Tag Archives: Dickcissel

Monhegan Fall Migration Weekend, Sept 2022.

*This Cape May Warbler was one of many birds that escaped the strong winds by finding large flies eating rotting apples that littered the ground all over the island.*

I arrived on the island on Thursday (9/22). Be happy that the tour didn’t start this day. It rained. A Lot. However, I was greeted by 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on Smuttynose Island upon my arrival: 5 adults and 1 juvenile. It turned out to be one of the highest counts ever on the island. That would also turn out to be my birding highlight of the day, as a short jaunt in the afternoon only yielded one species that I would not end up seeing with the group: a juvenile Ring-billed Gull, which is actually a very uncommon bird out here.

The sunset, however, was worth the trip, and the clearing skies foretold some good birding to come.

Overnight, a moderate migration on clearing skies brought many new birds to the island. The group met at 9:00, and we picked up the rest of the day’s participants as their ferry arrived. It was very windy today, but all day long, whenever we found a pocket of shelter, we found birds. It was mostly Yellow-rumped and Blackpoll Warblers, as expected for the date, but there was a decent smattering of diversity.

Between the winds and the raptors, birds were keeping low though! But speaking of raptors – wow, the falcon show! It was incredible. There is absolutely no way of knowing how many Peregrine Falcons and Merlins we saw today, with birds whipping by overhead. Some were hunting, and likely circling the island to do so, but it’s also possible that there was a steady flow of birds moving south, only pausing to wink at the island. It was impossible to quantify, but it was a whole lot of fun to watch!

*Northern Flickers had to stay low and out of sight to survive the day.*

We enjoyed quality time with Cedar Waxwings, Monarch butterflies, and enjoyed some gorgeous Question Mark butterflies as well. White-crowned Sparrows were rather conspicuous, and we had a good lesson in duck identification with Mallards, an American Black Duck, and a hybrid thereof all side-by-side.

*Black-throated Green Warbler on post-cider-making apple mash.*

Wind was whipping all night long and continued to gust well over 20mph as of sunrise. With a high-pressure system building in, and powerful Hurricane Fiona passing well to our east, the wind would just not let up. Several ferries were cancelled, and if you happened to be in the room that a screen door was slamming up against all night (ahem), then maybe you were not as rested as you would have liked.

The Gray NEXRAD radar was down, but the Caribou station showed a moderate flight of birds overnight with marginally lighter winds over the mainland. A light morning flight – mostly strong-flying Blackpoll Warblers – didn’t portend a lot of birds had arrived, but pockets of White-throated Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers in places where they weren’t yesterday suggested otherwise. In fact, there were a bunch of birds around, and it was a very productive morning!

We visited with two cooperative Dickcissels that have been around for days, caught up with the lingering Lark Sparrow, and were among the lucky ones who caught up with an early Orange-crowned Warbler. All before lunch.

And while the wind continued to gust, and uncountable falcons continued to wreak havoc, anytime we found a corner of shelter, we found birds – and often lots of them! White-throated Sparrows littered the woods, and because of the wind, many birds were insanely easy to see.

One of the highlights were warblers on the ground – hatches of large flies were feasting on rotting apples below laden trees, and with no flying insects able to survive a foot into the air today, we spent a lot of time looking DOWN at warblers.

*We also made it over to the cliffs to see what may have been in the island’s lee.*

*We saved this Gartner Snake from a cat’s mouth on our way to not seeing a Red-headed Woodpecker that was playing hard to get for us.*

Finally, as dusk fell, the winds subsided. Unfortunately, by early nightfall, the winds were already a little more westerly than we would have liked. Come Sunday morning, a surprisingly light morning flight, dominated by Yellow-rumped Warblers almost exclusively, reflected the lack of the northerly component overnight. Birds seemed to be in lower quantities overall – a lot of Blackpoll Warblers had apparently departed – and with calm conditions (so, so welcome), there were fewer concentrations of birds.

Throughout the day, it was relatively slow by Monhegan standards, but we just kept adding new species to the triplist, and basking in repeated stellar views. The two Dickcissels were in their usual place throughout the day, a juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull continued, and later in the morning we found a Marsh Wren – very uncommon out here.

In the afternoon, we had a splendid sparrow session. We had our longest looks yet at the Lark Sparrow, but after a report of one Clay-colored Sparrow at the same spot, we arrived to find three! A Lincoln’s Sparrow even came out into the open to join the Song, Chipping, White-throated, White-crowned, and Savannah Sparrows, making for an impressive total of 7 species of sparrows from one spot! Of course, the comparative experience makes all the difference in learning these species – as most look so very different from each other. Well, most of them did, anyway! A solid 76 species were tallied by day’s end.

*Clay-colored Sparrow with juvenile Chipping Sparrow*

The last day of the tour was Monday the 26^th, and our time was winding down. So were the number of non-Yellow-rumped Warblers. Some light showers overnight may have put a few birds down, but winds were southwesterly thereafter, and the Caribou radar (the Gray station was still down) showed little movement. The morning flight was therefore virtually non-existent.

We found an Indigo Bunting, and later, an Alder Flycatcher confused and disoriented, stuck in the ice cutting display building of the Monhegan Museum. Three Clay-colored Sparrows were still present; we had good looks at two of them at the school and had another session comparing them to the variety of ages of Chipping Sparrows they were cajoling around with. The Lark Sparrow also performed nicely for us again.

*Alder Flycatcher in the museum’s ice-cutting shed. It eventually figured out the lighting and got itself out.*

*Two of the three Clay-colored Sparrows, here, with a Chipping Sparrow in the middle.*

It felt very slow, especially in the afternoon, when we took time to enjoy Fringed Gentian and repeatedly “dip” on a Red-headed Woodpecker that most everyone except us had eventually seen. Yet interestingly, we kept finding new species for our day’s list, and by the time the tour ended in time to catch the 4:30 ferry to Port Clyde, we had accumulated our highest species total of the weekend – a goodly 81.

The apparent abundance of some species – such as White-breasted Nuthatch, which we conservatively estimated included the presence of 4-6 pairs despite apparent omnipresence and Blackpoll Warblers on the ground – continued to impress as well.

With today’s new additions along with Laughing Gulls on our ferry ride back, our total trip listed amounted to 95 species! So despite the strong winds that howled for the first two days of the tour, and unfavorable southerly winds for the last day and a half, our 95 species was exactly average for the 11 years we have run the trip on this same weekend. 16 species of warblers was a mere one species below average. Taking our challenging weather into consideration, I would absolutely call this a win! Plus, we were on Monhegan, so all is well, as an average day/weekend on Monhegan sure beats the same anywhere else – for so many reasons.

