Tag Archives: Rangeley Birding Festival

This (Two) Week’s Highlights, 5/31-6/13

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One of up to 6 Canada Jays encountered outside of Rangeley while leading tours for the Rangeley Birding Festival included this confiding adult, part of a family group of at least 4 on 6/6. In fact, I enjoyed Canada Jays in three states in less than a week’s time this week/weekend!

This time of year, most of my birding, both personally and especially professionally, is dedicated to finding, seeing, and enjoying the wide array of breeding species this state has to off. From Saltmarsh Sparrows and Roseate Terns here along the southern coast to Bicknell’s Thrushes and “boreal specialities” in the western Maine mountains (and northern New Hampshire), it has been another extremely busy guiding season for me. Meanwhile, while home, I have been conducting two local breeding bird surveys. While my “highlights” these days are seeing the “expected” species we all seek, I did encounter some unexpected observations and noteworthy counts over the past two weeks, but mostly, I thought I would share some of my photo highlights.

  • 9 Grasshopper Sparrows, 1 Yellow-throated Vireo, etc, Kennebunk Plains, Kennbunk, 6/2 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 Dunlin, 4 Semipalmated Plovers, and 1 Least Sandpiper, Sanford Lagoons, 6/2 (with Jeannette).
  • Rangeley Birding Festival, 6/6-6/8: Two mornings of birding Redington Road (scouting 6/6, with tour group 6/7) yielded high counts of 2 territorial CAPE MAY WARBLERS (6/6+6/7), 6 CANADA JAYS (6/7), 1 pair of BOREAL CHICKADEES (6/6), 3 Red Crossbills (6/6), 2 Olive-sided Flycatchers (6/6), 1 American Bittern (6/7), 1 Black-billed Cuckoo (6/7), etc.
I was excited to find two Cape May Warbler territories outside of Rangeley on the 6th, and then find both males in the same place the next day with my Rangeley Birding Festival tour group.

While leading a walk for the Rangeley Birding Festival at Hunter Cove Sanctuary, I found this low-level Blue-headed Vireo nest that was fascinating to observe.

  • 2.5 day private tour in Vermont and Northern New Hampshire (I know, this is a non-Maine-birding-field-note!) yielded: Bicknell’s Thrush, Black-backed Woodpecker, Boreal Chickadee, Canada Jay, Fox Sparrow, and 22 species of warbler including Cape May, Bay-breasted, and Mourning.
As usual, I took few photos while guiding, but this Bay-breasted Warbler outside Errol, NH on the 10th (with clients) was too cooperative not to fire off a few shots!
  • Back home for a couple of days, it was off to my local bird surveys. This fledgling Barred Owl was in Freeport on the 12th, confirming breeding once again at one of my local patches.

Monhegan Spring Migration Weekend Trip Report.

The 2025 Monhegan Migration Spring Weekend was a shocking success. We went from having a weather forecast that made me worry if there would be any migrants to see at all, to an exceptional weekend that was by far the best Memorial Day weekend of birding out here in quite a few years. A total of 106 species were tallied in 5 days, including 91 together as a tour group, with a total of 22 species of warblers. Here’s the full trip report.

2025 Monhegan Spring Migration Weekend Trip Report

OK, it’s not a bird, but it sure is emblematic of the North Country and Western Maine! I encountered this cow outside of Rangeley on 6/6.

Recent Highlights, 6/2 – 6/12.

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Little Blue Herons have declined in Maine, so it was nice to find my second of the year in an untraditional location. This 1st summer bird was in the marsh behind Seapoint Beach in Kittery on the 2nd.

Typical later migrants, such as Blackpoll and Magnolia Warblers, and a variety of flycatchers, were still moving in and through, especially during the first week of June. Then, my gears rapidly shifted to breeding birds on tours, events, surveys, and just general birding enjoyment. Quality time with boreal breeders in the Rangeley area and specialties such as Saltmarsh and Nelson’s Sparrows, Roseate Terns, etc here at the coast were the usual highlights of the first half of June, both personally and professionally.

In addition to the regular breeding birds we seek – again, both personally and professionally – it’s also a good time of year for unexpected birds in unexpected places, and just general good birding. Some of my additional, less expected observations of note over the past ten days included:

  • 1 immature male and 1 female ORCHARD ORIOLE (FOY), and 1 late Red-throated Loon, Fort Foster, Kittery, 6/2.
  • 1 1st summer LITTLE BLUE HERON, Seapoint Beach, Kittery, 6/2. Photo above.
  • 6 Black-bellied Plovers, 1 Semipalmated Plover, and 3 Short-billed Dowitchers, Wells Harbor, 6/2.
  • A visit to the Kennebunk Plains on 6/4 with Jeannette yielded 2 singing CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS (one continuing male near “Clay-color Corner” and one about half-way between there and the main parking lot on the eastern loop trail).  2 UPLAND SANDPIPERS, 6 GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS, and at least 11 Red Crossbills were also detected.
  • 2 RUDDY DUCKS, 1 drake Northern Shoveler, etc, Sanford Lagoons, 6/4 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 pair Cape May Warbler, 1 Wilson’s Warbler, 1 Olive-sided Flycatcher, Palm Warblers, displaying Wilson’s Snipe, family of Canada Jays, etc, Dallas Plantation, 6/7 (with Matt Young).
  • Fun to be in the field with Matt Young for the Rangeley Birding Festival and hear him describe (and hopefully me learn!) Red Crossbill call notes. There weren’t many around, but we did encounter both Type 12’s and Type 4’s. Meanwhile, scattered birds continue to be widespread down here at the coast.
  • 7 Turkey Vultures, over downtown Rangeley from porch of Parkside and Main, 6/7 (With Matt Young and Birds on Tap! event group for the Rangeley Birding Festival). Less than 10 years ago, a single was unheard of.
  • 1 Semipalmated Plover, Eastern Road Trail, Scarborough Marsh, 6/11 (with clients from New Jersey).

Tours and Events:

  • Due to tours, there will not be a Saturday Morning Birdwalk on either 6/22 or 6/29.

This Week’s Highlights, June 10 – June 17, 2022

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An amazing behavior to witness, this femaleYellow-bellied Sapsucker was collecting beak-fuls of insects (primarily crane flies, family Tipula spp.) and then dunking them in flowing sap before feeding nestlings. This is not a behavior I can remember having witnessed, and it was absolutely fascinating to watch.
We observed this at the Hunter Cove Preserve in Rangeley on a walk for the
Rangeley Birding Festival over the weekend (with Cameron Cox).

My observations of note over the past eight days included the following:

  • Rangeley Birding Festival, June 10-12. Cameron Cox and I led a total of four tours, and while none of them expected to find “boreal specialties,” our group did hear 2+ CANADA JAYS at Hunter Cove Preserve on 6/13. Otherwise, we mostly basked in the glow of Blackburnian Warblers and other area denizens, like the above Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
  • Proposed* TRICOLORED HERON X SNOWY EGRET X LITTLE EGRET(S) in Scarborough Marsh, 6/16 (with Ted Floyd and Hannah Floyd).  The saga continues!  Although I have spent dreadfully little time in the marsh this summer, reviewing photographs has led me to consider that there are now two of this proposed three-way combination – one distinctly whiter (especially on the wings) than the other. On the 16th, we observed both birds distantly (darker bird off Eastern Road, whiter bird at Pelreco Marsh).  In both cases they were very far and even phone-scoped photos were worthless due to heat shimmer.  If you have great photos of birds from this year, I would love to see them!

*Hybrid combo as proposed in:

Lovitch, Derek J. 2022. Photo Salon: Hybrid Herons of Maine. North American Birds 72 (2): 28-40.

  • 22 Semipalmated Sandpipers, Eastern Road Trail, Scarborough Marsh, 6/16 (with Ted Floyd and Hannah Floyd).
  • 6-8 Semipalmated Sandpipers and 2 ad. Little Blue Herons, Pine Point, Scarborough, 6/16 (with Ted Floyd and Hannah Floyd).
On 6/16, I set out with visiting friends to study “sharp-tailed” sparrows.  In one of those rare days, we saw and heard numerous Saltmarsh (here), Nelson’s, and hybrids thereof. If only every day is that easy for studying these birds! And all of our views came without any use of recordings or stepping into the marsh.

Derek’s Birding This This Week: 6/11-18, 2021

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The Kennebago River from the Boy Scout Road with Rangeley Birding Festival tour group, 6/12.

My observations of note – in addition to many of the area’s breeding specialties – over the past eight days included the following:

  • 1 heard only CANADA JAY, 6/12, but two well-seen on 6/13, Boy Scout Road, Rangeley, (with Evan Obercian and Rangeley Birding Festival tour group)
  • 2 Red Crossbills, Wheeler Rd, Rangeley, 6/12 (with Evan Obercian).
  • 1 Cape May Warbler, Rangeley, 6/12 (with Evan Obercian. Could not relocate on 6/13).
  • 16++ occupied PURPLE MARTIN nests, Depot Road colony, Belgrade, 6/13 (with Evan Obercian).
  • 1 Louisiana Waterthrush, Morgan Meadow WMA, 6/15 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 proposed TRICOLORED HERON X SNOWY EGRET X LITTLE EGRET hybrid, Pelreco Marsh, Scarborough Marsh, 6/16 (with clients from Colorado and Maine) and 6/17 (with clients from Minnesota).
  • 1 AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER, Pine Point, Scarborough, 6/16 (with clients from Colorado and Maine).
  • 1 Lesser Yellowlegs and 4 Greater Yellowlegs, Eastern Road Trail, Scarborough Marsh, 6/17 (with clients from Minnesota).
  • 3 Sooty Shearwaters (FOY), 1 Greater Shearwater, 40+ Wilson’s Storm-Petrels, etc, Cap’n Fish’s Whale Watch, Boothbay Harbor, 6/17 (with clients from Minnesota).