Tag Archives: Maine

Cape Neddick through Wells – Snowy Owl!

Jeannette and I birded from Cape Neddick through Wells on Tuesday, seeing a really pleasant variety of birds in the process in the calm before the storm. Delayed by a snowy start and somewhat slick roads (OK, not slick if didn’t drive like it was a dry race car track – 7 cars were off the road between Freeport and York, however) that backed up traffic (“Hey, there’s a car in the ditch, let me look!”), we didn’t reach the Nubble neighborhood until almost 9:00, but by then the snow had ended, the ceiling lifted a bit, and a very light wind made for decent – albeit a bit raw – birding conditions. Although we didn’t have anything earth-shattering, we did have a fair number of “good birds.”

Without a day off together in December (the store is open seven days a week from Thanksgiving to Christmas), our annual late November run through our usual route is the last time we focus on thickets and migrant traps in the hopes for lingering migrants and rare passerines. Next time, waterbirds will be more of a focus. And the limited number of non-resident passerines that we detected today (other than Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrows, American Tree Sparrows, and a scattered few Yellow-rumped Warblers) confirms that – as did the impressive, and growing, quantity of waterbirds.

Three Carolina Wrens was the highlight of a thorough check of the Nubble neighborhood thickets, although we did have a group of about 40 Snow Buntings fly over. 45 Black Scoters, 13 Purple Sandpipers, 8 Great Cormorants, 6 Harlequin Ducks, etc at The Nubble were a sign of things to come along the shoreline.

Passerines were few and far between along Marginal Way and the adjacent neighborhood, but great numbers of waterfowl along the shoreline more than made up for it. As with everywhere we looked at the ocean today, all three scoters were present in numbers, including a close and talkative group of about 100 Black Scoters. Lots of Long-tailed Ducks, Common Eiders, and a total of 20 or 21 Harlequin Ducks were also present, along with a half-dozen Purple Sandpipers.

OgunquitBeach was a hotspot today, with a flock of 75-100 Sanderlings being joined by 32 Dunlin. 200+ Mallards and a handful of American Black Ducks were in the river, and a Belted Kingfisher hunted from its shore. One of the surprises of the day was two Ruby-crowned Kinglets actively foraging in four Dwarf Alberta Spruces in planters in front of the motel. A Winter Wren at Beach Plum Farm was a very good bird for this late in the season (they’re the “All but in winter wren” in Maine), and we had two Peregrine Falcons and an immature Northern Harrier in and around Harbor Road and Community Park in Wells.

We checked WellsHarbor and the jetties from a couple of vantage points (wouldn’t this be a perfect place to find a Ross’s Gull!?) and then scanned the offshore rock ledges still above water on the incoming tide from the parking lot at the end of Mile Road. Six more Dunlin were within the scattered flock of 75+ Purple Sandpipers, and there were a lot of the expected waterbirds, including 6+ Red-throated Loons and at least four Red-necked Grebes.

All day long we were scanning the marshes and shoreline rocks in the hopes of seeing a Snowy Owl. There have been a rash of reports in the past 7-10 days, as it looks like an irruption is underway. I have not heard any reports of lemming and vole populations on the tundra, but a southward push of Snowies means there are either too few rodents (a natural cyclical crash, especially in lemmings) or too many owls (good breeding productivity thanks to a boom year in lemmings). Either way, there are a lot of hungry owls around Maine right now. It was surprising that based on the recent uptick in reports, we did not see one all day…until our very last stop with the light rapidly fading. One immature female-type (extremely heavily barred throughout the body, other than the face) was standing guard on the last of the rocking ledges that I scanned. Any day with a Snowy Owl is a good day in my book!

Please remember that these birds are not down this far south by choice! The birds are here because they are hungry, or even starving (one emaciated bird was found dead at Prout’s Neck the other day, for example). While this charismatic and captivating species is sought by birders, photographers, and almost everyone else, we must be mindful of the dire straights that many of these birds are in. Too often we have heard stories of birds harassed, flushed repeatedly, or otherwise bothered by supposed fans. In the case of a Snowy Owl perched on a rock 100 yards or more offshore, there is little harm that can come from gawking at them from land. But when they are in the marsh, in the dunes, out in a field, on a building, etc, how about we remain just as respectful to these magnificent creatures and admire them from a safe distance. Besides, the birds’ natural behaviors will be more fascinating than watching it fly away from you. No, you really don’t need to see the bird a little better, or get a photo a little closer . . . admire them from a distance and let’s not make life any more difficult for these birds – or ruin it for other birders!

Rarity Season-to-date in Review

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I hope you didn’t think that my lack of blogging of late equated to a lack of birding! Quite the contrary, actually – it is Rarity Season afterall! I’ve just been posting more frequent, shorter updates on our store’s Facebook page (you can scroll through the timeline here to see recent posts), especially since I have found myself a bit over-extended with a variety of other projects at the moment – I’ve been working late most nights recently to make up for my morning birding gallivanting.