* denotes ferry ride only           

23-Sep  24-Sep  25-Sep  26-Sep

Canada Goose 8 18 19 8
Wood Duck 0 1 1 1
American Black Duck 2 2 1 1
Mallard 15 24 24 24
Mallard x American Black Duck Hybrid 1 1 1 1
Green-winged Teal 0 1 2 1
Common Eider x x x x
Ring-necked Pheasant 20 12 12 8
Mourning Dove 20 15 18 18
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2 2 1 0
Semipalmated Plover 0 0 1 0
Killdeer 0 0 1 0
Solitary Sandpiper 1 1 1 0
Black Guillemot 2 6 2 6
Laughing Gull 0 0 0 2*
Herring Gull x x x x
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL 2 0 1 1
Great Black-backed Gull x x x x
Common Loon 0 0 0 1
Northern Gannet 10 10 8 20
Double-crested Cormorant x x x x
Great Cormorant 0 0 0 3
Northern Harrier 0 0 1 0
Osprey 4 4 2 2
Bald Eagle 1 0 1 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 0 2 2
Belted Kingfisher 1 1 0 0
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 12 10 20
Downy Woodpecker 2 2 2 2
Northern Flicker 30 40 20 30
American Kestrel 1 2 3 4
Merlin 8 15 10 10
Peregrine Falcon 10 10 5 5
Eastern Wood-Pewee 0 1 0 1
Alder Flycatcher 1 0 0 1
“Traill’s” Flycatcher 0 0 0 1
Least Flycatcher 1 1 0 0
Eastern Phoebe 6 4 4 6
Red-eyed Vireo 10 10 6 8
Blue Jay 8 6 18 12
American Crow 6 4 4 4
Common Raven 1 2 2 2
Black-capped Chickadee x x x x
Golden-crowned Kinglet 0 0 4 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 2 6 6
Cedar Waxwing 50 2 38 38
Red-breasted Nuthatch 15 10 6 10
White-breasted Nuthatch 4 6 4 4
Brown Creeper 0 0 1 1
House Wren 0 0 1 2
Carolina Wren 3 3 4 4
MARSH WREN 0 0 1 0
Gray Catbird 6 8 6 10
Brown Thrasher 1 0 0 0
European Starling 18 18 18 18
Veery 0 0 1 0
Swainson’s Thrush 1 6 3 4
American Robin 4 4 8 12
American Pipit 1 1 1 0
Purple Finch 14 8 4 4
LARK SPARROW 0 1 1 1
American Goldfinch 8 10 14 14
Chipping Sparrow 0 10 15 15
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW 0 0 3 3
Dark-eyed Junco 2 10 6 10
White-crowned Sparrow 2 4 8 8
White-throated Sparrow 26 150 50 50
Savannah Sparrow 1 4 3 4
Song Sparrow 20 30 20 20
Lincoln’s Sparrow 0 0 2 2
Swamp Sparrow 0 0 1 2
Baltimore Oriole 2 2 6 6
Red-winged Blackbird 0 1 1 1
Bobolink 0 0 1 0
Rusty Blackbird 0 0 6 0
Common Grackle 12 24 24 24
Black-and-white Warbler 1 1 0 0
Tennessee Warbler 0 15 3 3
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER 0 1 0 0
Nashville Warbler 0 4 1 1
American Redstart 0 2 0 2
Common Yellowthroat 8 10 4 10
Cape May Warbler 5 10 6 6
Northern Parula 1 7 4 2
Magnolia Warbler 2 0 0 0
Yellow Warbler 5 3 2 2
Chestnut-sided Warbler 0 0 0 1
Blackpoll Warbler 50 75 20 15
Palm Warbler 2 4 10 6
PINE WARBLER 0 2 0 0
Yellow-rumped Warbler 70 50 50 75
Black-throated Green Warbler 5 3 0 1
Scarlet Tanager 0 2 2 2
Northern Cardinal 6 8 8 10
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 0 0 1 3
Indigo Bunting 1 0 0 1
DICKCISSEL 2 2 1 1

Day Total 67 71 80 81
Warbler day total 10 14 9 12

4-Day Tour total= 95
Plus on my own before the tour =2 (Ring-billed Gull and Tree Swallow)
Total warblers = 16

*Blackpoll Warblers were the “migrant of the weekend” with unforgettable views and quality time each day.*

This Week’s Highlights, 10/23-29

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Thanks to our annual note in our newsletter to keep hummingbird feeders up through early November – and to give us a call if one shows up after the first week of October – we received another call about a late October hummingbird this year. I raced over as soon as it returned to study it and get documentation photos. Unlike last year, however, this was “just” a Ruby-throated. I should have known it wasn’t another “mega” rarity as it was way too easy to photograph closely, and I only waited 5 minutes for its arrival!

Before and after the storm, it was a rather great week of birding for me. Rarity Season is now underway! Here are my observations of note over the past seven days:

1 Field Sparrow, 2 Common Yellowthroats, 7 Semipalmated Plovers, etc., Wolf’s Neck Center, Freeport, 10/24 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).

1 “INTERIOR” (ssp alterus/nelson) NELSON’S SPARROW, Private Property in Cape Elizabeth, 10/24.

“First of seasons” from seawatching at Dyer Point, Cape Elizabeth, 10/28:

25 Long-tailed Ducks (mostly northbound)

2 drake Harlequin Ducks

2 Snow Buntings

1 1^st winter Iceland Gull

1 Horned Grebe

1-2 BLUE-HEADED VIREOS, Kettle Cove, Cape Elizabeth, 10/28.

1 juv RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, private property in Freeport, 10/28. First seen on 10/26, but not on the 27^th. See photo and caption above.

1 DICKCISSEL (photo below; Abner Point Road), 1 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL (first of fall locally), 2 male BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLERS, and 2 American Tree Sparrows (first of fall), Bailey Island, Harpswell, 10/29.

2021 Monhegan Fall Migration Weekend Tour Report.

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*This Blue Grosbeak was among the highlights of an incredible weekend on the island.*

“It was like the good ol’ days!” When every other bird you saw was a rare one, and you barely walked 10 steps before finding more birds. But this was not what we were expecting, and the weekend sure didn’t start out that way!

After a very rough boat ride, we were still putting ourselves back together when one birder said “Go back, there are no birds here.” Apparently, it had been a dreadfully slow week of little migration, but at least nice weather. This weekend, the weather wasn’t supposed to be very nice. So without many birds on the island, and quite a bit of rain on the way, were less enthused about arriving than usual…well, that might have had something to do with the boat ride.

And I am not sure if it helped that one of the first birds I looked at was a rare hybrid Herring X Great Black-backed Gull. I am not sure if anyone was ready to take in gull hybrids yet. Even more when we feared that this could be our best bird of the trip if the pattern held.

And sure enough, it was a very slow afternoon. But we did have good luck. We found a Sora that walked out into an open patch of mud, quickly caught up with the adult Lesser Black-backed Gull that has been hanging around, and after lunch immediately found the Least Sandpiper and Spotted Sandpiper at Lobster Cove that have been playing hard to get all week. There was also a good Northern Gannet show, which is always a treat. So at least we were seeing what was around, which sadly, really was not very much. But hey, it still hadn’t rained!

*Least and Spotted Sandpipers – shorebirds are few and far between on the island.*

A period of rain, heavy at times, fell overnight, but the band was much narrower and less heavy than forecast. It did not rain all night, and it even appeared that a light flight of migrants had developed on the radar after midnight. And sure enough, come dawn, there was a light Morning Flight overhead. It was mostly Yellow-rumped and Blackpoll Warblers, but hey, there were new birds around! And once, again, it was not raining.

A fly-over Dickcissel or two, a calling Gray-cheeked Thrush, and more. Birds! Yay!

Then, after breakfast, I went to spread some seed in my favorite corner to attract some birds for the group to enjoy this morning. Turning the corner near the famous “Chat Bridge” a shockingly bright flash of the most intense yellow you can imagine. And blue wings, and a flash of white in the tail. Prothonotary Warbler I exclaimed to no one around.

I raced back towards the group meeting point and sent them on their way. Kristen Lindquist took off running. I eventually made it back with the rest of the group and we divided to conquer. Kristen and about half the group spotted it repeatedly, while it remained tantalizingly out of view from where I and others were standing.

As other birders converged, a classic “Patagonia Picnic Table Effect” occurred. First, there were two Dickcissels, then I spotted a Yellow-breasted Chat making a short flight over the brush. While searching for that, Ilsa spotted a Yellow-billed Cuckoo that would sit still, preening, for well over and hour. It might have been the most cooperative cuckoo ever on the island! Another group had a brief look at a Clay-colored Sparrow.

