This immature male Orchard Oriole was singing up a storm – when we wasn’t being chased by a territorial male Baltimore – at tiny, but often-productive – Lake Grove Park in Auburn on the 18th.
A sneaky good flight overnight Saturday into Sunday made for a tremendous day of birding: it took me over three hours to leave my yard! The rest of the week, however, was very slow by mid-May standards, with the exception of a very surprising morning At Fort Foster on Friday. My observations of note over the past six days before I head off to Monhegan with my tour group included the following:
17 species of warblers, led by 38+ American Redstarts and 16 Black-throated Green Warblers, our property in Durham, 5/18.
Back for yet another year, Jeannette and I refound the/one of the long-returning LITTLE EGRET X SNOWY EGRET HYBRIDS on the 20th at Tidewater Farm in Falmouth. It was nearly to the date that we relocated it here last year for the first time, and it really favors the tidal creek here at low and mid-tides. The long Little Egret-like neck plumes are highly suggestive of a Little, but they are coupled with some short, wispy neck plumes and yellowish lores indicative of Snowy Egret genes.\
The migratory floodgates opened this week, starting with a big flight Friday night into Saturday morning. Then, during the day, a huge hawk flight occurred. Furthermore, the weather of Friday through Saturday resulted in a small “overshoot” even where birds were facilitated further north than usual for the season, or at all. Locally, this resulted in several rather early dates for returning migrants. Another great hawk flight on the 21st, and good passerine movements on several other nights made for an exciting and productive week of spring birding. A coastal sparrow-heavy fallout for the morning of the 25th yielded another large arrival of birds, with sheer numbers dominated by White-throated Sparrows. Here are my observations of note over the past seven great days, from a returning hybrid heron to a local first Patch record:
35+ Palm Warblers, 30+ Yellow-rumped Warblers, and 20+ Ruby-crowned Kinglets, etc, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 4/19 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
Saturday was an extraordinary day at the Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch. I was fortunate to be able to catch two hours of it, even if it was as the flight was waning. The record-shattering total of 2,712 migrant raptors crushed the old single-day record of 1,814 (5/3/2020). Today’s total was more than 700 birds more than we had for every previous day combined for this season to date. Not only that, but today’s tally eclipsed our two lowest SEASON totals 2,123 (2007) and 2,321 (2011)!
1 returning LITTLE EGRET X SNOWY EGRET HYBRID, Tidewater Farm, Falmouth, 4/20 (with Jeannette). Photo and details above.
2 SANDHILL CRANES, Morgan Meadow WMA, Gray/Raymond, 4/21 (with Jeannette).
~125 Palm Warblers, ~75 Yellow-rumped Warblers, and 2 Pine Warblers, Florida Lake Park, 4/23.
7 Brant, Wood Island (restricted access), Biddeford, 4/23 (with Bethany Woodworth’s UNE Ornithology class).
1 COMMON GALLINULE (FOY), Florida Lake Park, 4/25 (with Noah Gibb and Stacey Huth). First flushed by Noah and Stacey. Was a real challenge to get a look at, but eventually it came out to an edge for a handful of minutes. My 170th species at Florida Lake!
My personal “first of years” this week also included:
1 Blue-headed Vireo, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 4/19 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 BANK SWALLOW (quite early), Florida Lake Park, 4/19 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 Barn Swallow, Florida Lake Park, 4/19 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, Morgan Meadow WMA, Gray/Raymond, 4/21 (with Jeannette).
1 Eastern Towhee Wood Island (restricted access), Biddeford, 4/23 (with Bethany Woodworth and UNE’s Ornithology class).
1 Common Yellowthroat, Florida Lake Park, 4/25.
1 Black-and-white Warbler, Florida Lake Park, 4/25.
Although Black-crowned Night-Herons have likely been around for a few weeks by now, these three at Wood Island in Biddeford on the 23rd were my personal first of the year.