In fact, I have been birding even harder than usual – if you can believe that! Spurred on by extraordinary late October finds of an “Audubon’s” Yellow-rumped Warbler at Fort Foster and a Bell’s Vireo (a state bird for me!) on Bailey Island, I found myself somehow even more motivated to beat the bush through the first half of November. In addition to the 10^th Annual South Coastal Maine Rarity Roundup that I organize every year, I worked hard at various traditional hotspots, favorite late fall patches, and various attempts to think “outside the box,” such as walking the 4.5 miles into work today to check a handful of swales and thickets en route (not very productive, except for the exercise, for the record)

While Audubon’s Warbler and Bell’s Vireo are going to be tough to beat – the early-rarity-season bar was set awfully high! – I have had some outstanding birding in November, even if there has yet to be another “Mega.” Personal highlights in the first half of November include a very nice variety of lingering (pioneering?) warblers, a Yellow-breasted Chat, multiple Orange-crowned Warblers (I’ve had four this season to date), huge numbers of Ruddy Ducks on Sabattus Pond, and overall just really good birding with good diversity.

Elsewhere around the state, current highlights include a Northern Hawk-Owl in Lincoln – not a vagrant in the “Rarity Season” sort of way, but exciting nonetheless! And perhaps that, along with an early Snowy Owl report from Biddeford Pool, portends a decent owl irruption this winter? There certainly won’t be any winter finches around this year.). Other birders have detected a variety of late warblers around the state (wow, November Chestnut-sided in Falmouth!), and lots of lingering shorebirds – especially in Scarborough Marsh. But as far as the first half of November usually goes, there have been no truly exceptional birds. Looking around the region, we see goodies such as a Calliope Hummingbird in New Hampshire, A Black-chinned Hummingbird in Connecticut, and the usual fun array of rarities in Massachusetts (Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Western Tanager, American Avocet, etc). However, it is an ultra-spiffy adult Ross’s Gull near Montreal that is the real headliner of the fall in the Northeast so far (and yes, I am being tempted to chase this, I have to admit).

So there are some good birds around the region, and no doubt there are some good birds still to find in Maine. Other than a couple of days, it has been fairly temperate to mild all fall, and I can’t help but wonder if birds that arrived in the state through various vagrancy mechanisms (see Chapter 7 of my book, How to Be a Better Birder) have yet to concentrate along the coast as they seek out more favorable microclimates or seasonal food sources. Also, as the season progresses, more rarities turn up at feeding stations as natural food supplies diminish. December rarities, for example, are often discovered at feeders. Two tardy Chipping Sparrows are at our store’s feeders as I type this, by the way; I’m hoping they pick up a clay-colored cousin. A lot of folks are reporting very busy feeders right now, which is a good sign, especially considering the lack of irruptive finches.

The last few days have seen a nice southwesterly flow aloft. Look at Friday’s wind map, for example:

That extensive southwesterly flow early in the month would have surely deposited stuff like Cave Swallows in New England, but I wonder if that window has already closed. A couple of Caves in Connecticut as recently as the 9^th gives me some hope, however. Contrast that map with the more zonal flow that we have seen for much of the month, such as on 11/10:

Although few birds are “blown” out of range, certain winds facilitate the arrival of more vagrants in certain areas than others. And southwesterly winds in late fall are definitely the desired winds here in Maine. With a fairly complex weather system on its way – including some really severe storms in the Midwest – I remain hopeful for some more out-of-range treats. Interesting weather does have the tendency to produce some interesting birding, even without facilitating the arrival of rarities.

At the very least, behind this system, we should see a return to colder, seasonable weather (as opposed to the 50’s of the last two days for example), and this should help push birds to feeders, warmer coastal and urban areas, etc. Also, hopefully it will bring some snowfall to points north, as this year’s Goose Rarity Season has been lackluster, especially in the Greater Yarmouth Goose Fields. A Greater White-fronted Goose that has been in Scarborough for a couple of weeks, and another in Berwick earlier in the month, along with a couple of Cackling Goose reports have been the only geese-of-note in southern Maine. While “The County” saw single Barnacle and Pink-footed Goose in October, I have not had a single “good” goose in the fields of North Yarmouth, Cumberland, and Falmouth all season. A Bean (!!!) Goose, Barnacle, and Pink-footed all in Nova Scotia right now give me plenty of hope, and last year, things really didn’t pick up locally until mid-November anyway. I will continue my thrice-weekly circuit.

So the short version of this is: go birding! There are rarities out there to be discovered.

Black Skimmer at Sandy Point!

MonhegZEN Birding Fall Migration Weekend, 9/26-30/13

Yet Another Great Morning Flight at Sandy Point!

Huge Morning Flight at Sandy Point!

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My last blog entry ended with a little bit of foreshadowing, did it not? But before we get to Sandy Point this morning, let us take a moment to review the radar images from the weekend for comparison.

This is the 12:00am image from Sunday. This is what “no migration” looks like on the radar. You can also see the rain approaching from the west.

Now this is the midnight image from Saturday. This is what “I have no idea what’s going on” looks like on the radar. While anything from some weird warping of the radar beams from changes in air temperature to a simple malfunction could result in this, what it is NOT is a lot of birds. It’s too irregular…and bird’s don’t “explode” in narrow bands!

So, compare those to what “a whole boatload” of birds looks like. Here are the 10pm, 12am, 2am, and 4am base reflectivity and velocity images from last night.

Yeah, it would have been nice to be on Monhegan this morning. But I was in my other sanctuary – my office at Sandy Point. And this is what happened:

6:28 – 10:05am.
43F, increasing W to NW, clear.