Unfortunately, the Prothonotary Warbler was never seen again.

*Yellow-billed Cuckoos don’t usually sit this still for this long. This bird was likely exhausted*
*after just arriving on the island.*

*In case you didn’t see it’s yellow bill.*

It was already a pretty amazing day for one that we thought would be a wash-out. And it was still not raining. After our lunch break, we convened at the Monhegan House at 1:30, and spent the next hour and a half on its lawn, and going no where else.

One Dickcissel became two, and then four, and when the group finally took off together, we were shocked to confirm a genuine flock of 8 Dickcissels – exceptional, even for Monhegan. And there were not one, but two Clay-colored Sparrows! And other birds just kept arriving, as standing in one spot saw our list quickly grow: American Redstart, Brown Creeper, Warbling Vireo, etc, etc. One “Western” Palm Warbler became 4, a couple of Cape May Warblers paid us a visit, a Savannah Sparrow dropped in…

It was truly incredible! It felt like my first tours here 15 years ago. By now, a light shower was falling, but we didn’t seem to care. We finally pulled ourselves away as the action waned, wanting to see what the next hot corner would offer. After spotting at least 8 Baltimore Orioles along Pumphouse Road, the rain finally arrived in earnest by about 3:30pm. We called it quits, but considering the day we had, no complaints were to be heard. It was a really special day; one that will not soon be forgotten.

*While it was more accurately “180-degree misorientation” and other forms of vagrancy and not “reverse migration” that brought us so many good birds, I brought a special beer out*
*just in case we had a day like we did today!*

Rain fell overnight again, and come dawn on Sunday (Day 3), dense fog had rolled in. There were a few Yellow-rumped Warblers overhead, especially during a short respite from the fog, but there were not nearly as many birds around as the day before. But, with fog overnight, we expected birds who were on the island to stay, which was good, because yesterday was awesome and there were still a few birds we had not yet encountered.

*It might be a while before they are “countable” again, but the Ring-necked Pheasant population*
*seems to be booming in town.*

We delayed the start of the after-breakfast walk to let a batch of heavier rain clear through. We were stuck in such an odd fall weather pattern, with virtually no west-east progression of weather systems. But we had been so lucky with the timing of the rainfall so far, that a little delay was of no concern. Regrouping at 10:00, light showers gave way to just some lingering drizzle by 11, and it soon became apparent that there were new birds around. We had two Prairie Warblers, a Scarlet Tanager joining the growing flock of Baltimore Orioles, and a Blue-winged Teal joined a Green-winged Teal in the marsh. Two Cliff Swallows and a Barn Swallow foraged over Manana, and we had our second Yellow-breasted Chat of the trip – this one in the Island Farm garden on Pumphouse Road. And another Clay-colored Sparrow?

*There was a really impressive number of Baltimore Orioles on the island over the weekend.*

Pockets of Yellow-rumped Warblers here and there often contained another warbler species or two, and we had good looks at stuff all morning, even often-challenging birds to see with a group like Lincoln’s Sparrows.

And after lunch, the sun was out! We had the Lesser Black-backed Gull again, more looks at Clay-colored Sparrows, and finally the immature male Blue Grosbeak showed up for us, and show it did!

It wasn’t as birdy once the sun was out, but a light raptor flight, including at least 6 Peregrine Falcons helped make up for it.

On Monday, our last day of the tour, it appeared that little moved overnight on a light southwesterly flow aloft. But that had our daydreams going for rarities from our west and southwest. And sure enough, while some of us were dallying over breakfast, a Western Kingbird that Kristen Lindquist found earlier flew right over us at the Yew and alighted nearby!

After breakfast, we “cleaned it up” for the group when we relocated it at the cemetery, affording great looks for all. A slower day finally gave us an opportunity to head into the deeper woods. And while we expected fewer birds in the island’s interior, a couple of mixed-species foraging flocks finally put Red-breasted Nuthatch on the list, and we found the first Pine Warbler of the weekend.

*“Look at my tail!” Just in case anyone had hopes of stringing it into a rarer western Tyrannus.*

Jeannette joined us by lunchtime, and after lunch, we had a frustratingly brief glimpse of the original Yellow-breasted Chat, along with more great looks at Clay-colored Sparrows.

The tour came to a close with the 3:15 departure back to New Harbor, bringing our incredible four days together to the always-bittersweet end.

Jeannette and I birded the rest of the afternoon together, picking up a few things, like my first “Yellow” Palm Warblers of the weekend and a Solitary Sandpiper. Our walk to dinner yielded a second Pine Warbler, and at the harbor: a juvenile Ring-billed Gull (actually fairly rare out here in the early fall) and another view of the lingering Lesser Black-backed Gull.

On Tuesday, Jeannette and I enjoyed our day off on the island, and Kristen Lindquist joined us for most of the day. A diminishing light southwest wind overnight gave way to a little bit of northwesterly winds by dawn, but it didn’t appear that much had arrived on the island overnight.

*At least two, if not three, different Prairie Warblers were around the island.*

*Getting late, a few American Redstarts helped bump up our impressive warbler tally.*

However, we soon located a Lark Sparrow found yesterday by Bryan Pfeiffer, the immature male Blue Grosbeak paid us a visit, and we heard the Sora briefly. We then found an Orange-crowned Warbler out past the Ice Pond, my 20^th warbler species of the weekend! Unfortunately, we were sans cameras with a little light rain falling.

*This Scarlet Tanager was often cooperative at the grape arbor.*

*As per tradition with this tour report: at least one gratuitous “food porn” photo. Here’s the colorful and fresh avocado toast from the Trailing Yew.*

*And here’s one of the island’s resident Black-capped Chickadees…just because.*

After lunch, we were excited to find two Lark Sparrows sitting next to each other at the cul-de-sac, there were now two Ring-billed Gulls in the harbor, and yes, there were still at least 4 Clay-colored Sparrows and several Dickcissels around!

Just for a change of pace, we decided to walk the diffuse trail along the island’s southwestern end, but were soon distracted by something large in the water in the distance. Retrieving my scope, it was clear that it was indeed a dead whale, and eventually it floated close enough to identify it as a dead (and rather bloated) Minke Whale. A handful of gulls were around it, and briefly, a quick pass by a jaeger that was too far to claim the identity of. It was a fascinating, if not rather sad, end to our visit as by now it was time for Jeannette and I to head to the dock to return to the real world.

A much more pleasant boat ride back, this time to Port Clyde yielded a number of Common Loons and plenty of Northern Gannets, and a surprise of a small pod of Atlantic White-sided Dolphins. I’m not sure if I have seen this pelagic species from a Monhegan ferry before, or this close to land at all.

And finally, one last “good” bird: a pair of truant American Oystercatchers on Dry Ledges (off of Allen Island)! Interestingly, we had a pair on the same exact ledge on our way back from the island on October 5^th of last year.

At least 8 Dickcissels, at least 4 Clay-colored Sparrows, 2 Lark Sparrows, and an Orange-crowned Warbler from the Midwest. A Western Kingbird from the West. A Prothonotary Warbler, 2 Yellow-breasted Chats, and a Blue Grosbeak from the South. 105 total species (102 with the tour) including 20 species of warblers. Yeah, that was a good trip – and the stuff that Monhegan legends are made of, at least sans fallout.

