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.
Don’t panic – this wasn’t in Maine! But it was my bird photo highlight over the past two weeks. This Boreal Owl was spotted a short distance north of Duluth along the famous North Shore Road on the first day of a visit there with friends on March 1st. I don’t usually chase birds out of state, but this winter has been incredible for Boreal (and Great Gray) Owls and we just couldn’t resist any longer! Photos from this, and other recent trips, are currently being posted regularly to the store’s Facebook page.
After a quick last-minute trip to Duluth, Minnesota for a birding weekend with friends (Boreal and Great Gray Owls!), Jeannette and I did our usual pre-hawkwatch long weekend and used it to visit friends in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (Green Jay fix and other Lower Rio Grande specialties!). In between and thereafter, it’s been mostly catching up at the store and life, but in some free moments, I had a few observations of note, including the vanguard of spring migration.
Our overwintering Fox Sparrow here at the store continued through week’s end, although it has become much more sporadic at the feeders.
Our Fox Sparrow at home in Durham continues as well, often singing in the morning.
1 Red-winged Blackbird (FOS), our feeders in Durham on 3/5. Increased to 3 on the 6th. 20-25 by the 12th, etc.
1 Common Grackle (FOY), our feeders in Durham, 3/12.
3 Brown-headed Cowbirds (FOY), our feeders in Durham, 3/12.
There was a nice little arrival of Song Sparrows to the area on the morning of the 12th.
1 probable CACKLING GOOSE, Rte 136, Durham, 3/12. Among 600+ Canadas, I had to reposition for a better and confirming view and shortly thereafter all geese were flushed by an eagle. Subsequent searches failed to relocate the suspect bird.
4 Fish Crows (FOY), Anniversary Park, Auburn, 3/13.
1 Killdeer (FOY), Thornhurst Farm, North Yarmouth, 3/13.
Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch
The 19th season of the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch starts tomorrow! Free and open to the public, we welcome Zane Baker back for his 7th season as Official Counter. 9-5 every day, weather permitting.
Although it had moved further away by the time I arrived, I managed a few phone-scoped photos of the Loggerhead Shrike that graced Chandler Brook Preserve and nearby yards in North Yarmouth on 4/21.
It was a great week of birding, with an impressive fallout on Saturday morning, a local mega rarity, and more new spring arrivals. My highlight of the week was catching an incredible early-season fallout at Florida Lake Park in Freeport on 4/20 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group). I eventually settled on a guestimate of 400 Palm Warblers and 125 Yellow-rumped Warblers. The full report can be found here. 75+ Palm Warblers and 50+ Yellow-rumped Warblers were present on the 24th, but on both dates the only other warbler – as expected for the date – were Pine (3 each day).
My other observations of note over the past seven days included:
1 Fish Crow, over our property in Durham, 4/20 (Yard Bird #150!)
1 LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, Chandler Brook Preserve, North Yarmouth, 4/21. Found earlier in the afternoon and seen by several of us in the evening. I don’t chase very often, but when I do, I prefer it to be only 15 minutes out of the way on my way home from the store! It was only my second in Maine.
6 Red Crossbills (1 male, 2 female, 3-4 juvenile. Type 12 as per Matt Young), here at the store, 4/24.
Additional personal first-of-years this week also included:
*1+ CLIFF SWALLOW, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 4/20 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Florida Lake Park, 4/20 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
1 Blue-headed Vireo, Morgan Meadow WMA, Raymond, 4/21.
1 Black-throated Green Warbler, Papermill Trail, 4/26.
*Numerous very early arrivals of regular migrants are likely also tied to the overshoot event that brought southern vagrants to locations up and down the state’s coast.
TOURS AND EVENTS:
Feathers Over Freeport This Weekend!
Saturday, April 27th at Bradbury Mountains State Park and Sunday, April 28th at Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park. All events FREE with park entry!
From birdwalks and a hawkwatch workshop to kids’ arts and crafts and a food truck, join us for two activity filled days in the 13th year of Feathers Over Freeport! A full schedule of events can be found here.
Note our regularly scheduled Saturday Morning Birdwalk meets at Bradbury on the 27th.
We enjoyed a great turnout of hawkwatchers and hawks for my hawkwatch workshop at Bradbury Mountain on the 29th as part of the 13th Annual Feathers over Freeport weekend of events.