This Ovenbird on our property paused for a moment as it enjoyed a snack it pulled from the leaf litter.
The migratory floodgates really opened this week, as expected, with the diversity of Neotropical migrants increasing dramatically. Days like the 7th and 8th are truly special, but any day birding – especially in May! – yields its own rewards. My observations of note over the past seven days also included:
10 species of warblers (FOY) led by ~40 Yellow-rumped Warblers and 25+ Black-and-white Warblers, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/6 (with Jeannette).
15 species of warblers (FOY) led by 100+ Yellow-rumped Warblers and 13 Black-and-white Warblers, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 5/7.
~40 Chimney Swifts, over downtown Portland at dusk, 5/4 (with Jeannette).
4+ Common Terns, Curtis Farm Preserve, Harpswell, 5/5 (with Harpswell Heritage Land Trust birdwalk group).
1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird, our property in Durham, 5/6.
1 Cape May Warbler, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/6 (with Jeannette).
5 Common Yellowthroats, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/6 (with Jeannette).
1 Solitary Sandpiper, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/6 (with Jeannette).
1 Chestnut-sided Warbler, our property in Durham, 5/6.
1 YELLOW-THROATED VIREO (a little early), Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/6 (with Jeannette).
3 Least Flycatchers, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 5/7.
3 Magnolia Warblers, Florida Lake Park, 5/7.
2 American Redstarts, Florida Lake Park, 5/7.
1 Scarlet Tanager, Florida Lake Park, 5/7.
1 Veery, Florida Lake Park, 5/7.
1 Blackburnian Warbler, Florida Lake Park, 5/7.
Since I had not been in Scarborough Marsh in a few weeks, a number of personal first-of-years on 5/7 for me that have been present for a while now included Lesser Yellowlegs, Glossy Ibis, Willet, and Least Sandpiper, while more recent arrivals included 1 Least Tern (Pelreco Marsh) and 1 Spotted Sandpiper (Pelreco Marsh).
1 Warbling Vireo, our property in Durham, 5/8.
1 Wilson’s Warbler, our property in Durham, 5/8.
2 Bobolinks, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 5/9 (with Dan Nickerson).
I haven’t been carrying my camera much, and with only one working arm still, my photography has not been very successful. But this Gray Catbird posed nicely for me at Hinckley Park on the 19th.
I had a very busy week of programming, with two tours and some private guiding. With limited free time in between, I made the most of it with some excellent morning outings. Highlights included lots of migrants and more new arrivals, as well as uncommon local breeding birds.
My observations of note over the past seven days included:
16 species of warblers led by 15+ American Redstarts and 10+ Black-and-white Warblers, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/14 (with Down East Adventures Spring Songbird Workshop tour group).
Unknown number in a small group of calling Red Crossbills, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/14 (with Down East Adventures Spring Songbird Workshop tour group).
1 pair SANDHILL CRANES, 3 YELLOW-THROATED VIREOS, 1 LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, and 1 BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/15 (with Jeannette. That was a great morning!)
30-40 Long-tailed Ducks, Stover’s Cove Preserve, Harpswell, 5/18 (with Harpswell Heritage Land Trust tour group).
19 species of warblers, led by 14 American Redstarts and 9 Black-and-white Warblers, but also including 5+ Tennessee Warblers, etc, Hinckley Park, South Portland, 5/19. My best warbler morning of the season so far.
4 Red Crossbills, Hinckley Park, 5/19.
My personal FOY’s this week once again included a mix of “they’ve been around for a while but I haven’t been in the habitat,” regular and on-time arrivals, a few species that have been slow to arrive given our abnormal spring weather pattern, and even an oddly early arrival or two.
4 Magnolia Warblers, Florida Lake Park, 5/13 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER, Florida Lake Park, 5/13 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group. Exceptionally early; likely my earliest record by at least several days if not over a week).
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow, Florida Lake Park, 5/13 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 Blackburnian Warbler, Florida Lake Park, 5/13 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
3 Red-eyed Vireos, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/14 (with Down East Adventures Spring Songbird Workshop tour group).