*Four of a flock that grew to an impressive 8 Dickcissels, often found in the swale behind the*
*Monhegan House throughout the weekend.*

And finally, here is our birdlist from the extraordinary weekend:

9/24 = * denotes ferry ride only
9/27 = * with just Jeannette
9/28 = with Jeannette; *denotes ferry ride only

	24-Sep	25-Sep	26-Sep	27-Sep	28-Sep

American Black Duck	0	0	1	1	1
Mallard	3	10	26	24	24
Mallard x American Black Duck Hybrid	0	0	0	1	1
Green-winged Teal	0	1	0	1*	0
Blue-winged Teal	0	1	0	1*	0
Common Eider	x	x	x	x	x
Ring-necked Pheasant	6	13	12	16	10
Mourning Dove	6	22	30	15	18
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO	0	1	0	0	0
unidentified cuckoo	0	0	0	1	0
Common Nighthawk	0	0	0	0	0
Sora	1	0	0	0	1
Semipalmated Plover	0	1	0	0	0
Least Sandpiper	1	0	2	0	1
American Woodcock	1	0	0	0	0
Spotted Sandpiper	1	0	1	0	0
Unidentified jaeger	0	0	0	0	1
Solitary Sandpiper	0	0	0	1*	0
Black Guillemot	2	3	1	0	3
Laughing Gull	1*	0	0	0	3
Ring-billed Gull	0	0	0	1*	2
Herring Gull	x	x	x	x	x
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL	1	0	1	1*	0
Great Black-backed Gull	x	x	x	x	x
GREAT BLACK-BACKED X HERRING HYBRID	1	0	0	0
Common Loon	1*	0	0	0	6*
Northern Gannet	20	0	2	0	43
Double-crested Cormorant	x	x	x	x	x
Great Cormorant	0	3	3	1	1*
Great Blue Heron	0	1	1	0	3
Bald Eagle	2*	1	1	1*	1
Sharp-shinned Hawk	0	0	0	2	1
Belted Kingfisher	0	0	1	1	1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	0	4	3	8	2
Downy Woodpecker	0	0	1	4	3
Northern Flicker	4	5	4	10	10
Merlin	0	0	4	8	6
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	6	8	6
WESTERN KINGBIRD	0	0	0	1	0
Eastern Phoebe	0	0	0	1	1
Blue-headed Vireo	0	0	0	1	0
Warbling Vireo	0	1	0	0	0
Red-eyed Vireo	0	10	8	12	10
Blue Jay	6	18	8	16	18
American Crow	4	6	x	x	x
Common Raven	2	2	0	2	2
Black-capped Chickadee	x	x	x	x	x
CLIFF SWALLOW	0	0	2	0	0
Barn Swallow	0	0	1	0	0
Golden-crowned Kinglet	0	4	4	15	8
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	0	2	0	3	4
Cedar Waxwing	30	48	40	60	50
Red-breasted Nuthatch	0	0	0	0	3
White-breasted Nuthatch	0	0	0	2	2
Brown Creeper	0	2	1	1	1
House Wren	0	1	1	0	1
Carolina Wren	0	4	4	7	8
Gray Catbird	x	x	x	x	x
Brown Thrasher	0	2	0	0	0
European Starling	18	18	18	18	18
GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH	0	1	0	0	0
Swainson’s Thrush	0	4	1	1	1
American Robin	0	3	0	3	4
American Pipit	0	0	0	1	0
Purple Finch	0	1	0	0	0
LARK SPARROW	0	0	0	0	2
American Goldfinch	2	10	4	1	3
Chipping Sparrow	0	8	6	10	8
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW	0	2	4	4	14
Dark-eyed Junco	0	0	0	2	1
White-crowned Sparrow	0	0	0	1	0
White-throated Sparrow	2	10	6	15	10
Savannah Sparrow	0	3	3	0	1
Song Sparrow	x	x	x	x	x
Lincoln’s Sparrow	0	1	3	1	5
Swamp Sparrow	0	0	2	1	2
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT	0	1	1	1	0
Bobolink	0	6	0	5	0
Rusty Blackbird	0	2	0	1	0
Common Grackle	0	6	9	6	4
Brown-headed Cowbird	0	1	0	0	0
Baltimore Oriole	0	8	15	16	12
Northern Waterthrush	1	0	4	2	1
Black-and-white Warbler	0	0	1	1	0
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER	0	1	0	0	0
Tennessee Warbler	1	0	0	0	0
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER	0	0	0	0	1
Nashville Warbler	0	3	2	2	4
American Redstart	0	1	2	0	2
Common Yellowthroat	2	6	5	4	4
Cape May Warbler	1	3	0	0	2
Northern Parula	0	5	4	3	3
Magnolia Warbler	0	1	2	1	0
Yellow Warbler	0	5	4	3	2
Blackpoll Warbler	1	15	8	10	6
Black-throated Blue Warbler	0	0	0	1	0
Palm Warbler	0	4	4	14	10
PINE WARBLER	0	0	0	2	3
Yellow-rumped Warbler	30	60	75	300	150
Prairie Warbler	0	0	2	2*	1
Black-throated Green Warbler	0	3	3	4	5
Wilson’s Warbler	0	1	2	2	1
Scarlet Tanager	0	0	2	1	0
Northern Cardinal	4	10	8	8	6
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	0	4	4	4	3
BLUE GROSBEAK	0	0	1	0	1
Indigo Bunting	0	0	0	4	4
DICKCISSEL	0	8	7	5	4

Day Total	34	65	66	74	77
Warbler day total	5	13	14	15	15

4-Day Tour total=	102
Plus with Jeannette after the group =	3
Total warblers =	20

This Week’s (Non Sandy-Point) Highlights, 9/24-9/30: Monhegan Island

Derek’s Birding This Week, 2/20-26/2021.

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My observations of note over the past seven days included the following:

19 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS, Runaround Pond Road, Durham, 2/20.
1 pair BARROW’S GOLDENEYES, Winslow Park, Freeport, 2/21.
1 continuing Hermit Thrush, Maquoit Bay Conservation Land, Brunswick, 2/22.
68 scaup spp, Mere Point Boat Launch, Brunswick, 2/22.
1 continuing female RUDDY DUCK, ~450 total scaup, 1 Belted Kingfisher, etc, Simpson’s Point, Brunswick, 2/22.
1 Turkey Vulture, Cook’s Corner, Brunswick, 2/22.
1 Northern Shrike, Foothills Land Conservancy, Wilton, 2/23 (with Jeannette).
32 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS, White Granite Park, Jay, 2/23 (with Jeannette).
1 continuing DICKCISSEL and 1 Northern Flicker, Capisic Pond Park, Portland, 2/24 (with Robby Lambert); Dickcissel still present on 2/26.

This Week in Finches:

Red Crossbill: 4 (Capisic Pond Park, Portland, 2/24 with Robby Lambert and continuing on 2/26).
PINE GROSBEAK: 13 (Downtown Brunswick, 2/15); 2 (Paul Street, Brunswick, 2/15).

Derek’s Birding This Week, 1/30-2/5,2021

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The bird of the week – and an early-contender for bird of the year – was this Redwing discovered at Capisic Pond Park in the afternoon of 1/29. My camera went in for repair this week, so my phone-scoped photos didn’t do this “mega” justice, so John Lorenc let me use his photo from the day.

With two mornings spent at Capisic Pond Park this week (REDWING, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, and 1 DICKCISSEL on 1/30 and “just” the REDWING on 2/1 with Phil McCormack), my other birding was rather limited. I think that’s OK though…because Redwing!

1 drake RING-NECKED DUCK, Anniversary Park, Auburn, 2/3.
1 THICK-BILLED MURRE, Cumberland Town Landing, 2/4.
2 continuing NORTHERN SHOVELERS and 200+ distant scaup, Maquoit Bay Conservation Land, Brunswick, 2/5.
1 drake BARROW’S GOLDENEYE and 350-400 scaup (just a little too far to sort through accurately, but there is still a fair number of Lesser Scaup present), Simpson’s Point, Brunswick, 2/5.
1 immature female Snowy Owl, Brunswick Landing, 2/5.