1338 Unidentifed (*2^nd highest)
416 Northern Parulas (* Seriously, how are there any more parulas to come through! This is the second highest count of all time, and now all three of the highest tallies are from this year!)
281 Northern Flickers
179 Black-throated Green Warblers (*2^nd highest)
163 Blackpoll Warblers
91 Yellow-rumped Warblers
43 Black-and-white Warblers (*record high)
39 Red-eyed Vireos
35 American Redstarts
29 Blue Jays
29 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
23 Yellow Warblers
22 Blue-headed Vireos
21 Scarlet Tanagers (*record high)
21 Dark-eyed Juncos
19 Cedar Waxwings
18 Magnolia Warblers
17 Nashville Warblers (*record high)
17 American Goldfinches
13 Black-throated Blue Warblers
12 Eastern Phoebes (* ties high)
11 Swainson’s Thrushes
9 Palm Warblers
6 Rusty Blackbirds
5 American Robins
4 Unidentified vireos
4 Chestnut-sided Warblers
4 White-throated Sparrows
3 Least Flycatchers
3 Cape May Warblers
3 Bay-breasted Warblers
2 Common Loons
2 Broad-winged Hawks
2 TUFTED TITMICE (rarely seen crossing)
2 Unidentified thrushes
2 Golden-crowned Kinglets
2 Blackburnian Warblers
2 Common Yellowthroats
1 Osprey
1 American Kestrels
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
1 Eastern Wood-Pewee
1 Common Raven
1 Philadelphia Vireos
1 Veery
1 Tennessee Warbler
1 CONNECTICUT WARBLER (My third of the season here; it’s the fall of the CONWs in Maine!)
1 Northern Waterthrushes
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
1 DICKCISSEL (third of the season here)
1 Baltimore Oriole

Total = 2, 905 (4^th highest tally all time for me)

Some of the migrants pause long enough at Sandy Point to do a little snacking. Here’s a Red-eyed Vireo eating Alternate-leafed Dogwood fruits, and a Swainson’s Thrush stepping out into the sun to dine on Winterberries.

A little post-Sandy Point birding yielded two Wilson’s Snipe trying to stay hidden along the edge of a puddle along Greely Road in Cumberland.

And tonight looks just as good…perhaps even a little better with a more northwesterly flow. See ya at the bridge at sunrise!

Current Birds, Weather, Predictions . . . and Pretty Shorebird Photos

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Yesterday’s record high temperatures (92 in Portland shattered the old record of 87) were ushered in on a strong southwesterly flow. Unseasonably warm air continues today, as the southwesterly winds aloft are picking up ahead of tonight’s cold front (more on that shortly).

Here are the continental wind maps from yesterday afternoon, and this afternoon. Yesterday, you can see the south-southwesterly flow originating from under a broad area of high pressure over the Southeast…

…but notice that by today, cool, Canadian air was pouring down into the Upper Midwest (which resulted in some big flights over the last two nights in that region).

In addition to hot and very muggy conditions, this strong southerly flow has the potential to usher in some hot new rarities to our neck of the woods. While it appears that the Biddeford Pool Kentucky Warbler has moved on, I am expecting some more southern strays to turn up in our region. Keep in mind, however, that these winds are not “blowing” birds north, but instead facilitating birds to arrive here that are either wandering (post-breeding dispersal, prospecting for new territories, etc) or area already flying in the wrong direction (e.g. “180-degree misorientation”).

In other words, if a Kentucky Warbler – for example – was “miswired” and began to fly north instead of south, a strong southerly wind would push it even farther the “wrong” way. Then, with tonight’s cold front, the strong northwesterly winds that follow could push the birds towards the coast. There, they find a coastal migrant trap – i.e. a dense thicket full of fruiting bushes in the woods of Biddeford Pool – to seek shelter in while they refuel. There, they are more likely to be found by an alert birder than say somewhere in the valleys of the western Maine mountains. Many migrants spend 3 to 7 days to “refuel.” I don’t think it was a coincidence that the Biddeford Pool KEWA was seen for five days…and that it disappeared after a night of light southerly winds. Of course, it may have just moved to a richer food patch, or one without birders unnecessarily blasting a tape at it all afternoon.

Anyway, what will the weekend produce? I might be thinking more along the lines of birds like Summer Tanagers and Hooded Warblers based on this recent weather pattern. Unfortunately, I won’t be around to find them! Instead, I will be helping out at the Leica Sports Optics booth at the Cape Cod Birding Festival in Hyannis (I’ll also be signing copies of “How to Be a Better Birder,” which of course covers many of the vagrant-producing and Mega-finding topics that I have touched upon here).

Ahead of tonight’s cold front, and before the forecasted thunderstorms of the afternoon, I – not surprisingly – was out birding this morning. It’s September – there’s really no such thing as a night with “no” migration. However, what was flying last night was not being noticed on the radar; likely a limited number of birds were flying below the clouds, however.

Here’s the midnight radar image for example:

That would be thunderstorms. Not birds. And we can verify it from the velocity image:

…A distinct west to east movement, unlike the northerly to southerly movement of southbound fall migrant birds. Therefore, I was not surprised to have very, very few birds overhead at dawn over our yard this morning, or later on at Hedgehog Mountain Park. I did, however, find a lot of birds in the woods. While some of these might have been new arrivals that snuck in below the clouds and between the storms, the mixed-species foraging flocks working through the woods was much more indicative of birds that have been around for a day or two. The flock that moved through our yard shortly after sunrise, consisting mostly of Blackpoll Warblers, also contained not one, but two new Yard Birds for us: Cape May Warbler and Philadelphia Vireo! Also, at least two Tennessee Warblers.