In case you were wondering, the meteorological term for this week is “yuck.” However, despite the weather, some birds were pushing through. The storm also pushed a wreck of Red and Red-necked Phalaropes to the coast, and with reports of some very early arrivals and vagrant southern birds, there seems to be a rather widespread displacement/overshoot event caused by this massive and stubborn upper-level low rotating over the great lakes. I didn’t get out very much to help prove or disprove this, but I did have some decent birding this week. While migrants overall made very slow gains, I did have my best morning of spring so far this year…right in our yard!
My observations of note over the past seven days included:
1 Evening Grosbeak, Bowie Hill Road, Durham, 5/1 (with Jeannette).
3 Lesser Scaup, Sabattus Pond, 5/1.
6 species of warblers led by 50+ Yellow-rumped and 5-10 Palm, but also including 3 Pine, 2 Black-and-white (FOY), 1 Black-throated Green (FOY), and 1 Northern Parula (FOY), our property in Durham, 5/2. After corresponding with other local birders, I believe this was a localized, light fall-out caused by an isolated, dense fog bank that was centered around Lewiston-Auburn. Florida Lake Park, only about 9 miles away to the southeast, was nearly devoid of migrants for example (fide N. Gibb).
1 Red Crossbill, Littlefield Woods Preserve, Chebeague Island, 5/4 (with Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust tour group).
7 Evening Grosbeaks, our feeders in Durham, 5/5.
My other personal FOY’s this week also included:
1 Greater Yellowlegs, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 4/30.
1 Black-bellied Plover, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 4/30.
1 RUSTY BLACKBIRD, our property in Durham, 5/2 through present.
6 Lesser Yellowlegs, Rte 136, Durham, 5/2
1 Least Sandpiper, Rte 136, Durham, 5/2
1 Baltimore Oriole, our feeders in Durham, 5/2 through present.
2 Gray Catbirds, feeders here at the store, 5/3 through present.
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Chebeague Island, 5/4 (with Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust tour group).
5 Laughing Gulls, Indian Point Preserve, 5/4 (with Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust tour group).
3 Eastern Towhees, Indian Point Preserve, 5/4 (with Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust tour group).
1 BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, Indian Point Preserve, 5/4 (with Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust tour group).
1 Great Egret, Cousin’s River Marsh, Yarmouth/Freeport, 5/4 (yeah, it’s been a while since I have been to Scarborough Marsh!)
Despite a few wintery days this week, spring is most definitely in the air. As I have finally seemed to have turned the corner with my dreadfully slow recovery, I am also getting out a lot more. Therefore, with more to report, and more changes week-to-week, I’ll try to get back into my old habit of weekly posts here.
Observations of note over the past seven days:
increasing number of blackbirds
first trickle of migrant sparrows
1 SNOW GOOSE, our property in Durham, 3/27.
increasing number and diversity of waterfowl inland.
1 Tree Swallow (FOY), Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch, 3/31.
Despite only getting out into the field twice this week, I enjoyed some good birding. For now, my birding remains primarily feeder- and yard-watching, but this week, it was more evenly split between our feeders at home in Durham and here at the store in Freeport. Blackbird flocks are officially “in” and several species of sparrows are on the move.
At home, Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds are now present daily, in varying numbers (between 4 and 56 and between 3 and 26, respectively), with one or two Brown-headed Cowbirds on most days. Similarly, at the store, small flocks of Common Grackles come and go, but 7 Red-winged Blackbirds are more consistent. One Brown-headed Cowbird made only one appearance here.
A Fox Sparrow that arrived last Friday departed on Tuesday night, and a second Song Sparrow arrived this week. Dark-eyed Juncos continue, with fewer by week’s end. However, a third White-throated Sparrow arrived on the 30th. Here at the store, four Song Sparrows continue, and 2 American Tree Sparrows arrived on the 26th– surprisingly our first two of the entire winter.
At both locations, breeding activity is heating up, too, with more territorial and courtship behaviors observed each day.
The yard highlight, however, was the Snow Goose – Yard Bird #125! -I spotted passing low over our yard on the 27th. While I didn’t technically see it from bed, I did get out of bed – where I was doing some of my physical therapy exercises to look at a large group of geese passing overhead. You may not be surprised to know that we have a pair of binoculars in every room, which is a good thing, as I was able to pull out the lone Snow from a flock of about 75 Canadas.
Speaking of binoculars, I need to take a moment to plug my Zeiss SFL 8×40’s. I fell in love with them when they came out last year, and I was very thankful for them when my shoulder was in pain. They’re just so incredibly lightweight, but I have found minimal tradeoff in brightness, color, etc. Since I am still a one-armed birder, they have been absolutely critical for my ability to look at birds when out and about now. Great balance combined with the light weight just makes them perfect for holding steady with one hand. I do need to rebuild my stamina, however, as there has been a lot of atrophy of field birding muscles over the last 2+ months!
