sparrows overnight 4/20-21 and perhaps another push later in the week. High count of 75+ at Capisic Pond Park and 100++ at Evergreen Cemetery (both 4/23 with client from Maine).
1-2 Evening Grosbeaks, our yard in Pownal, 4/23.
1 Peregrine Falcon and 1 Fish Crow, Capisic Pond Park, Portland, 4/23 (with client from Maine).
And my personal first-of-years and new spring arrivals this week were limited to just:
1 Barn Swallow, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 4/20.
1 Blue-headed Vireo, Florida Lake Park, 4/21.
On Tuesday – our biggest flight of the season at the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch – we observed an extremely pale Red-tailed Hawk. I propose it as a “Krider’s” x “Eastern” Red-tailed Hawk. Here’s my short blog about it:
And don’t forget about Feathers Over Freeport this weekend! Self-guided walks for kids, take-home crafts, and live online programs featuring live birds of prey. Saturday’s keynote address “Digi-scoping Made Easy” by Jeff Bouton on Kowa Sporting Optics. We arranged for this based on the frequency of questions we get asked here at the store about taking photos through a spotting scope using a digital camera or a smartphone. It’s free, but pre-registration is require
Highly suggestive of the extremely pale “Krider’s” Red-tailed Hawk (a subspecies or quite possibly just a very pale color morph) from Central North America and with scattered vagrant records along the Eastern seaboard, we believe this individual shows features most consistent with an “intergrade” between the so-called Krider’s and our typical Eastern subspecies.
The very pale white head first brought my attention to this bird as it approached the summit from the north-northeast, and circled overhead and slightly behind the plethora of counters and observers on our biggest flight day of the season. Tova Mellen gets the award for the best photos – by far – and we appreciate her effort and willingness to share them. Thanks, Tova!
Andrew Sharp, Mathew Gilbert, and Charles Duncan also managed photos, and I was able to capture (poorly!) a few additional angles that show some helpful features.
The mostly-white head, very pale underparts, and lightly-marked underwings (especially the reduced patagium) all suggest Krider’s. However, the darker crown and fairly-dark spots on what would be the edges of the belly band are more suggestive of an intergrade.
The relatively bold white panel on the upperwings is also suggestive of Krider’s, but it’s not as bold and bright as many photos suggest. The back color is also brownish-gray. Both of these look to be more consistent with an intergrade.
The white uppertail coverts/lower rump area was more evident than this too-dark photo suggests, nonetheless, it does not seem white and broad enough to be a Krider’s. Unfortunately, the pattern of the uppertail was not decipherable.
The poor exposure of this photo makes the bird look much darker than it appeared in the field (looked more like Tova’s photos, above), but it does accentuate where the dark markings are and are not.
As for printed references, this bird looks to be a near-perfect match for the “Juv/1st Year Eastern x Krider’s Integrade on Page 66 of The Crossley ID Guide to Raptors.
We had limited views of the upperparts, but they did suggest the presence of fairly extensive white on the scapulars, the large pale window, and the narrow pale uppertail covert band as shown on page 293 of Raptors of Eastern North America by Brian K. Wheeler.
Therefore, we reached the tentative conclusion that this bird was an Eastern x Krider’s, but as with all subspecies and especially hybrid thereof, designations of Red-tailed Hawk, absolute identification is likely impossible. Fun bird though!
I’ll add any comments and feedback I receive here:
Maine Birding Field Notes 