Multiple mixed flocks were encountered at The Hog, led by Blackpoll Warblers, along with a healthy serving of Black-throated Greens. A Lincoln’s Sparrow foraged at the edge, and a mixed-species flock consisting of 40+ Chipping Sparrows, 6 Eastern Bluebirds, and 1 Pine Warbler worked the edge of the transfer station and out through the ballfields.

Afterwards, I zipped down to Pine Point for the low tide. Shorebird numbers are down considerably, as expected by the middle of September. And, I would expect a lot of the birds I saw today to clear out behind this next cold front. About 180 Semipalmated Sandpipers led the way, punctuated by a juvenile Red Knot, and two continuing American Oystercatchers (they were too far to determine age, visible over on Western Beach as viewed from Pine Point Beach). Four juvenile Dunlins were a sign that their migration – one of our two latest migrant shorebirds – is just now picking up. The highlight, however, were side-by-side “Eastern” and “Western” Willets. Unfortunately, I was only able to get the two in the frame together by phone-scoping, here with a Greater Yellowlegs for a convenient reference.

I then carefully approached with my “real” camera, but I never again saw the two birds in the same field of view. However, I did get solid photos of both the juvenile Western…

…and the juvenile Eastern.

Even from the lousy phone-scoped photos, you can see how distinctive these two subspecies (for now!) are. The smaller, “dumpier,” browner Eastern nicely contrasts with the larger, lankier, and much grayer Western. Also, note how the darker brown scapulars of the Eastern contrast with the rest of the wing; Western is more uniform. The head of the Eastern is also more contrast-y, and in this individual, the bill is so distinctly shorter and blunter.

Elsewhere, I finally got a chance to look for – and find – the juvenile Hudsonian Godwit that has been frequenting the river behind the Scarborough Marsh Nature Center for about a week now. This is the first “Hud-wit” that I have seen in two years here in Maine – this once-common migrant has definitely declined dramatically in the state.

Now, my eyes are on the weather maps, and after dusk, the radar, to see if I will be at SandyPoint at sunrise on Friday. This is the wind map as of 5pm. The northwesterlies behind the front are barely peeking into the region north of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec.

Currently, forecasters are suggesting that the cold front won’t pass through until tomorrow morning. However, with very light winds overnight, perhaps with a westerly component, there could be some birds on the move…depending on when this latest batch of rain and thunderstorms (the storms last night and this afternoon were wicked, weren’t they? And very un-September-like) moves through. Will the front get here soon enough? Will birds be moving directly behind the front? Will they be pushed offshore enough to need to reorient in the morning? I’ll let you know tomorrow!

A MEW GULL in Thomaston!

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On August 3^rd, Don Reimer found Maine’s Third State Record of a Mew Gull in a parking lot in Thomaston. While it was seen in the area for most of the day, it was not seen by anyone on the 4^th – myself included – despite extensive searching. However, a few days later, Don relocated it, and it has been seen regularly since, although it is not always in the same place at the same time, and it seems to feed somewhere unknown at low tide.

After returning from Hawai’i on Friday, I was happy to see the bird has kindly awaited my return. Today was the first chance I got to head over, and at 7:45 I met Kristen Lindquist in the parking lot behind downtown Thomaston. Kristen was studying about 30 Ring-billed Gulls in the parking lot until a birder drove by and flushed them. Apparently, a few gulls from rooftops and/or a nearby field joined the flushed birds, and as they settled back down or flew off, I noticed a single, seemingly darker gray bird sitting atop a basketball hoop in the adjacent playground.

And sure enough! I snapped a few phone-scoped images, including this one.

Boy, that was easy, for us anyway (the gull is hard to see atop the basketball hoop here)!

A short while later, it flew to a nearby field next to the Oceanside High School. There, a jogger was doing laps around the track. Although the bird was never too perturbed by this, it did fly a short distance when the jogger would be a little too close for comfort. This afforded me a perfect opportunity for exactly what I wanted: flight and spread-wing photos. Shortly thereafter, it flew off the field and onto the roof of the elementary school where we left it at about 9:00.

(Click on the photos for a larger image)

Side-by-side with a Ring-billed Gull:

So, what is this? Other than a big, fat, mess?

It’s definitely a bird in the Mew Gull (Larus canus) Complex, which here in the States, we refer to as composing four subspecies. There’s “Mew Gull,” L.c.brachyrhynchus that is common in the west, breeding from Alaska to extreme northwestern Manitoba and south through the coast of British Columbia, and wintering along the Pacific Coast from Washington into Baja California. However, vagrants that have been recorded on the Eastern Seaboard have mostly (I believe) been assigned to the expanding European population, L.c.canus, or “Common Gull.” There’s also the “Kamchatka Gull” (L.c. kamtschatsensis) of the Russian Far East that is a regular rarity in Western Alaska, with perhaps a few claimed elsewhere on the continent (I am vaguely recalling one in Massachusetts?). Finally, there is L.c.heinei of Siberia, which may just be an intergrade between Common and Kamchatka Gulls and I am unaware of any possible records of this in North America.