This Week in Finches, aka “This Week in Pine Grosbeaks:”

PINE GROSBEAK: 3 continued daily at the store through 1/31; 3 (Cumberland Town Landing, 2/4); 11 (downtown Brunswick, 2/5).

Meanwhile, we have just announced our 2021 tour slate, including several pelagic trips, two searches for “Troppy,” the Red-billed Tropicbird, and much more, here, on our revamped Tours page:

https://www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/tours-events-and-workshops

2017 Monhegan Fall Migration Weekend Tour Report.

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IMG_6811-edited-edited
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, one of the more common and conspicuous migrants all weekend.

After spending what was probably the slowest week of birding I have ever experienced in fall on Monhegan with my WINGS tour a week prior, I was even more anxious to get back to the island. I know what this island can offer (well, besides great food, beer, and friends, that is)!

Because of ferry schedules, we added a new wrinkle this year, meeting for a birdwalk in Port Clyde before the mid-am ferry to the island (9/29). Golden-crowned Kinglets were particularly abundant and some Yellow-rumped Warblers were around, hinting at the amount of birds that arrived overnight. On the trip out, Northern Gannets were scattered about, and a flock of 7 probable American Pipits zipped by. When passerines are encountered on the ferry, as they return to the mainland, it’s usually a good sign that there are a lot of newly-arrived birds on the island.

When several Yellow-rumped Warblers were darting around near the dock, I thought it might be worth swinging into The Barnacle for a quick, early lunch so we could hit the ground running. And we are all glad we did, as it took us 2 ½ hours to walk from the dock to our lodging at the Trailing Yew!
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It was fantastic…birds were everywhere. While it wasn’t a fallout with birds dripping out of the trees, every cluster of trees and bushes had some migrants in it. The “Cape May Spruces” on dock road hosted several Cape May Warblers and an immature male Pine Warbler – a rarity on the island. We soon tracked down a continuing Orange-crowned Warbler, and we slowly made our way through town, pausing at every apple tree and every weedy garden.
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Cape May Warbler
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Pine Warbler

A lot had changed in the 5 days between my visits, with many more sparrows, and a much greater percentage of Yellow-rumped Warblers and both Ruby- and Golden-crowned Kinglets. Overall warbler diversity was down, but Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers were everywhere! The raptor show wasn’t half-bad, either.
_T9A9791_edited-1
Peregrine Falcon

I think I saw more birds today, even though we didn’t arrive until 11:30 than I did all week with my other tour! And 60 species by day’s end wasn’t too shabby either.
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Red-eyed Vireo
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Black-throated Green Warbler

Friday night featured a very strong flight on the radar, but with a light winds becoming northeast after midnight, many fewer birds were around come morning (thanks to Hurricane Jose, this was the bane of our existence during the aforementioned tour), and the morning flight was very light. The afternoon was quite slow, but we continued to encounter new birds here and there. An unexpected surprise was a Wood Thrush calling at dusk. Although we never saw it, the calls are distinctive, and they were close by, and this was my 208th Monhegan bird (They’re usually long gone by the time I get here in mid-September).
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Northern Gannet

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Red-eyed Vireo

But this was only a fraction of the day’s excitement. First, a Bell’s Vireo was reported just as we arrived at breakfast. I thought about skipping the meal (it’s really a good bird if I consider passing on a Trailing Yew breakfast!) but after hearing about how chaotic it was (lots of owl calls and counter-productive tape use – tell me why a bird, exhausted from migration and without any hormonal urge to breed would come out in the open because you are playing an adult male’s territorial song? Especially when vagrants are often immature birds, the last thing they are looking for is a conflict; it’s amazingly ignorant…but I digress) down there, we decided to let the masses subside and fuel up for the hunt.

By the time we arrived, almost everyone had dispersed, and no sign of a Bell’s Vireo. But Pumphouse Road and the nearby yards were birdy, so we just started working the thickets. We had dispersed up and down Pumphouse Road, joined by several friends and fellow birders, including Kristen Lindquist and Bill Thompson. I was with just two members of our group, when a small flock of five or so vireos came in. There were three Red-eyed, but then I spotted what I thought could have been the Bell’s -a very pale, dull vireo creeping around the understory, with its tail cocked. With no one else around, I took off to assemble the group, and to get Bill to secure the documentation photos. When guiding, a bird doesn’t count unless the group is with you, so before I had anything definitive, I started running (only then remembering my ankle was still in a brace)!

Barb and Terez were still on what she thought was the bird in question, but as we all returned, it was clearly just a normally-pale, immature Blue-headed. Did I screw this up that badly? But wait, where was that 5th vireo?

I don’t remember who spotted it next, but when we did, it was clear it was not a Bell’s, but wow, that was pale. Like really, really, pale, and as we began studying it, we realized this may be even rarer!

At one point, I made eye contact with Marshall Iliff, and we both kinda smiled and nodded. We were on to something. Bill began to fire away. We watched. And then we began to discuss. And discuss. And at the brewery later, discuss some more. And the next day, yup, we were still talking about this bird. Almost two weeks later, as well.

Bill sent me his photos the next day, and on Sunday evening – at the brewery, of course, it’s where all great conversations occur – we realized that every single feature of this bird was consistent with Cassin’s Vireo, the member of the “Solitary Vireo Complex” that breeds in the west, and can be virtually indistinguishable from our regular Blue-headed. However, this bird had every feature perfect for Cassin’s, and as we sent around photos, everyone agreed that “if this isn’t a Cassin’s, then we can’t identify a bird as a Cassin’s.”
DullVireo5_edited-1 DullVireo6_edited-1
DullVireo3_edited-1 DullVireo4_edited-1

This would be the first record for Maine, and one of very, very few records for all of the East Coast. See, this is what a “slow” day on Monhegan should be like.

Anyway, back to the actual birding on Sunday. After only a surprisingly moderate flight overnight on light westerly winds, only a light morning flight was over the island, and it was almost exclusively Yellow-rumped Warblers. Increasing south winds helped keep activity reduced through the afternoon, when most of the group slowly departed on their respective ferries. We had great looks at the two continuing Dickcissels, more great views of Cape May Warblers, and finished the day off with the last member of the group by enjoying the long-staying Yellow-crowned Night-Heron at the Ice Pond.
L1100783-edited-edited
Dickcissel

L1100944-edited
That chase and discussion of the vireo was exhausting!

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It was just me and group-holdover John Lorenc on Monday morning, when Jeannette joined us for the day on the early Port Clyde boat. Her visit during my WINGS tour yielded fog and little else, so she was anxious to see and photograph some birds!

Interestingly enough, despite a rather light flight on the radar overnight (which really surprised me) on a light northwesterly wind, a strong morning flight developed come sunrise. As expected by the date, it was mostly Yellow-rumped Warblers, but there were many more kinglets and sparrows around. It was very busy before breakfast, and quite birdy – if rather homogenous – through lunch, with “new” birds scattered about. Even the early afternoon was pleasantly birdy, with pockets of activity here and there.

At least 4 Dickcissels were now present, and likely a new Clay-colored Sparrow. We had a fly-by of a Northern Pintail at Lobster Cove, one of very few records for the island. A calling Greater Yellowlegs, a flushed Wilson’s Snipe, and large flocks of southbound Canada Geese high overhead were among the additions to the weekend’s checklist.
IMG_6805-edited-edited
Two Dickcissels

When all was said and done, and Cassin’s Vireo was (fairly) confidently added to the list, a total of 89 species (including 15 species of warblers) were recorded in these four days, a respectable if not overwhelming total for a long weekend on the island.

