This Blackpoll Warbler was one of the record 9 species of warblers tallied on the day, and one of the top birds in my Portland territory. It was only the third time that this species was spotted by Rarity Roundup teams.
Each year on the first weekend of November, a group of us get together to scour the Southern Maine coast for vagrants, lingering migrants, pioneers, irruptive, and other seasonal highlights. Coinciding with the peak of “Rarity Season,” we set out to use the geography of the Maine coast, coupled with knowledge of the best habitats and vagrant traps in order to find as many “good” birds as possible. While this year failed to produce any “Megas,” we once again had a great day in the field, found lots of fun stuff, and enjoyed good food and beer at the Great Lost Bear at the end of the day (the real reason we all get together for this event!)
119 species were tallied by the 8 teams of the TENTH Annual South Coastal Maine Rarity Roundup, six species above our 10-year average, despite somewhat more limited coverage than in the past few years. The continuing “Audubon’s” Yellow-rumped Warbler was added to the cumulative checklist, while we also had our second-ever Snowy Egret, Prairie Warbler, and Nelson’s Sparrow. Blackpoll Warbler and Clay-colored Sparrow appeared for the third time.
Most teams experienced a decidedly “birdy” day, especially from Portland through Scarborough. A fallout of Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated Sparrows, and Hermit Thrushes occurred with overnight northwesterly winds and a line of pre-dawn showers, with the fallout especially evident on the Portland Peninsula. I’ll have more about the fallout on a blog entry later today.
Record high tallies were set for Pectoral Sandpiper (13), Northern Flicker (10), Carolina Wren (11), Hermit Thrush (52: the 26 in Portland alone was only one short of the previous all-time high), “Western” Palm Warbler (3), Chipping Sparrow (12), Field Sparrow (3; tie), and Lapland Longspur (37). 9 species of warblers was a new record as well, and Painted Turtle was added to our non-feather species list. All but the longspurs can likely be explained by the unusually warm season to date.
Territory Highlights were as follows:
– Area 1, Kittery-York: Davis Finch.
1 NASHVILLE WARBLER, Legion Pond, Kittery.
1 Pine Warbler, Fort Foster.
1 PRAIRIE WARBLER, Fort Foster.
1 “AUDUBON’S” YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, Fort Foster.
– Area 2, Ogunquit/Kennebunport: Turk Duddy.
2 American Wigeon, Phillip’s Cove, Ogunquit.
1 Northern Pintail, Phillip’s Cove, Ogunquit.
1 Lesser Yellowlegs, Goose Rocks Beach.
– Area 3, Wells/Kennebunk: Doug Suitor, David Ladd, and Slade Moore.
2 Semipalmated Sandpipers, Webhannet Marsh
2 Gray Catbirds, Laudholm Farm.
– Area 4, Biddeford-Saco: Pat Moynahan, Marian Zimmerman, Joanne Stevens, et al.
1 NASHVILLE WARBLER, Saco Yacht Club.
1 CLAY-COLORED SPARROW, Timber Point.
1 NELSON’S SPARROW, Day’s Landing.
2 Lapland Longspurs, Day’s Landing.
– Area 5, Scarborough: Ed Hess, Noah Gibb, and Leon Mooney.
8 Great Egrets
1 SNOWY EGRET, Pelreco marsh
12 American Coots, Prout’s Pond.
8 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS, Eastern Road.
35 Lapland Longspurs
– Area 6, Cape Elizabeth: International Man of Mystery, Claudia, Robby Lambert.
2 “Western” Palm Warblers, private property
1 “Yellow” Palm Warbler, private property
1 DICKCISSEL, Higgin’s Beach.
– Area 7, South Portland: John Berry and Gordon Smith.
1 Ring-necked Pheasant, Fort Williams Park.
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Calvary Cemetery.
1 Pine Warbler, Bug Light Park
– Area 8, Portland: Derek Lovitch and Kristen Lindquist; Jeannette Lovitch (Capisic and Evergreen); and a cameo by Doug Hitchcox.
2 Eastern Phoebes, Eastern Promenade.
1 BLUE-HEADED VIREO, Mercy Pond.
1 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, Eastern Promenade.
1 BLACKPOLL WARBLER, Sheridan Street.
1 White-crowned Sparrow, West Commercial Street.
As usual, I exhaustively cover the Portland Peninsula and once again the most urban block in the state produced some great birds. Kristen joined me for the second year in a row, while Jeannette (and Sasha) helped out with a few outlying patches. Doug joined us just long enough to find the only White-crowned Sparrow of the entire day. In addition to the goodies listed above, Kristen and I amassed 9 species of sparrows.
The fallout that I mentioned above was very evident in the morning, as we birded Portland’s East End. 150+ White-throated Sparrows and 100+ Song Sparrows littered the Eastern Promenade. While Dark-eyed Juncos were fewer there, we encountered some big groups elsewhere, such as 60+ behind the East End School and 50+ in the lot on Sheridan Street, with 70+ later in the day in Western Cemetery. White-throats were everywhere: 50+ on Sheridan Street for example. And once again there was a decidedly disproportionate number of White-throated Sparrows in gardens and landscaping of downtown Portland. A short loop from One City Center through Monument Square, behind Portland High, and back through Post Office Park yielded 35 White-throats, with the only other native migrant being 7 Hermit Thrushes. Like the sparrow, Hermit Thrushes appear in a wildly disproportionate number to other migrants – especially all other thrushes – in downtown Portland. I’m convinced that something causes White-throated Sparrows and Hermit Thrushes to either a) become disoriented by urban lights more often/more readily, especially under low ceilings (it was cloudy for most of the night and morning) or perhaps b) they simply don’t leave these lots in a morning flight as species such as Dark-eyed Juncos might. In fact, I just read in an article in the Brown Alumni Magazine that a friend of the store dropped off about collisions in New York City that since 1997, more White-throated Sparrows have been found dead than any other species. Coincidence?
Our sum of 26 Hermit Thrushes was truly amazing, as was our overall diversity on the day. While the mild weather certainly has a lot to do with the number of lingering/pioneering birds that we, and other teams, encountered, the late-season fallout earlier in the morning certainly helped our cause.
Here are the overnight reflectivity and velocity images, with 10pm, 1am, and 4am once again used as an example.
At 10pm, there’s mostly rain in the area, but birds are mixed in. By 1:00am, birds are on the move, as the rain has mostly moved into the Mid-Coast and offshore. Birds were still on the go at 4:00am, as a narrow line of showers moved through the coast. About an hour later, a steady rain developed (not shown) that continued until a short time before the 6:20 sunrise. I believe this is why there were so many sparrows in and around the city come dawn.
In other words, it was another great day of birding in urban Portland in the heart of “Rarity Season!”
Maine Birding Field Notes 