In short, the European “Common Gull” actually seems to be more likely on the East Coast than the North American “Mew Gull.” But most records are from winter, and most birds do not have a plumage as trashed as this individual.

The bird appears small to me, with a relatively thin bill (although it’s on the long side), and a relatively dark mantle, all of which would be points in favor of Mew Gull. However, the plumage is so ravaged, that it’s hard to even age the bird. Is it an advanced 2^nd cycle, a retarded 3^rd cycle, or an adult that had some really bad days? Intermediate-aged birds in the complex are notoriously, well, complex – and very difficult, at best, to identify.

But what can we actually see?
–          Fairly broad white windows in outer two primaries (primaries 10 + 9)
–          Little to know white between the black and gray on P8 (although this is probably only of value on an adult.
–          P7 is trashed
–          Is that a new P6 growing in? (One primary is definitely missing as well, could it be P1?)
–          The four new primaries have a fairly broad white tip.
–          The legs are dull olive-y (subadult-like).
–          The bill is fairly bright yellow at the tip with an olive-y base (adult-like).
–          The tail is too trashed too look for black spots at the tip (expected in a 2^nd cycle Mew Gull, but not in a Common)
–          The eye is fairly dark.

So, we have an odd time of year for a vagrant gull, and we have a trashed plumage. Can we narrow it down to a probable subspecies? I will be sending this blog out to those who know various members of the Mew Gull Complex better than I do, and I will let you know what I learn. Whatever it is, I got myself a state bird today!

REFERENCE:
Howell, Steve N.G. and Jon Dunn. 2007. Gulls of the Americas. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston/New York.

Shorebird Pseudo-Big Day

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Luke Seitz and I embarked on a semi-serious “Shorebird Big Day” on Wednesday. I say “semi-serious” because we didn’t exactly try too hard to build our list…at least not after our first stop. Instead, we spent more time watching shorebirds, studying, and photographing them. We still, however, tallied 14 species of shorebirds, but instead of heading inland to pick up Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, and Upland Sandpiper, we just splashed in the water and studied dowitchers at Hill’s Beach. It wasn’t a bad way to spend a gorgeous summer day.

We began in the morning at high tide by scouring Scarborough Marsh from the Eastern Road Trail. If we were to have a chance at 20 species of shorebirds on the day, we would need to add a rarity or two from the pannes. Unfortunately, high water levels from all of the recent rain minimized habitat, and shorebirds were not as plentiful as we would have preferred. We did, however, see 2 or 3 Stilt Sandpipers, a decent bird in the summer. Other than Greater Yellowlegs, with about 55 individuals, numbers were relatively low: 75 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 40 Short-billed Dowitchers, 25+ Least Sandpipers, 8 Lesser Yellowlegs, 3 Black-bellied Plovers, 2 Semipalmated Plovers, and 1 Willet.

Making up for the low shorebird totals, however, were the high wading bird totals: 85 Snowy Egrets, 60 Great Egrets, 40 Glossy Ibis, 39 Little Blue Herons, and 9 Great Blue Herons. In addition to teasing out one of the continuing White-faced Ibises and spotting the continuing full Tricolored Heron, we also saw BOTH of the presumed Tricolored Heron x Snowy Egret hybrids. Yup, there are two of these beasties out there!

The first is the bird that has been present all summer, with a ghostly cast to an otherwise Tricolored-like pattern. Pure white is confined to the belly, the throat, and a thin line in the foreneck.

However, recently, a second bird has appeared, which is very reminiscent of the first, but has some splotchy areas of white, including mostly white wingtips. I believe I saw this bird on July 18^th when I was out with a client and sans camera; I remember commenting (and my field notes confirm) that I didn’t remember so much white in the wing

Meanwhile, it was nice to see that at least one of the White-faced Ibises continue, although at this stage of molt, it was impossible to age. It was also not very close. Here’s Luke’s best shot (mine were not passable at all).

After spending more time with waders and a little time of sparrows, such as this Nelson’s Sparrow…

…we attempted to regain our shorebird focus over at Pine Point, as the tide was rolling out. The mudflats had plenty of birds, including a few birds that would be important for a Shorebird Big Day, such as the pair – now, featuring two fledglings! – of American Oystercatchers (the only breeding pair in the state!). We also had four Whimbrel, along with 296 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 124 Semipalmated Plovers, 25 Willets, 25 Short-billed Dowitchers, 19 Black-bellied Plovers, 3 Ruddy Turnstones, and 2 each of Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs.

But with a morning total of a mere 11 species of shorebirds, we elected for a leisurely lunch at Saco Island Deli instead of heading inland to work on our shorebird list – it is really too early in the season for a true Shorebird Big Day, but I am not sure if I have ever hit 20 in July, and since this was a day we both had a chance to get out all day together, we figured it was at least worth considering. Anyway, on the incoming tide, we visited Hill’s Beach, where once again, we elected to forego shorebird listing for shorebird “quality” time, and therefore just spent close to three hours playing in the sand.

While the two Red Knots…

…4 Piping Plovers (a pair fledged two young here for the first time in recent memory), and 8 Sanderlings brought our count to 14 species on the day, we became distracted by photographing terns and studying dowitchers. While our goodly count of 155 Semipalmated Plovers were augmented by about 65 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 8 Black-bellied Plovers, 4 Ruddy Turnstones, and 1 Least Sandpiper, it was the 120 or so Short-billed Dowitchers that kept our attention.