Anyway, back to waterfowl….another highlight this week was the arrival of Wood Ducks in our backyard. A pair have been frequenting a vernal pool we can see from the house for the last few days, and Jeannette spotted them sitting in the trees just off of our porch on the 29th. Three more drakes are frequenting a pond across the street, where a pair of American Wigeon (my first of the spring) plopped in on the 30th).
Finally this week, I was able to get back up to the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch for a couple of hours on Friday. A few raptors were on the move (much less than we expected given the conditions), but I did pick up my first Eastern Phoebe and Tree Swallow of the year. Later that afternoon, another phoebe was staking out a territory around our house.
Quite likely the same individual that was first found in Portland before relocating to Thornhurst Farm in North Yarmouth, this Barnacle Goose was found on North River Road in Auburn on the 22nd. Dan Nickerson and I caught up with it two days later, here, on the 24th.
This (Two) Week’s Highlights:
Birding in Kentucky with the Beckham Bird Club
Changes at the feeding station.
Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch gets underway!
American Woodcocks are going wild!
2 Brown-headed Cowbirds (FOY), our feeders in Durham, 3/17 (with Dan Nickerson)
2 Common Grackles (FOY), our feeders in Durham, 3/18.
3 displaying American Woodcocks (FOY), our property in Durham, 3/18.
1 continuing BARNACLE GOOSE, North River Road, Auburn, 3/24 (with Dan Nickerson).
1 Fox Sparrow (FOY), our feeders in Durham, 3/24.
In contrast to my previous 8 weeks (summarized here and here), this period began with actual birding…in Kentucky! I had the pleasure and honor of giving a presentation at the Annual Meeting of the venerable Beckham Bird Club of Louisville. It was my first time birding beyond Greater Durham in two months; a most welcome change of scenery. But I must say, flying with a recovering shoulder really kinda sucks.
My new Kentucky state list kicked off on the morning of the 14th thanks to a local birding tour from Andrew Melnykovych. Starting at his patch, the Grand Allie section of Beckley Creek Park, I started to familiarize myself with the local wintering avifauna. I enjoyed revisiting with Carolina Chickadees in particular, with Black Vultures joining Turkey Vultures overhead. The weather didn’t feel like it, but I was definitely in the South!
That evening, I spoke to over 100 people at the banquet, offering my program about the Morning Flight at Sandy Point to describe concepts and techniques described in my first book, How to Be a Better Birder.
The following morning, I joined club members on a birdwalk to the delightful Anchorage Trail in the nearby town of Anchorage. Passing through a variety of habitats on an easy, paved, two-mile trail, we spent the morning slowly working through the various species we encountered (43 I believe was the official tally). Being from Maine, it was nice to hear Eastern Phoebes (overwintering and/or returning migrants), oodles of Carolina Wrens, and a nice variety of ducks in the pond: one Green-winged with a half-dozen Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers, Gadwall, Hooded Mergansers, Gadwall, Ring-necked Ducks, and Mallards (photo above). I also enjoyed the woodpecker sweep: Downy and Hairy, Pileated and Red-bellied, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and Northern Flickers.
While it will be a little while longer before our Saturday Morning Birdwalks return, it was sure nice to get out in the field on a pleasant (by Maine standards that is!) early spring morning to help folks see some birds!
But then it was back to my usual routine. Arriving at home at 1:30am on Thursday the 16th, it wasn’t exactly an early start to my window-watching day, however. Not surprisingly, I spent less time looking out at our feeding station over that week than I have at any point over the past two months. Being out of town for three days coupled with a few visits to the store and lots of physical therapy resulted in fewer hours spent evaluating feeder bird numbers. Sharp-shinned Hawk presence didn’t help either, with our adult male continuing.
This continuing adult male continues to wreak havoc at the feeders, but my consistent observation this winter has offered me insight into this species’ natural history.
Nonetheless, there were plenty of changes in species composition and quantity noticed this week. We only received about 5-6 inches of snow here in Durham as temperatures hovered around the freezing mark for most of the day on the 14th, preventing accumulation until the late afternoon. In fact, there was less snow on the ground two days after the storm than there was the day before the storm (that was far from true for most of the state, however.