2 Tennessee Warblers, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/14 (with Down East Adventures Spring Songbird Workshop tour group).
1 Cape May Warbler, Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch, 5/14.
1 House Wren, Hidden Pond Preserve, Freeport, 5/16 (with clients from Maine).
1 male Indigo Bunting, our feeders in Durham, 5/17.
10+ Bobolinks, Old Brunswick Road, Durham, 5/18.
8 Blackpoll Warblers, Hinckley Park, 5/19.
3 Swainson’s Thrushes, Hinckley Park, 5/19.
1 Black-billed Cuckoo, Hinckley Park, 5/19.
TOURS AND EVENTS:
We now have one spot open for all four days of our upcoming Monhegan Spring Migration tour, May 26-29th.
With my guiding season now in full swing, I have no choice but to be out in the field a lot, regardless of my shoulder situation. And with much finer weather and some good nights of especially Saturday and Thursday nights, the arrivals of migrants caught up to the date quite rapidly. Many new arrivals – as well as a lot of personal first-of-years since I had not been getting out much – resulted in a nice long list of highlights for me -and my clients – over the past 7 days.
My observations of note over the past seven days included:
10 Greater Yellowlegs, our property in Durham (thanks to a flood in our field), 5/5 diminishing to 3 by 5/7.
250-300++ White-throated Sparrow in impressive fallout, Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, 5/8 (with client from Spain).
1 female Red Crossbill, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/8 (with client from Spain).
10 species of warblers, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/8 (with client from Spain). This tied my latest date for reaching 10 species at one place in one morning for the first time of the season.
1 WHITE-WINGED SCOTER (looking very out of place) and a pair of RUDDY DUCKS, Sanford Lagoons, Sanford, 5/8 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
1 drake Northern Shoveler, Dunstan Landing, Scarborough Marsh, 5/8 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
1 pair LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, Morgan Meadow WMA, Gray/Raymond, 5/11 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
1 BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 5/11 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
The long list of my personal FOY’s this week also included:
1 Ovenbird, Florida Lake Park, 5/6 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 Nashville Warbler, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/8 (with client from Spain).
3 Chimney Swifts, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/8 (with client from Spain).
2 Yellow Warblers, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/8 (with client from Spain).
1 American Redstart, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/8 (with client from Spain).
1 Green Heron, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/8 (with client from Spain).
1 Black-crowned Night-Heron, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/8 (with client from Spain).
1 Chestnut-sided Warbler, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/8 (with client from Spain).
1 Prairie Warbler, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/8 (with client from Spain).
20+ Field Sparrows, Kennebunk Plains, 5/8 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
3 Vesper Sparrows, Kennebunk Plains, 5/8 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
1 Eastern Meadowlark, Kennebunk Plains, 5/8 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
2 Solitary Sandpipers, Sanford Lagoons, 5/8 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
1 Spotted Sandpiper, Sanford Lagoons, 5/8 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
1 Least Tern, Pelreco Marsh, Scarborough Marsh, 5/8 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
30+ Common Terns, Pine Point, Scarborough, 5/8 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
4-6 ROSEATE TERNS, Pine Point, 5/8 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
1 Eastern Kingbird, Dunstan Landing, Scarborough Marsh, 5/8 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
1 Northern Waterthrush, Florida Lake Park, 5/9.
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler, Florida Lake Park, 5/9.
1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow (finally, extremely late for my first of the year, and this one was not due to lack of visitation of its habitats), Florida Lake Park, 5/9.
1 Veery, Florida Lake Park, 5/9.
1 Cliff Swallow, Florida Lake Park, 5/9.
1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird, our yard in Durham, 5/9.