We were looking for individuals of the interior subspecies hendersonii, as I did on Sunday with Phil. (See blog and photos here:

https://mebirdingfieldnotes.wordpress.com/2013/07/28/biddeford-in-shorebird-season/). We had what was possibly the same bright bird as Sunday (see above) fly-by, it was the paler birds that had us intrigued.

We thought the combination of a bright orange chest, and a fair amount of orange between the legs and on the undertail coverts, compared with the paler face and lightly, but distinctly spotted flanks and side (especially the side of the breast) of this bird made it look “good.”

But we were pondering how extensive of color a hendersonii “needs” to have, as most of the individuals of the expected Eastern subspecies griseus, also were showing at least a touch of peachy-orange color in the undertail, etc.

Here are some typical, and typically variable, griseus for comparison.

In the end, we simply said, “who knows!?” and went back to photographing other fun stuff, such as this Bonaparte’s Gull…

And this juvenile Roseate Tern…which was actually one of my targets to photograph today.

Ok, so we really quit on the Big Day attempt by about 10:33 in the morning, but 14 species of shorebirds included Stilt Sandpiper, American Oystercatcher, and two hendersonii Short-billed Dowitcher, along with two Tricolored Heron x Snowy Egret hybrids, White-faced Ibis, Tricolored Heron, a mid-summer marsh Merlin (these birds have simply got to be breeding in coastal Cumberland County!), it was hardly a bad day of birding. In fact, it was actually a spectacular day!

Birding By Schooner 2013!

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Jeannette and I were once again had the honor and pleasure to have the opportunity to be the guides on a 6-day birding tour aboard the Lewis R. French out of Camden, Maine. This was our third tour together (I also was aboard for a private charter last year), and we have been looking forward to this trip since the last time we stepped off the boat. While this blog entry will obviously focus on the birding and wildlife aspects of the trip, I will not be able to do this tour justice with words nor pictures. It is truly a unique experience from start to finish.

After boarding the boat the night before, we awoke to sunny skies in Camden Harbor on Day 1 of the trip, July 22^nd. Captain Garth and I chatted about possible destinations, and after another check of the forecast, we decided to take advantage of the benign conditions to make a run way out to SealIsland, off of Matinicus. We have a total of four islands that feature breeding seabirds – with Atlantic Puffins being the prime target – in three different directions, so with every trip, we hope to hit at least one of them. Seal is the most remote, and the most extraordinary – featuring not just lots of puffins, but Razorbills, Common Murres, Great Cormorants, Arctic and Common Terns, and for the past seven years – a Red-billed Tropicbird. A few pairs of Manx Shearwaters also breed there, as do many Leach’s Storm-Petrels. Unlike the other islands, it also offers a fairly sheltered cove for anchoring, and the opportunity to host the island’s seabird biologists for dinner and conversation. (Note: you can double-click on the photos for larger images)

The Schooner French, a National Historic Landmark built in 1871 is not mechanized. This means there is plenty of ways to burn a few calories before the next scrumptious meal, such as cranking the anchor…

…or raising the sails

As we departed the harbor, we started our trip list with common species such as Mallards, Double-crested Cormorants, Laughing Gulls, and a smattering of landbirds. Osprey nests were passed and Black Guillemots were in their usual abundance. Common Eiders were common, as were Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls, along with a scattering of Common Loons and Common Terns. Many of these, especially the gulls, cormorants, eiders, and especially the guillemots would be constant companions throughout the trip, especially in in- and nearshore waters.

Amanda serving lunch; all meals were, as usual, fantastic. Lunch was “simple:” soup, a salad, fresh baked bread, and desert.

As we left the shelter of Penobscot Bay, the wind died off completely. This would be the first of what was, unfortunately, a few days where we were forced to use our powered yawl boat to push the French along (Although we still use a tiny fraction of the gas as any other pelagic birding trip out there!). En route, we encountered a single Leach’s Storm-Petrel that provided a nice view, and a Manx Shearwater passed by – our first two target species spotted, and we hadn’t even reached Seal Island yet!

I prepare the chum

The waters around Seal were teeming with birds: lots’o’puffins, Razorbills, a handful of Common Murres, Great Cormorants, and a boat-load of Black Guillemots. Hundreds of Arctic Terns were wheeling about the island, with many birds making close passes of the boat. It did appear, however, that Common Terns had already mostly fledged, as we didn’t see too many. Three Common Ravens were a surprise, but Song and Savannah Sparrows singing from the island were expected. A few migrant shorebirds were darting about, including Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, a few Ruddy Turnstones, and at least one Semipalmated Plover. Spotted Sandpipers foraged along the shore, too, the only shorebird that breeds out here.

Razorbills

Puffins!

Arctic Tern

Unfortunately, the famous Red-billed Tropicbird did not put in an appearance. We were in position for his afternoon bath, but later we learned he often skips it when it isn’t sunny. “He’s a fair weather bather,” one of the biologists later told us.

But our spirits were not dampened. After all, this is not a hard-core listing trip. Although everyone would have liked to have seen the tropicbird, this tour is more about taking what the weather and the birds provide, and enjoying a relaxed, casual bird-watching experience.