Not surprisingly, there were fewer Dark-eyed Juncos and American Tree Sparrows this week. Three Red-winged Blackbirds are regular, while the high counts of Northern Cardinals and Eastern Bluebirds continued to decline as territories began to be established and enforced. We also saw a noticeable decrease in the size of our American Goldfinch flock this week. Then, in the afternoon, my first two Brown-headed Cowbirds of the year (in Maine, that is) appeared.
The following week was much more spring-like, and the avian changes were even more evident. At least here in Durham, and changes to species composition and quantities are happening fast now.
Natural food is becoming more available as the snow recedes and the first “new” food sources emerge. A new uptick in American Goldfinches to 45 on 3/23 saw most of the birds spending most of their time eating aspen buds. Although a Pileated Woodpecker remains in the area, I did not see it visit the feeders once this week. We still have 8-12 Dark-eyed Juncos around, but they are often dispersed under brush away from the feeders. Our overwintering male Red-bellied Woodpecker, pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches, and our Carolina Wren have also spent considerably less time at the feeders this week. And not a single House Finch.
The last of our two American Tree Sparrows of the winter departed on the 17th, but a presumably new bird – a migrant – was at the feeders on the 21st through the end of the week. Our first Song Sparrow of the year arrived on the 18th and has been under the feeders since. Two White-throated Sparrows continue as well, and our first Fox Sparrow of the year appeared in the evening on the 24th.
While one Brown Creeper has been regular in the trees immediately behind the feeding station for a couple of weeks now, we now have a pair, and on the 23rd I spotted one of them creeping on the ground under a hulled sunflower tube. I didn’t see it eat anything, so I won’t count it on the feeder list quite yet, but I can see its bravery increasing.
Red-winged Blackbirds are now here to stay, with 2-3 territorial birds occasionally joined by migrants (high of 14 on the 21st), while we had Brown-headed Cowbirds (1-2) on two days this week. After our first two Common Grackles of the year briefly visited on the 18th, a flock of 22 dropped by on the 21st.Also on the 21st, we had 2 Pine Siskins – our first here since January 21st. I also spotted our first Turkey Vulture over the yard this year later that day.
Meanwhile, my yard-listing gears shifted from sorting through commuting gulls to commuting geese. With growing numbers of Canada Geese beginning to arrive starting on the 17th, flocks would often be visible from the window and over our yard as they commute between the Androscoggin River and local fields.
Our suspicion that the area right around our house would be a perfect place for displaying American Woodcocks was confirmed on the first warm and calm night of the spring: 3 birds displaying closely and vociferously right over our driveway on the 18th with two displaying and one silent fly-by (a female?) on the 22nd. Speaking of American Woodcocks, our first tour of the season is right around the corner: Woodcocks Gone Wild at Pineland Farms is only a week away!
Another sure sign that spring really is here, the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch kicked off on March 15th as usual, albeit delayed by 2 hours as the last of the precipitation cleared. It absolutely pains me that I cannot be up there, but thankfully Zane Baker has returned for his 5th season as Official Counter. While Jeannette and I will be up there much less than usual for a while longer at least, we know the count is in great hands!
I did, however, make a cameo on the 20th, spending an hour and a half to test drive my stamina. A handful of migrant raptors were spotted, and I was rewarded for the effort with a flock of 6 Northern Pintails flying by. This was my personal 144th species at Bradbury Mountain State Park, and we believe a first record for the Hawkwatch -and therefore the park itself!
Speaking of appearances, Jeannette and I appeared on Newscenter Maine’s 207 last week, discussing birds, bird feeding, and the changing climate and bird populations. Check it out!
I think my friend Dan Nickerson took pity on me – or was just tired of reading about our feeder birds? – so he was kind enough to pick me up and take me birding for the morning on the 24th for some local birding. It was great to get out, and I was most appreciative. And what a day we had!
We worked our way up the Androscoggin River, finding one 1st-winter Iceland Gull still at the Auburn Riverwalk and some new arrivals at the south end of North River Road in Auburn, including the boat launch area: a total of 10 Ring-necked Ducks and 3 Double-crested Cormorants (both being my first of the year in Maine), and off the boat launch, a small flock of 5 Lesser Scaup with one female Greater Scaup hanging out with them. The first of our three Ring-necked Ducks joined them briefly.
Further up the road, we looked for a previously-reported Barnacle Goose in the farm fields, but we couldn’t find it. There were a goodly number of Canada Geese around though, and with birds in and out of gulleys and presumably moving back and forth from the river, we decided to check back later.