And the food, beer, and conversation were great as always. And the butterflies, my goodness the butterflies. Monarchs were common, but Painted Ladies were downright abundant…
L1100899-edited L1100930-edited-edited
IMG_6772-edited-edited IMG_6789-edited-edited

Here’s the full scoreboard, not including birds seen in Port Clyde or from the ferry en route:

	9/29	9/30	10/1	10/2
Canada Goose	30	1	33	100
American Black Duck	2	1	2	2
Mallard	12	20	15	15
NORTHERN PINTAIL	0	0	0	1
Common Eider	x	x	X	X
Surf Scoter	0	8	0	0
Common Loon	0	0	0	1
Northern Gannet	30	30	20	20
Double-crested Cormorant	100	400	100	X
Great Cormorant	0	0	1	2
Great Blue Heron	2	4	1	0
YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON	0	0	1	0
Osprey	8	3	1	2
Bald Eagle	3	3	1	1
Northern Harrier	2	0	0	2
Sharp-shinned Hawk	4	5	5	4
American Kestrel	6	8	3	2
Merlin	8	15	8	6
Peregrine Falcon	12	3	4	6
Greater Yellowlegs	0	0	0	1
Wilson’s Snipe	0	0	0	1
Ring-billed Gull	1	0	0	0
Herring Gull	X	x	X	X
Great Black-backed Gull	X	x	X	X
Black Guillemot	20	4	6	8
Mourning Dove	4	6	6	4
Belted Kingfisher	0	0	1	0
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	8	20	25	20
Downy Woodpecker	0	0	1	1
Northern Flicker	10	8	6	2
Eastern Phoebe	2	2	3	6
Eastern Wood-Pewee	0	1	0	0
Blue-headed Vireo	1	5	1	2
CASSIN’S VIREO	0	1	0	0
Philadelphia Vireo	2	1	1	3
Red-eyed Vireo	4	10	9	8
Blue Jay	8	15	21	18
American Crow	x	x	X	X
Common Raven	0	2	2	2
Horned Lark	0	1	0	0
Black-capped Chickadee	10	20	X	X
Red-breasted Nuthatch	0	4	4	4
Brown Creeper	0	2	1	12
Carolina Wren	0	1	1	0
Winter Wren	0	1	0	0
Golden-crowned Kinglet	15	30	35	50
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	40	40	25	40
Hermit Thrush	0	0	0	2
WOOD THRUSH	0	1	0	0
American Robin	2	0	3	1
Gray Catbird	3	3	4	3
European Starling	25	20	20	15
American Pipit	0	2	1	1
Cedar Waxwing	2	25	25	40
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER	1	0	0	0
Nashville Warbler	5	3	3	0
Northern Parula	0	3	0	0
Magnolia Warbler	1	0	0	0
Cape May Warbler	5	5	2	0
Yellow-rumped Warbler	10	30	40	150
Black-throated Green Warbler	2	2	0	0
PINE WARBLER	1	1	0	0
Prairie Warbler	1	0	0	0
Palm Warbler	6	6	0	15
Blackpoll Warbler	1	1	1	0
Black-and-white Warbler	1	1	1	0
American Redstart	0	2	0	0
Common Yellowthroat	4	4	4	3
Wilson’s Warbler	0	1	1	0
Scarlet Tanager	0	1	0	0
Chipping Sparrow	4	5	3	2
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW	0	0	0	1
Savannah Sparrow	2	2	0	0
Song Sparrow	X	X	X	X
Lincoln’s Sparrow	1	0	0	4
Swamp Sparrow	1	0	0	1
White-throated Sparrow	2	4	3	8
White-crowned Sparrow	0	1	1	1
Dark-eyed Junco	3	0	0	0
Northern Cardinal	4	6	8	4
Indigo Bunting	1	0	0	1
DICKCISSEL	1	0	2	4
Bobolink	0	1	1	1
Rusty Blackbird	0	1	1	1
Common Grackle	4	2	4	4
Baltimore Oriole	0	1	3	2
Purple Finch	0	0	0	0
Pine Siskin	0	1	0	0
American Goldfinch	2	8	2	1

IMG_6856-edited-edited
Baltimore Oriole

A Record-Shattering 5 Days at Sandy Point!

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NOPA
Northern Parulas were certainly the “bird of the week” at Sandy Point.

It was a special five-day run at Sandy Point Beach on Cousin’s Island in Yarmouth. It was a record-shattering run in fact, in which I tallied nearly 18,000 migrants engaging in the “Morning Flight,” or “morning re-determined migration” when nocturnally-migrating passerines relocate (to drastically oversimplify things) come sunrise.
SandyPoint_sunrise,9-13-17

(To learn more about Sandy Point, check out the site entry in Birdwatching in Maine: A Site Guide, and for more on nocturnal migration, interpreting the radar, and the “morning flight” phenomena, check out Chapter 5 in my first book, How to Be a Better Birder. Whaddya mean you don’t have these two books!?)

I’ve had a handful of four-day runs, but I cannot think of a time when conditions were favorable – and I was actually present, and not leading tours on Monhegan for example – for five straight days. But I have most certainly never had five days like this!

I recorded 72 species “deemed migrating” through here, not including migrants that were in the bushes, such as the Gray Catbirds and Song Sparrows that are so abundant in the brush here. It does not include species like Osprey, in which some of the many I saw this week were likely southbound, but impossible to separate from the still-locals. And this tally did not include all of the waterbirds, from Common Eiders to herds of dabbling American Black Ducks, and from Bald Eagles to hunting Great Blue Herons, as well as resident species.

I tallied 25 species of warblers, including a single Connecticut Warbler, one of the most sought-after parulids in Maine. A Northern Mockingbird was only my 5^th ever noted here, and two passing Dickcissels are always a treat. But certainly the icing on the cake of this great week was the Lark Sparrow found by the group in the parking lot on the relatively quiet morning of 9/13. This was a first record for Sandy Point, and my personal 184^th species here.
LASP, Becky

But it was the morning of the 11^th that will go down in Sandy Point history! 8,185 migrants was not only a new record, but almost doubled the previous record (4,346 on Sept 21, 2010). It was incredible. More on that epic morning later.

A number of records for high counts for individual species were set, and I am sure even more would have been shattered if I had a higher rate of identification during the onslaught of the 11^th. Other trends, typical of the season, were evident, such as the slow but steady change in the composition of the flight. The early migrants like Magnolia Warblers were giving way to a growing percentage of Yellow-rumped Warbles and Blackpoll Warblers for example. But it sure seems like we’re not yet running our of Yellow Warblers and American Restarts, however!
AMRE
immature male American Redstart

YWAR
Yellow Warbler, adult male

So first, here’s the numbers (bold font indicates a new daily record).