And just in case anyone was upset about dipping on the tropicbird, dinner was soon served – Amanda and Amber’s meals always put a smile on people’s faces – and we welcomed our special guests, the seabird biologists of SealIsland. It’s a treat for us to ask them questions about life and birds on this remote rock, and no doubt a treat for them to get a brief break from the rigors of island life.

Black Guillemot with Rock Eel

Chatting with the biologists on Matinicus Rock…aka “nah, nah, we’re on a schooner!”

As night fell, and a near-full moon rose, many of the birders on board delayed retiring to their bunk until Leach’s Storm-Petrels – who only visit their burrow nests under the cover of night – began to vocalize. There were only three of us left on deck by 10:00, when I turned in. The one birder, our good friend Chris, however, stayed topside (and another birder slept on deck) for a while longer. Not too long after I gave in to sleep, fog rolled in, and that really got the storm-petrels to call. Chris was rewarded for his stamina with a cacophony of somewhat-disconcerting cackling chatters.

That fog was still around at sunrise, which unfortunately meant we would leave without the tropicbird. Even if he did come out for his morning bath, we wouldn’t have seen him – heck, we couldn’t even see his cove from the boat. So we just had to suffer through more puffins. It’s a tough life.

Fog and occasional rain reduced visibility as we headed for shelter inshore, but we spotted the occasional commuting puffin and a few Northern Gannets.

We passed around the west side of Vinalhaven Island, and dropped anchor off of North Haven in the Fox Islands Thorofare. An evening walk in “town” added landbirds to the list, including a few Purple Finches at a feeder and a Cooper’s Hawk.

A Great-horned Owl called throughout much the night, and come dawn, we shuttled ashore for a birdwalk on Vinalhaven Island.

Garth suggested a loop trail that was a short walk away from the dock, but we barely made it to the trailhead – the road in was just too birdy! A Swainson’s Thrush foraged on the beach, a Blackburnian Warbler sang near the dock, and as we walked the road, we came across a variety of the common birds of these Red Spruce-dominated islands. Magnolia Warblers and Golden-crowned Kinglets; Winter Wrens and Dark-eyed Juncos. One little patch of alder scrub at the edge of a meadow exploded with birds with just a little pishing: two family groups of Black-throated Green Warblers, a pair or two of American Redstarts and Common Yellowthroats, a band of Golden-crowned Kinglets, White-throated Sparrows, and one Alder Flycatcher. We had to hustle back to the boat in time for breakfast.

We rounded Vinalhaven clockwise, and came out of the fog for a time as we crossed East Penobscot Bay. We were back into the sun as we traversed Merchant’s Row, but once again we found ourselves without even a puff of wind.

While an island with terns and alcids is usually the highlight of our sail, over the years, the colony of Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls and Double-crested Cormorants of Southern Mark Island has provided us with some entertainment. Here, Bald Eagles travel to hunt the colony, and in years past, we have seen some incredible shows. As we slowed down to view the island, two Bald Eagles rapidly approached right on cue. One landed in the center of the island, presumably to look for unattended gull chicks. This time, both eagles were driven off empty-taloned.

Small flocks of southbound migrant shorebirds were also encountered here and there, such as these Semipalmated Sandpipers

Burnt Cove Harbor on Swan’s Island would be our harbor of refuge for the night, and an after-dinner dusk stroll in the village and out to the lighthouse added a couple more species to our growing list.

It was with anxious anticipation that I went to bed that night, as Garth had decided that – weather forecast holding true of course – we were going to head offshore yet again, perhaps all of the way out to Mount Desert Rock. It was time for some true pelagic birding! And just to hedge the bet, we picked up some more bait for chumming.

Common Terns were common

A light northeasterly wind helped us get offshore, but yet again, the wind died offshore and we needed the assistance of our yawl boat. A very long 2-3 foot swell was hardly noticeable in our heavy wooden boat, and as we headed into deeper water, the birding really began to heat up.

About a mile away from Mount Desert Rock, we hit pay dirt: massive rafts of Great Shearwaters. We sailed through them, and then back through them. The lack of wind was keeping them on the water, and most just paddled away from our slow-moving ship. I began to chum. You could say it worked. It worked really, really well.

Great Shearwaters took the bait, literally, and followed us closely. Now under sail, the silence afforded us the opportunity to hear these surprisingly-vociferous birds as they fought over morsels, and jockeyed for position. Many birds were coming within only a few yards of the boat, and many of them were not bothering to fly – just walking on water with wings flapping. They would plunge in after slowly-sinking chunks of Herring (I really wish I had cut things smaller, the chum bucket was going down way too fast!) and we were close enough to see them underwater.

Great Shearwater

Northern Gannet

Molting adult Red-necked Phalaropes

Juvenile Arctic Tern

OK everyone, grab your copy of Howell’s ‘Petrels, Albatrosses & Storm-Petrels of North America and use molt patterns to age this Great Shearwater!

Sooty Shearwater

Mmmm…herring

Great Shearwater coming in for a landing…I think this is my favorite photo of the trip!

