Tag Archives: Scarborough

Derek’s Birding This Week, 5/22-27/2021

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This pure-blood (presumably) Little Egret was a surprise in the Dunstan Creek Marsh section of Scarborough Marsh on the 25th. I don’t recall any reports of the Little Egret in Scarborough Marsh so far this season, and many of the identifiable photos that I have seen in Falmouth so far this year have been – or suggested – a continuing Snowy Egret x Little Egret hybrid, so seeing this bird was a treat for me and my clients.
1)The green-gray, darkish lores (not yellow-tinted like the presumed hybrid or bright yellow like a Snowy).
2) The two long neck plumes (not bushy like Snowy, or a combination of two, like the hybrid). I absolutely love the “plume swagger” when they’re blowing in the wind.

Additionally, the overall structure of a skinnier, longer neck, slightly longer legs, and a longer, slightly more tapering and pointed bill more like a “mini Great Egret” than the relatively-more compact Snowy.

My highlights over the past six days included the following:

  • 1 CLAY-COLORED SPARROW (Maguire Road), 2 Upland Sandpipers, 8 Grasshopper Sparrows, 14 Vesper Sparrows, etc, Kennebunk Plains, 5/24 (all personal FOY since it was my first visit here this season).
  • 1 LITTLE EGRET, as previously reported, Dunstan Creek Marsh, Scarborough Marsh, 5/25 (with clients from Connecticut…see photos and captions above).
  • 1 drake NORTHERN SHOVELER and 1 pair Gadwalls, Pelreco Marsh, Scarborough Marsh, 5/25  and 5/26 (with clients from Connecticut).
  • 2 Common Nighthawks, our yard in Pownal, 5/25.

My few other new spring arrivals included only the following:

  • 5 Semipalmated Sandpipers, Pine Point, Scarborough, 5/25 (with clients from Connecticut) and 14 there on 5/26 (with same clients).
  • 1 Willow Flycatcher, Runaround Pond Road, Durham, 5/27.

Derek’s Birding This Week, 4/3-9/2021

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My highlights over the past seven days included the following:

  • 1 Red Crossbill, Runaround Pond, Durham, 4/3.
  • 1 drake “EURASIAN” GREEN-WINGED TEAL, Mouth of the Abagadasset River, Bowdoinham, 4/4 (with Jeannette).
  • 3 Red Crossbill, Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch, 4/8.
  • 1 probable WHITE-FACED IBIS (as previously reported; FOY), Rte 1/9 Salt Pannes, Scarborough MarSh, 4/9. However, it did not have particular bright bare parts or “face,” so it is either not yet in high breeding, or it could be a hybrid. My views were just a little too insufficient to be 100% sure.

And my personal first-of-years and new spring arrivals included (obviously I had not been to Scarborough Marsh in a while!):

  • 3 Wilson’s Snipe (FOS), Pineland Farms, 4/3 (with “Woodcocks Gone Wild!” tour group).
  • 1 Pine Warbler, Brown’s Point Road, Bowdoinham, 4/4 (with Jeannette)
  • 1 Double-crested Cormorant, Mouth of the Abby, Bowdoinham, 4/4 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 Winter Wren, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 4/7.
  • 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler (FOS), Florida Lake Park, 4/7.
  • 1 Purple Finch (FOS), feeders here at the store, 4/7.
  • 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (FOS), Bradbury-Pinelands Corridor Trail, Pownal, 4/8.
  • 1 Osprey, Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch, 4/8.
  • 51 Glossy Ibis, Scarborough Marsh, 4/9.
  • 14 Great Egret, Scarborough Marsh, 4/9.
  • 3 Snowy Egrets, Scarborough Marsh, 4/9.
  • 1 pair GADWALL, Pelreco Marsh, Scarborough Marsh, 4/9.
  • 3 Savannah Sparrows (FOS), Scarborough Masrsh, 4/9.