1 White-crowned Sparrows, feeders here at the store, 5/10.
14 Least Flycatchers, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/11 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
2 Great Crested Flycatcher, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/11 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
3-4 YELLOW-THROATED VIREOS, Morgan Meadow WMA. 5/11 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
1 Scarlet Tanager, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/11 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
1 Warbling Vireo, Durham River Park, Durham, 5/11 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
1 Bank Swallow, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 5/11 (with clients from Spain and Maine).
For the third week of April, this is not a very impressive report – especially in terms of new arrivals! However, we were in Boston for three days cheering on Jeannette in the Boston Marathon (she did great…Go Jeannette!) and well, now I have frozen shoulder. So, field time remains woefully limited. Nonetheless, I had some observations of note (in Maine) over the past seven days:
~40 Yellow-rumped Warblers (FOY), 40+ Palm Warblers, 8 Pine Warblers, etc, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 4/15 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
3 EVENING GROSBEAKS, our feeders in Durham, 4/19-20.
My other personal FOY’s this week also included:
2 Swamp Sparrows (FOS), Florida Lake Park, 4/15 (with Saturday Morning birdwalk group).
1 Pied-billed Grebe, Morgan Meadow WMA, 4/21
1 LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, Morgan Meadow WMA, 4/21.
1 Broad-winged Hawk, over I-295, Yarmouth, 4/21 (with Jeannette. Finally! I have really been missing spending time at the Brad!)
TOURS AND EVENTS:
Next weekend (April 29-30) is the 13th Annual Feathers Over Freeport that we sponsor with public and private partners at Bradbury Mountain and Wolfes Neck Woods State Parks. We have a full slate of events all day, each day once again, plus a Thursday night (4/27) kick-off presentation at Patagonia in Freeport!
Confidently identifying Gray-cheeked vs Bicknell’s Thrushes on migration is always a challenge, but this bird I found at Biddeford Pool was vocalizing incessantly. It even posed – as far as these reclusive migrants go – for some snapshots. I believe that this is my first confirmed Bicknell’s Thrush on the coastal plain of Maine during spring migration,
For much of this spring, I’ve been lamenting about a “slow” week of migration, or a “trickle” of migrants, etc. That was NOT the case this week, as the floodgates finally opened. In fact, it was an incredible week of birding. The northern limits of a huge fallout greeted me on Monday morning. And then there was Friday at Biddeford Pool. It was epic. Unforgettable.
My observations of note over the past eight days included:
1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, 5/15 (with Down East Adventures Spring Songbird Workshop group).
20 species of warblers, including 1 continuing Louisiana Waterthrush and 6 Bay-breasted Warblers (FOY), and led by 25+ Northern Parulas and 20+ Black-and-white Warblers, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/16 (with Jeannette). Incredible morning; definitely the best morning of spring to date. Interestingly, this appeared to be about the northern limits of what was a significant coastal fallout from at least Eastern Massachusetts into southern Maine.
17 species of warblers, led by 18 Common Yellowthroats and 17 American Redstarts, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 5/17 (with client from Maine).
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet (getting late), Florida Lake Park, 5/17 (with client from Maine).
16 species of warblers, led by 24 Yellow-rumped Warblers and 15 American Redstarts, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 5/18 (with Jeannette). This was the first morning this season where there were more female than male passage migrants.
16 species of warblers, led by 24 Common Yellowthroats and 22 Yellow-rumped Warblers, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 5/19.
Biddeford Pool, FALLOUT, 5/20! This was insane. I was optimistic about conditions based on the overnight wind forecast and morning fog, but there was virtually nothing on the radar overnight. I almost didn’t go. I never expected to find this. Birds were everywhere. Every tree had warblers. Swainson’s Thrushes and Lincoln’s Sparrows were hopping around manicured lawns. I can’t even begin to explain how amazing it was, but here are some of the highlights as I covered East Point, the neighborhood, and the Elphis Pond trails. All of my numbers are extremely conservative, as I attempted to judge the movement of birds between parallel streets, etc.