We looked for Snow Buntings and the like along Upper Street in Turner, kept an eye out for frugivores, and then paid the Lower Street Harris’s Sparrow a visit. I saw this bird back on January 13th, but it was too good of a bird to not see again. When it immediately popped out of its favored bush, Dan got a life bird and I enjoyed a nice long view (but not so much photographs with one hand in a cold and gusty wind!).
We then returned to North River Road where I spotted the Barnacle Goose immediately this time. We savored this sighting – Dan’s second lifer in an hour! – and photographs were more successful (see above). We decided to celebrate with Thai food and broke for an early lunch as my shoulder was starting to whine a little about all of this excitement and activity. Thai food made everything better though, as it usually does.
Hopefully, I have finally turned the corner on my slow recovery, and next week will feature a little more time in the field and at the store, but for now, I will continue to track feeder birds in between.
“Warblers on the ground” was the theme of this year’s Monhegan Fall Migration Weekend tour. While Blackpoll Warblers dominated the apple piles, this Cape May Warbler was my favorite photo subject.
It’s been a crazy two weeks! Other than two wonderful weekends on Monhegan – personal and professional – and an incredibly Sandy Point Morning Flight last week, my birding has been seriously limited. With the weather pattern and so many rarities around, this was frustrating, but as of today, we have (mostly) completed our move from Pownal to Durham.
Monhegan Island, 9/22-9/26. Highlights included 1 LARK SPARROW, 6 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS, 3 CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS, 2 DICKCISSELS, 1 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, 16 species of warblers, and an insane falcon show. Complete Tour Report and daily checklist here.
Sandy Point Morning Flight, 9/29: 6,183 migrants of 69 species highlighted by 1 BLUE GROSBEAK, 20 species of warblers, and my 195th all-time patch bird in 2 high-flying Little Blue Herons! It was a great enough day to deserve its own blog, which can be found here.
1 Brown Thrasher, here at the store, 9/29. Our second ever in the garden here.
Pownal Morning Flight, 9/30: 289 individuals of 29 species. Complete list here. Our last morning flight at our old property, with a final yard list of 136.
Monhegan Island, 9/30-10/2 with Jeannette. We were here for a friends’ event, so birding was not always the priority. Nonetheless, we had some good birds included the continuing juvenile RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, at least one continuing CLAY-COLORED SPARROW and DICKCISSEL, 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker, our first coastal Pine Siskin of the fall, a late Veery, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers in every apple tree, warblers on the ground, and a big Yellow-rumped Warbler morning flight on the 1st.
And finally, there is a limited amount of space remaining on Tuesday’s Mini-pelagic out of Boothbay Harbor! Click here for more information.
Jeannette and I spent some quality time with “sharp-tailed sparrows” in Scarborough Marsh on Tuesday. It’s even more of a challenge this time of year with some birds still molting (such as the Saltmarsh Sparrow on the left) and other birds in fresh plumage, such as this apparent Nelson’s Sparrow on the right (although a hybrid may be impossible to rule out).
Unlike last week, I was out birding plenty this week, including some of my favorite fall activities: Sandy Point and sorting through shorebirds. Here are my observations of note over the past seven days:
Morning flight over our Pownal yard, 9/10: 6:15-7:30am: 250+ warblers of at least 10 species, led by 40++ Northern Parulas and including 1 Bay-breasted and 2++ Cape May Warbler.
“Zeiss Day” Hakwatch right here at the store, 9/10 (with Rich Moncrief): 95 individuals of 11 species of raptors led by 21 Ospreys and 18 Broad-winged Hawks. Full count here.
20-25 Common Nighthawks, over our yard in Pownal at dusk, 9/10, and 5-10 on 9/11.
6 Northern Waterthrushes, 6 Swainson’s Thrushes, etc, Capisic Pond Park, Portland, 9/11 (with Down East Adventures Fall Songbird Workshop group).
Maine’s 4th ever observation of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks have graced downtown Camden for over a week now.
It was a slow start to the week with just a trickle of migrants arriving from the weekend through the storm system on Wednesday. However, a successful twitch, and a couple of light flights overnight made for a great week of spring birding. Of course, there was also another successful Feathers Over Freeport: A Birdwatching Weekend on Saturday and Sunday. Even though they didn’t produce any birds of note, it was a wonderful weekend full of birdwatching highlights. Photos will be posted soon, while the summary of our morning birdwalks is posted here.
My observations of note over the past seven days included:
1 SANDHILL CRANE (Finally, my FOY after missing a bunch of them at the watch this year), Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch, 5/1.
Maine Birding Field Notes 