	9/9	9/10	9/11	9/12	9/13
Blue-winged Teal	3	0	0	0	0
Unidentified teal	0	0	4	0	0
Surf Scoter	3	0	0	0	0
Common Loon	4	0	0	3	0
Northern Harrier	0	1	0	0	0
Killdeer	0	1	0	0	0
Lesser Yellowlegs	0	0	0	1	0
Mourning Dove	0	1	0	1	1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird	2	0	0	1	1
Hairy Woodpecker	0	1	0	0	0
Northern Flicker	1	256	68	26	12
Pileated Woodpecker	0	1	0	1	0
American Kestrel	0	0	3	0	1
Merlin	1	1	0	1	2
Eastern Wood-Pewee	3	4	0	0	0
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher	1	0	0	0	0
“Traill’s” Flycatcher	2	0	0	0	0
Least Flycatcher	9	11	3	2	0
Unidentified Empidonax	5	0	0	1	0
Eastern Phoebe	1	3	2	2	2
Eastern Kingbird	2	1	0	0	0
Unidentified flycatcher	6	1	1	0	0
Blue-headed Vireo	1	3	1	2	0
Philadelphia Vireo	3	4	2	1	0
Red-eyed Vireo	42	49	30	9	4
Unidentified vireo	1	2	0	0	0
Blue Jay	0	0	0	2	5
Barn Swallow	1	0	0	0	0
Red-breasted Nuthatch	1	1	2	1	0
Golden-crowned Kinglet	0	0	0	1	0
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	1	5	4	0
Swainson’s Thrush	10	0	0	2	0
American Robin	4	3	1	2	0
Unidentified thrush	0	1	0	0	0
Northern Mockingbird	0	1	0	0	0
Cedar Waxwing	21	265	377	54	0
Ovenbird	0	0	0	0	1
Northern Waterthrush	0	0	0	1	0
Black-and-white Warbler	33	59	41	32	5
Tennessee Warbler	4	2	2	8	0
Nashville Warbler	8	8	10	4	0
CONNECTICUT WARBLER	1	0	0	0	0
Mourning Warbler	0	1	0	0	0
Common Yellowthroat	2	1	5	5	2
American Redstart	602	550	844	119	16
Cape May Warbler	18	5	8	5	0
Northern Parula	705	630	692	612	205
Magnolia Warbler	66	117	32	23	2
Bay-breasted Warbler	5	3	1	1	0
Blackburnian Warbler	7	6	1	0	0
Yellow Warbler	19	52	38	67	8
Chestnut-sided Warbler	5	2	0	2	0
Blackpoll Warbler	9	3	27	25	35
Black-throated Blue Warbler	8	7	4	4	0
Palm Warbler	0	0	0	1	0
“Western” Palm Warbler	1	0	0	0	0
Pine Warbler	0	0	0	1	0
Yellow-rumped Warbler	3	6	3	19	11
Prairie Warbler	1	2	1	1	0
Black-throated Green Warbler	118	63	73	57	26
Canada Warbler	6	0	1	0	0
Wilson’s Warbler	12	17	7	4	0
Chipping Sparrow	2	0	1	3	1
LARK SPARROW	0	0	0	0	1
White-throated Sparrow	1	0	0	0	0
Savannah Sparrow	2	0	0	0	0
Scarlet Tanager	1	1	4	1	0
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	3	1	0	0	0
Indigo Bunting	0	0	1	1	0
DICKCISSEL	0	0	1	0	1
Bobolink	1	2	0	0	0
Red-winged Blackbird	1	2	0	0	0
Rusty Blackbird	0	1	0	0	0
Baltimore Oriole	2	1	1	1	1
House Finch	0	0	0	1	1
Purple Finch	0	0	0	8	0
American Goldfinch	5	12	3	6	4
Unidentified	1915	1887	5893	737	192

*TOTAL*	3705	4057	*8185*	1866	540

Now, let’s take a look at the radar. Here are the density and velocity images from 1am (as a sample) on 9/9 and 9/10. That’s a ton of birds on the radar.
1amRadar,9-09-17
1amVelocity,9-09-17

1amRadar,9-10-17
1amVelocity,9-10-17

And even as late as 4:00am on each day, a lot of birds were visible, and a lot of birds were offshore.
4amRadar,9-09-17
4amRadar,9-10-17

The night of 9/8 through 9/9 featured light westerly winds, shifting to northwest by sunrise. And on the next night, light north winds became northwest overnight. Both, as expected, produced great flights over and through Sandy Point some dawn.

Weather patterns, especially at this time of year, rarely produce three great nights for migrants in a row. And when they do, it often results in fewer birds overnight (and therefore at Sandy Point) come sunrise; essentially, the well temporarily runs dry.

And as you can see by the 1:00am radar image from September 11^th, the density was nowhere near the previous two nights, despite mostly light westerly winds overnight.
1amRadar,9-11-17
1amVelocity,9-11-17

And by 4:00am, it was rather quiet.
4amRadar,9-11-17

Light northwesterly winds in the evening slowly gave way to light north, before becoming light and variable. After midnight, they became west but didn’t really increase until after 2:00am. Coupled with a lackluster radar return, this was not a recipe for a huge flight.

Nonetheless with a light westerly wind at sunrise, I was heading to Sandy Point anyway. If only because it was a day off, and I won’t have many more chances to visit “my office” this month. A milky sunrise further clouded (sorry) my optimism for a big flight, but there were plenty of birds in the air.
Sunrise_on_big_day_atSP,9-11-17

And then all hell broke loose.

It was incredible. It was frustrating. It was beautiful. It was painful. It was amazing. It was indeed overwhelming, and at times, my only hopes at quantifying the flood was to skip attempting identification and just click my unidentified clicker as fast as I could.

And I really can’t explain it. It “shouldn’t” have been this amazing.

Come nightfall, with high pressure remaining in control, and with light westerly winds and clear skies once again, a moderate to strong flight occurred overnight. Here are the 1:00am and 4:00am radar images from the wee hours of 9/12:
1amRadar,9-12-17
1amVelocity,9-12-17

4amRadar,9-12-17

With light westerly winds come dawn, I was once again stationed at the bridge, and what was – prior to three days ago! – considered a very good flight passed over and through. It was even downright relaxing – and manageable – after the chaos of the previous morning. I had fun.

Not surprisingly, after four consecutive nights, the flight was much lighter overnight on the 12^th into the 13^th, as evidenced once again by the 1:00am and 4:00am images.
1amRadar,9-13-17
1amVelocity,9-13-17

4amRadar,9-13-17

And despite very light westerly winds in the morning, and clear skies, only a light flight was to pass through the point. Of course, that Lark Sparrow more than made up for it. It was also nice to enjoy a slower flight – and identify many more birds than not!

So almost every morning made sense: radar plus weather conditions correctly predicted the intensity of the flight. Except for one. The Big One. And I can’t explain it. But, I am OK (mostly) with that – it’s one of the fascinating and flabbergasting aspects of documenting the morning redetermined migration!

Winds turned to the south during the day on the 13^th, and continued light and southerly overnight, bringing the streak of five great nights of migration to an end. Come morning, I also slept in – relatively speaking – and then went for a massage. As my therapist began to work on my aching neck, she simply uttered, “Wow” and got to work. I felt the same on Monday morning when the greatest flight I have ever recorded passed through Sandy Point.

IMG_6455-edited-edited
Species, such as this Swainson’s Thrush, that can be rather secretive in migration, are sometimes seen really well at Sandy Point!

Northern Pintail x Mallard Hybrid in York (Wood Ducks, too)!

2016 Fall MonhegZen Migration Weekend

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from_terez_edited-1

Our annual “MonhegZen” Fall Birding Weekend visited Monhegan Island over the weekend. I arrived on Thursday afternoon to find nearly as few birds as when I departed four days prior, as my week on the island with my WINGS tour concluded. However, there was a noticeable increase in Yellow-rumped Warblers, both Ruby- and Golden-crowned Kinglets, and Swamp and White-throated Sparrows; clearly, the transition to October had been underway. No rarities to catch up with or track down for my tour group, either. So I enjoyed some time with friends, and that evening’s sunset (here, from the Island Inn) more than made it worth the early arrival.
island_inn_sunset2

Thanks to a strong flight overnight on a light to moderate northeasterly wind, there were, however, a lot of birds to kick off the tour as I met the group of nine at the dock at 8:00am. Yellow-rumped Warblers (over 90% of the flight, apparently), were swirling overhead and we ran into large groups and scattered small, reorienting flocks all morning. It was nice and birdy through lunch, even if almost everything was a Yellow-rump! However, the homogeny was punctuated by good looks at things like a cooperative Northern Waterthrush at the Ice Pond.