20 species of warblers led by 53 Common Yellowthroats, 44+ American Redstarts, 44 Yellow Warblers, and 43 Magnolia Warblers. I know these numbers are particularly low.
Thrushes! 43 Swainson’s Thrushes (FOY) and 8+ Veeries, but also…
1 BICKNELL’S THRUSH – shocking migrant vocalizing incessantly on path to East Point. Was still calling 3 hours later. Voice recordings and poor photo above. Rarely detected in migration away other than Nocturnal Flight Calls, this might have been my first ever confirmation in spring along Maine’s coast. Seems a little early, too. Photo above.
1 GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH (FOY). My settings were off on the camera and the overall tone of this bird is not accurate! When I looked down at the camera to adjust, it dropped out of site. Called once.
1 SUMMER TANAGER, near Elphis Pond. Quick fly-by, and no red seen. Confident there was little or red on the upperparts. Not seen well enough to know if this was the bird that had been continuing in the area for a while or a different, possible female.
1 male ORCHARD ORIOLE, Elphis Pond. Often singing.
Amazing quantities of usually-uncommon migrants, such as: 15 Lincoln’s Sparrows, 15 Bay-breasted Warblers, and 11 Canada Warblers.
Other good tallies included 17 Black-throated Blue Warblers, 13 Least Flycatchers, and 4-6 Scarlet Tanagers.
Personal First-of-years also included 2 Cape May Warblers, 9 Tennessee Warblers, 3 Philadelphia Vireos, along with 2 Roseate Terns off Ocean Ave.
The bird that got away: an intriguing Empid that suggested Acadian in a brief view along Orcutt Ave. Could not relocate.
Meanwhile, my list of personal “first of years” this week before the Biddeford Pool fallout included the following:
4 American Redstarts, Essex Woods and Marsh, Bangor, 5/13.
2 Bobolinks, Essex Woods and Marsh, 5/13.
1 Virginia Rail, Essex Woods and Marsh, 5/13.
5 Wood Thrushes, Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, 5/15 (with Down East Adventures Spring Songbird Workshop group).
1 Scarlet Tanager, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/15 (with Down East Adventures Spring Songbird Workshop group).
3 Red-eyed Vireos, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/15 (with Down East Adventures Spring Songbird Workshop group).
1 Black-crowned Night-Heron, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/15 (with Down East Adventures Spring Songbird Workshop group).
1 Canada Warbler, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/16 (with Jeannette).
1 OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER (a little on the early side), Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/16 (with Jeannette).
4 Eastern Wood-Pewees, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/16 (with Jeannette).
2 Blackpoll Warblers, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/16 (with Jeannette).
6 Bay-breasted Warblers, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/16 (with Jeannette).
1 Alder Flycatcher, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 5/17 (with client from Maine).
20+ Semipalmated Sandpipers, Pelreco Marsh, 5/17 (with client from Maine)
This Black-and-white Warbler was among the multitudes of cooperative birds at Biddeford Pool on the 20th. But apparently, I didn’t take photos of any of the colorful ones! I was also having so much fun that for the most part, I forgot I even had a camera.
Unlike last week, my birding was more limited this week, and coupled with less-than-conducive weather for migrants on most days, my observations of note were few.
~50 Palm Warblers, ~25 Yellow-rumped Warblers, and 2 Pine Warblers, Florida Lake, Freeport, 4/16 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 Fish Crow, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 4/20 (my 168th species here!)
And my list of personal “first of years” and other new arrivals also showed the reduced time in the field and only one good night of migration this week:
I always say that Yellow-rumped Warblers would be everyone’s favorite warbler if they weren’t so common. Big personalities and easy to identify, and the spring males are just gorgeous. Even when photographed through drizzle and mist, as was this one at Legion Pond in Kittery on 4/30.
My highlights over the past seven days included the following:
1 Great Cormorant, over the store with a flock of Double-crested Cormorants, 4/24 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk Group. Store Yard Bird #131).
Maine Birding Field Notes 