Tag Archives: Ogunquit River

This Week’s Highlights 12/13– 12/19/2025.

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These tarrying drake Green-winged Teal were snoozing in the Mallard flock along the Auburn Riverwalk on the 16th (above) and at Mill Creek Cove in South Portland on the 18th (below).  I don’t like to disturb birds, so I have lots of sleeping duck photos! I enjoy the calmness of it, and one can really take in the intricacies of the rest of the plumage that way.

A frigid start to the week yielded to a warming trend by week’s end. Will we see a “stirring of the pot” with the warm-up and upcoming storm system? My observations of note from the past seven days included concentrating waterfowl and a brutal, but productive day on the Southern York County CBC. Here are the highlights:

  • 1 drake BARROW’S GOLDENEYE (first of season locally), Broad Cove Preserve, Cumberland, 12/13 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
  • Southern York County CBC, 12/15: Moody Sector with Jeannette:

2,168 individuals of 54 species, led by 440 Mallards, 272 Canada Geese, and 258 European Starlings. Landbirds – especially resident “yard birds” – and oceanfront waterbirds were insanely low, even given challenges of a bitter cold day with strong winds. Almost all landbirds besides starlings, Rock Pigeon, House Sparrow, and Song Sparrow were very low for us. Exceptions include a very high count of 23 Yellow-rumped Warblers (Ogunquit Beach dunes) and a total of 28 Horned Larks. Nonetheless, our roster of notable birds was above recent average, with highlights including:

_2_ ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS (been a long time for us in this territory! Only 2nd time there was been more than on on this CBC!) one dark morph (probable immature) and 1 light morph immature, both seen soaring and hunting late in the afternoon from the north end of the Footbridge parking lot. Dark-morph spotted around 2:30pm, and seen again at about 3:30pm when the light morph appeared. We lost the dark morph, but the light bird eventually glided overhead and disappeared over the treeline, heading south.

1 KILLDEER, Ogunquit River Marsh from Bourne Ave

2 hen and 1 drake NORTHERN PINTAIL, Ogunquit Rivermouth

2+ Red Crossbills, flying over Bourne Ave.

1 Savannah Sparrow, Furbish Ave.

13 Sanderlings, Ogunquit Beach.

  • 2+ Fish Crows, Anniversary Park, Auburn, and 2-3 along Auburn Riverwalk, 12/16 (see last week’s Highlights for a FICR discussion).
  • 1 drake GREEN-WINGED TEAL, Auburn Riverwalk, 12/16. Photo above.
  • 16 Snow Buntings, North River Road (in parking lot next to boat launch), Auburn, 12/16.
  • 1 Swamp Sparrow, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 12/17
  • 1 Evening Grosbeak, here at the store, 12/17.
  • 2 drake GADWALLS, 1 continuing pair Green-winged Teal, and 1 1st-cycle Iceland Gull, Mill Creek Cove, South Portland, 12/18 (photos above and below).

This hen Green-winged Teal, her plumage no less detailed and intricate than the male’s, was also dozing at Mill Creek Cove on the 18th. She woke up and took a swim though!

This Week’s Highlights, 4/12-4/18/2025.

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This immature Snow Goose was a surprise to find in the marsh off of the Footbridge Beach Parking lot in Ogunquit on the 15th. Later, my client and I found it much closer (although heat shimmer and distance still confounded my phone-scoping attempts) off of the North Beach parking lot across the river.

After another complex and long-duration storm system put the brakes on migration from Friday night through Tuesday, there was a huge flight of birds into the area for Wednesday morning and a great hawk flight on Friday.  Here are my observations of note and new arrivals over the past seven days:

  • Our last Fox Sparrow at our home and here at the store departed the night of 4/15. Not seeing one on the 16th anywhere ended my streak of 120 consecutive days of seeing a Fox Sparrow when in Maine! Of course on appeared/reappeared at home on the 17th.
  • A sparrow fallout was experienced along the immediate southwestern coast of Maine on the morning of 4/15. I caught a small sample of it with 50-75 Savannah Sparrows, 150+ Dark-eyed Juncos, 30+ Song Sparrows, 1 Fox Sparrow, etc, at Beach Plum Farm in Ogunquit (with a client from New York).
  • 7 Harlequin Ducks and 12 Purple Sandpipers, Perkin’s Cove, Ogunquit, 4/15 (with client from New York).
  • 1 immature SNOW GOOSE, Footbridge Beach parking lot, Ogunquit, 4/15 (with client from New York). Relocated later from the North Beach parking lot. Photo above.
  • The large rafts of several hundred (mostly) Greater and (at least a few) Lesser Scaup, along with White-winged Scoters, continues this week at Wharton Point in Brunswick, at least through 4/17.

My personal “first of years” this week also included:

  • 2 Palm Warblers, our property in Durham, 4/13.
  • 10 Broad-winged Hawks, Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch, 4/16.
  • 3 Yellow-rumped Warbler (FOS), Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 4/17.
  • 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Florida Lake Park, 4/17.

Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch

The Week 4 report can be found here.

Upcoming Tours (with Space Available):

  1. Birds on Tap Roadtrip – Warbler and Wort. Thursday, May 8

    Evergreen Cemetery, Capisic Pond Park, Orange Bike Brewing and TBA with our partners Portland Explorer (formerly Maine Brews Cruise).

    2. Field Identification and Natural History of Birds: Spring Migration at Eagle Hill Institute.

    A week-long immersive skill-building seminar for beginning and intermediate birders based in Steuben.