…and a couple of Lincoln’s Sparrows in gardens.
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We had a fun day, with a nice diversity of birds, including one Dickcissel, several Cory’s Shearwaters, lots of Northern Gannets, and a respectable 11 species of warblers.
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We awoke to light showers and continuing northeasterly winds on Saturday morning, with the radar indicating merely a light flight overnight. There was virtually no morning flight over the Trailing Yew after sunrise, and it was exceptionally slow after breakfast. Five species of sparrows on one of my seed piles was decent, and again we had a single Dickcissel.

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Some thought I was worshiping this Brown Thrasher, perhaps praying to the bird gods for more migrants. But really, I was just conducting an experiment on how many mealworms a thrasher can eat. For the record: 9, with one taken to go.

But it was hard to sugar-coat things, especially for the three new arrivals that came mid-morning! This was as slow as Monhegan gets, but I can say this: the weather was much better than expected. We only had a little spitting rain after the early morning showers, and light east winds. Expecting a possible wash-out, I would take it, and I would definitely take the results of our afternoon seawatching from Whitehead: 30+ Cory’s Shearwaters (just a few years ago, they were genuinely rare here), 50+ Northern Gannets, a Pomarine Jaeger, and 6 newly-arrived Surf Scoters landing with hundreds of Common Eiders.
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And on our way back into town, we hit a couple of nice birdy spots which helped to end on a high note, including the Clay-colored Sparrow that we had been trying to catch up with.
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Several Monarch butterfly chrysalises were noted behind the Trailing Yew. They better hurry!

Northeasterly winds continued for a 4th or 5th straight night, and a little light rain was once again falling at sunrise. With virtually no visible migration on the radar with diminishing northeasterly winds and scattered showers after midnight, there was yet another nearly-bird-less morning flight over the Yew at dawn. Well, there were the TWO Yellow-rumped Warblers to be exact!

It was another wicked slow morning – I found myself apologizing profusely to those members of the group who were new to the island; I swear this is not what Monhegan is usually about! But at least the rain ended by the time we were done with breakfast, and with the ceiling lifting, we finished strong with birds coming out into the open. There was the Clay-colored Sparrow once again in the Peace Garden by the church comparing itself perfectly to nearby Chipping Sparrows…

…the two Dickcissels together in town (here’s one of them)…
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And several really good looks at Cape May Warblers, including this male.
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Blue-headed Vireos seemed to have arrived overnight, as did a smashing drake Wood Duck that was feeding in the bushes at the Ice Pond’s wide muddy edge. In fact, the 61 species we recorded on the day (with a 4:30 departure) was our best total of the three days.
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Most of the group departed, and those who took the late boat back to Port Clyde with me saw a Razorbill and a few more Cory’s Shearwaters, including one rather close to the boat. The two couples that stayed on the island dreamed of sunshine and a fallout for the next morning (sunshine and more birds, but no fallout, alas).

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“Yellow” Palm Warbler catching flies emerging from a compost bin

So while “tour guide spin” suggests I should just talk about the Clay-colored Sparrow, Dickcissels, Cape May Warblers, and all of the Cory’s Shearwaters, it’s hard to not see through that. It was slow…and weekends like this happen in the fall. Unlike my week-long WINGS tour that saw multiple changes in the weather, we were stuck in a dreary, northeasterly pattern that doesn’t produce a whole lot of birds for Monhegan. And, as true of the entire fall, up and down the Eastern Seaboard, the continued lack of cold fronts continues to minimize numbers and concentrations along the coast and offshore. A mere 71 species were recorded in our three days together; our average for the weekend is 99 species (with an average of 20 species of warblers)! Or should I say, was.

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So now comes the “spin:” If I would have to spend a weekend anywhere else in a “slow” fall, it sure has heck would be Monhegan! The best pizza in the state and other great meals, fantastic beer, good company, and the unique and truly special sense of place that Monhegan offers (including Trap Day, which we enjoyed from afar on Saturday). And yeah, Dickcissels, Clay-colored Sparrows, Cory’s Shearwaters, and 11 species of warblers in three days in early October really isn’t too shabby.
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Of course, there are always things like Fringed Gentian to look at as well!

We’ll just make up for it in spring!

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The daily lists:
Species: Fri 9/30, Sat 10/1, Sun 10/2.

Canada Goose: 0,5,0
Wood Duck: 0,0,1
American Black Duck: 1.5,1.5,1.5
Mallard: 8,12,12
Common Eider: x,x,x
Surf Scoter: 0,6,0
Common Loon: 3,1,0
CORY’S SHEARWATER: 5,30,5
Northern Gannet: 100,50,20
Double-crested Cormorant: x,x,x
Great Cormorant: 6,10,10
Great Blue Heron: 1,1,1
Bald Eagle: 2,1,0
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 4,4,2
American Kestrel: 1,1,1
Merlin: 6,5,3
Peregrine Falcon: 1,2,2
POMARINE JAEGER: 0,1,0
Laughing Gull: 0,1,0
Ring-billed Gull: 0,0,1
Herring Gull: x,x,x
Great Black-backed Gull: x,x,x
Black Guillemot: 6,2,4
Mourning Dove: 4,4,8
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: 4,5,6
Downy Woodpecker: 3,3,2
Northern Flicker: 30,10,4
Eastern Phoebe: 3,3,1
Blue-headed Vireo: 0,0,2
Red-eyed Vireo: 6,4,3
Blue Jay: 28,24,16
American Crow: x,x,x
Common Raven: 1,3,2
Black-capped Chickadee: x,x,x
Red-breasted Nuthatch: 30,20,10
White-breasted Nuthatch: 2,2,2
Brown Creeper: 2,6,1
Golden-crowned Kinglet: 25,25,20
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: 5,4,3
American Robin: 4,1,0
Gray Catbird: 6,6,4
Brown Thrasher: 1,1,1
European Starling: 11,11,11
Cedar Waxwing: 75,50,40
Yellow Warbler: 1,0,1
Cape May Warbler: 1,2,2
Black-throated Blue Warbler: 1,2,0
Yellow-rumped Warbler: 200,30,30
Black-throated Green Warbler: 1,0,0
Palm Warbler: 20,6,4
Blackpoll Warbler: 15,4,1
Black-and-white Warbler: 1,0,0
American Redstart: 1,0,0
Northern Waterthrush: 1,0,0
Common Yellowthroat: 10,4,2
Chipping Sparrow: 4,6,4
CLAY-COLORED SPARROW: 0,1,1
Savannah Sparrow: 6,5,8
Song Sparrow: 20,20,20
Lincoln’s Sparrow: 2,2,1
Swamp Sparrow: 3,0,2
White-throated Sparrow: 10,10,25
White-crowned Sparrow: 5,6,6
Dark-eyed Junco: 0,1,1
Northern Cardinal: 4,12,10
Rusty Blackbird: 1,0,0
Common Grackle: 2,2,2
Brown-headed Cowbird: 0,0,2
DICKCISSEL: 1,1,2
Purple Finch: 1,0,1
American Goldfinch: 4,4,2\

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White-throated Sparrow

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Maine Birding Field Notes

Trip Reports, Essays, Rare Bird Reports, and More from Derek Lovitch's and Freeport Wild Bird Supply's birding in Maine and beyond.

Tag Archives: Dickcissel

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