Fall was in the air this week, and with it, my first visit to Sandy Point of the season (finally!). It was also a great week for shorebirds, and on our property. Here are my observations of note over the past 10 days.

Highlights from our Durham property this period included 12 species of warblers (led by 5 Cape May and 4 American Redstarts, but also including 2 Bay-breasted, and 1 each of Tennessee, Prairie, and Canada!) on 8/28; 1 Philadelphia Vireo, 3 Scarlet Tanagers, and 11 species of warblers (led by 7 Cape May and 5 Common Yellowthroats but also including 1 Bay-breasted) on 9/2, 7+ Cape May Warblers on 9/5 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group), and up to 4 Cape May Warblers on all other days this week.

• 5 1^st-cycle FORSTER’S TERNS, Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 8/30 (with Noah Gibb and Stacey Huth).
• 1 adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, Hill’s Beach, 8/30.
• 1 1^st-cycle FORSTER’S TERN, Biddeford Pool Beach, Biddeford, 8/30.

Sandy Point Morning Flight, 8/31/2026

A moderate, but good for August, Morning Flight passed over and through Sandy Point Beach, Cousin’s Island, Yarmouth this morning, thanks to yesterday’s cold front. It must be fall because I am back at “my office!”

55F, clear, NNW 5.3-5.9mph to NW 6.2-9.2mph.

• 195 American Redstarts
• 116 Unidentified
• 105 Northern Parulas
• 24 Black-throated Green Warblers
• 18 Yellow Warblers
• 16 Cape May Warblers
• 11 Black-and-white Warblers
• 11 Cedar Waxwings
• 9 Magnolia Warblers
• 9 Northern Waterthrushes (*New high count).
• 6 Tennessee Warblers
• 6 Nashville Warblers
• 5 Eastern Wood-Pewees
• 4 Blackburnian Warblers
• 3 Red-breasted Nuthatches
• 2 Black-throated Blue Warblers
• 2 Baltimore Orioles
• 2 Least Flycatchers
• 2 American Robins
• 1 Swainson’s Thrush
• 1 MOURNING WARBLER
• 1 Wilson’s Warbler
• 1 Prairie Warbler
• 1 Bay-breasted Warbler
• 1 Indigo Bunting
• 1 Scarlet Tanager
• 1 Eastern Kingbird
• 1 Canada Warbler
• 1 Chestnut-sided Warbler
• 1 Philadelphia Vireo
• 1 BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER
• X Common Yellowthroats
• T=575

• 3 Cory’s Shearwaters, etc, off of Boothbay Harbor via Cap’n Fish’s Cruises Whale Watch, 8/31. Cory’s have been relatively sparse this year, likely due to water temperatures below recent averages.

• 5 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Reid State Park, Georgetown, 9/4.
• 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Popham Beach State Park, Georgetown, 9/4.

Sandy Point Morning Flight, 9/5.

I had an abbreviated visit to My Office on Saturday Morning, but with a high flight and few birds landing, I chose not to return with the Birdwalk group. Despite NNW by morning and increasing cloud cover, a moderate flight passed over and through Sandy Point Beach, Cousin’s Island, Yarmouth this am thanks to a really massive flight overnight. Birds were still flying when I departed.

6:08 to 7:40

62 F, mostly cloudy, NNW 10.2-11.8 diminishing to 8.5 to 9.8mph.

• 179 Northern Parulas
• 161 Cedar Waxwings
• 160 American Redstarts
• 124 Unidentified
• 9 Magnolia Warblers
• 9 Black-throated Green Warblers
• 7 American Robins
• 5 Red-eyed Vireos
• 4 Yellow Warblers
• 3 Black-throated Blue Warblers
• 3 Blackburnian Warblers
• 2 Chipping Sparrows
• 2 Common Loons
• 2 DICKCISSELS (one by B. Thompson only, the second by both of us).
• 2 American Goldfinches
• 1 Northern Flicker
• 1 Merlin
• 1 American Kestrel
• 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
• 1 Bobolink
• 1 Baltimore Oriole
• 1 Blackpoll Warbler
• 1 Cape May Warbler
• 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
• 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
• 1 Eastern Kingbird
• 1 Purple Finch
• x Common Yellowthroat
• T= 684
• 1 Green Darner

• 3-4 continuting FORSTER’S TERNS and 3 adult Lessert Black-backed Gulls, Pine Point, Scarborough, 9/6.

Here are my shorebird high counts over the past 10 days, led by a productive 21-species of shorebird morning in and around Biddeford Pool on the 30^th, for a week’s total of 23.5 species.

• AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER: 13, Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 8/30.
• Black-bellied Plover: 203, The Pool, Biddeford Pool, 8/30.
• Killdeer: 15, Crystal Spring Farm, Brunswick, 8/29 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
• Semipalmated Plover: 129, Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 8/30.
• Piping Plover: 5, Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 8/30.
• Hudsonian Whimbrel: 8, Popham Beach State Park, Phippsburg, 9/3.
• MARBLED GODWIT: 2 juv, The Pool, Biddeford Pool, 8/30. One bird has been present for a couple of weeks, but this second bird appears to be “new” this morning.
• Ruddy Turnstone: 13, Biddeford Pool Beach, 8/30.
• Red Knot: 31, Hill’s Beach, 8/30 (with Noah Gibb and Stacey Huth).
• Sanderling: 81, Reid State Park, Georgetown, 9/4.
• BAIRD’S SANDPIPER: 1 juv, Biddeford Pool Beach, 8/30.
• Least Sandpiper: 40++, The Pool, Biddeford, 8/30.
• White-rumped Sandpiper: 1, several locations.
• Pectoral Sandpiper: 1, Hill’s Beach, 8/30 and 1, Walsh Preserve, Freeport, 9/2.
• Semipalmated Sandpiper: 490, Biddeford Pool Beach, 8/30.
• WESTERN SANDPIPER: 1 juv., Biddeford Pool Beach, 8/30

• Short-billed Dowitcher: 45, The Pool, Biddeford Pool, 8/30.
• Spotted Sandpiper: 2, Great Pond, Biddeford Pool, 8/30.
• Solitary Sandpiper: 1, multiple locations this week.
• Lesser Yellowlegs: 189 (a new record for here!), Walsh Preserve, 9/2.
• (Eastern) Willet: 5 (including continuing leucistic bird), Pine Point, Scarborough, 9/6.
• (WESTERN) WILLET (FOY): 2-3, The Pool and Hill’s Beach, 8/30. Noah Gibb and Stacey Huth found two at The Pool, a short time before I found one at Hill’s Beach. The bird had departed Hill’s Beach before I encountered two at The Pool.

• Greater Yellowlegs: 8, Walsh Preserve, 9/2.
• RED-NECKED PHALAROPE: 1, offshore of Boothbay Harbor vis Cap’n Fish’s Cruises, 8/31. One, just one, lone phalarope spinning away on a mat of seaweed.