Adult Northern Gannet

Simply put, this was a lot of fun. And when all was said and done, and we left the hotspot, we had tallied an impressive 764 Great Shearwaters. They were joined by at least 4 Sooty Shearwaters, and one Manx Shearwater cruised by – not pausing for long, as usual. A total of 19 Northern Gannets were counted, and Razorbills (9), 2 Common Murres, and more Atlantic Puffins (4+) added to the show. Although overshadowed by the rafts of shearwaters, Red-necked Phalaropes were in abundance – I estimated at least 400 birds, most of which in tight flocks spinning in floating mats of wrack. I didn’t pull out any Red Phalaropes from the bunches, but it wouldn’t have surprised me to find some mixed in. Surprisingly, not a single Wilson’s Storm-Petrel was seen – a bird that we somehow didn’t even see all trip! Where the heck are they this year? It’s usually the most common tubenose on our tour!

If we didn’t have some important plans for dinner, we would have spent more time out here I am sure, as this was really a great experience. Even the non-birders aboard were more than impressed by the show. Unfortunately, only one Fin Whale was briefly spotted. A feeding frenzy of birds that I spotted in the distance were clearly excited by something feeding – either whales or perhaps tuna, but by the time we made it to the area, the birds had settled into the massive rafts we sailed through.

We skimmed the mouth of BlueHillBay, checking our Harbor Seals basking on ledges exposed by the low tide, and happening upon a few large rafts of molting Common Eiders.

We dropped anchor off of McGlatheryIsland south of Stonington, and rowed ashore for one of the non-birding highlights of the trip – a lobster bake on the beach!

After the feast, we moved the boat to a safer anchorage off of Hell’s Half-Acre, where we spent the night. Rain fell in buckets, and continued on and off through much of the next day. However, for the first time, we had some solid winds to do some real sailing, and after donning our rain gear, many of us stayed on deck for much of the day as we crossed East Penobscot Bay and tacked our way around North Haven. Slowly but surely, however, most of us made our way to the wood-burning-stove-warmed galley for snacks, tea, and conversation…and a few games.

The rain cleared and fog lifted in the afternoon, and it was a lovely evening in the shelter of Pulpit Harbor. Although we had seen plenty of Ospreys on this trip, the Ospreys that nest atop the rock (the “pulpit”) that guards the entrance to the harbor are particularly noteworthy – the explorer and cartographer Samuel de Champlain noted an Osprey nest atop this very rock sometime between 1604 and 1607! The one still-present juvenile that was being watched by an adult had no idea what a historic nest it was raised in.

July 27^th, our 6^th and final day of the tour, dawned on Pulpit Harbor under clearing skies, calm winds (again), and warmer temperatures. Barn Swallow, likely a migrant, was added to our trip list as we sailed northeast into Camden Harbor. Chimney Swifts overhead and a singing Yellow Harbor from the shoreline were our 82^ndand 83^rd – and final – species of the trip (an “accounting error” led to a mistaken tally of 78 species announced at the end of the trip; sorry folks, update your notes!) but still a tally held down a little by fewer walks ashore (one due to our deep-water pelagic, and the other due to heavy rain). However, our seabird list was fantastic, and quite a few of the birders added life birds – the Leach’s Storm-Petrels and Manx Shearwaters in particular. And perhaps, sucked in by the fun of it all, one or two life lists were born.

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The always bittersweet return to the lovely port of Camden.Sure I have birding tours that see more birds, and are more reliable for the most sought-after target birds, but this trip is one of my most favorites (only Monhegan Island can compete). Yeah, we kept a list, and a few people added some lifers, but this trip is truly about enjoying whatever birds we come across in a really unique way. The Schooner Lewis R. French is a beautiful boat, with an amazing crew, serving great food and good times. In this case, the birding is actually the icing on the cake. The complete trip list, in order of appearance:
American Crow
Mallard
Canada Goose
Tufted Titmouse
American Goldfinch
Rock Pigeon
Song Sparrow
Black-capped Chickadee
Cedar Waxwing
Blue Jay
European Starling
Belted Kingfisher
Double-crested Cormorant
Common Loon
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Osprey
Common Eider
Black Guillemot
Laughing Gull
Common Murre
Razorbill
Northern Gannet
Common Tern
Leach’s Storm-Petrel
Arctic Tern
Atlantic Puffin
Razorbill
Common Raven
Great Cormorant
Common Tern
Manx Shearwater
Spotted Sandpiper
Savannah Sparrow
Semipalmated Plover
Least Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
White-throated Sparrow
Red-eyed Vireo
American Robin
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Cooper’s Hawk
Purple Finch
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-winged Blackbird
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Chipping Sparrow
Great Horned Owl
Common Yellowthroat
Gray Catbird
Blackburnian Warbler
Northern Parula
Swainson’s Thrush
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Magnolia Warbler
Winter Wren
Nashville Warbler
American Redstart
Alder Flycatcher
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Dark-eyed Junco
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Bonaparte’s Gull
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Hermit Thrush
Great Blue Heron
Great Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Red-necked Phalarope
American Black Duck
Tree Swallow
Greater Yellowlegs
Barn Swallow
Chimney Swift
Yellow Warbler
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Our “Birding By Schooner” Tour aboard the Lewis R. French has been run every three years. However, thanks to increasing interest and demand, we are going to likely be offering this one-of-a-kind birding experience on an annual basis! Keep an eye on our “Travel, Tours, and Workshops” page at http://www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/birdingtoursinMaine.asp for information about the possible 2014 (but likely definitely in 2015) sailing dates.

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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.

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