Tag Archives: Spurwink Marsh

This Week’s Highlights, 5/3-5/9/2025.

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This female Cerulean Warbler at Evergreen Cemetery on 5/6 was the first in Maine for just about every birder who raced to see it! Thanks to Bill for the photo!

Wow! What a week! Although I was out of town for the huge flight Friday night into Saturday morning, my birding with a tour group on an almost-as-productive Sunday morning made up for it. Then, with an upper level low locked into place, migration ground to a halt throughout most of the rest of the week. However, a trickle of new arrivals appeared, and an impressive array of rarities were found around the state. I did a lot more chasing than usual this week (including a personal “state bird”, but a self-found rarity on Friday was a perfect way to put the icing on the cake of a tremendous week of spring birding! My observations of note over the past seven days included the following:

  • 15 species of warblers (FOY) between Evergreen Cemetery and Capsic Pond Park, with Northern Parula the most numerous at both, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
  • 2-3 Louisiana Waterthrushes, Suckfish Brook Conservation Area, Falmouth, 5/5 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 continuing BLACK-NECKED STILT, Spurwink Marsh, Cape Elizabeth, 5/6 (with Bill Thompson). Well, since we were out chasing together, we figured we might as well visit this elegant rarity found by John Lorence on 5/3.
  • The continuing CERULEAN WARBLER at Evergreen Cemetery on 5/8 with my Birds on Tap – Roadtrip: Warblers and Wort! Tour group. I don’t generally take photos while guiding groups, but I took a few of this bird…and completely wiffed on them!
  • After all this “twitching,” I was due to find my own rarity, and did so on 5/9 with an adult breeding plumage female RUFF (REEVE) at Walsh Preserve in Freeport. There are only about 10 previous records for Maine.

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

  • 2 Yellow Warblers, Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
  • 8 Black-throated Blue Warblers, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
  • 2 Wood Thrushes, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
  • 3 Magnolia Warblers, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
  • 4 Chestnut-sided Warblers, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
  • 2 Great-crested Flycatchers, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
  • 2 American Redstarts, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
  • 2 Northern Waterthrushes, Capisic Pond Park, Portland, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
  • 7 Chimney Swifts, Capisic Pond Park, 5/4 (with Down East Adventures Spring Migrant Songbird Workshop group).
  • 1 White-crowned Sparrow, feeders here at the store, 5/4.
  • 2 Lincoln’s Sparrows, Suckfish Brook Conservation Area, Falmouth, 5/5 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 Warbling Vireo, our yard in Durham, 5/5.
  • 16 Willets, Eastern Road Trail, Scarborough Marsh, 5/6.
  • 18 Least Sandpipers, Eastern Road Trail, 5/6.
  • 1 Eastern Kingbird, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/6 (with Bill Thompson).
  • 1 LITTLE BLUE HERON, Pelreco Marsh, Scarborough Marsh, 5/6 (with Bill Thompson).
  • 1 Blackburnian Warbler, Rte 136 powerline cut, Durham, 5/7.
  • 1 Wilson’s Warbler, Evergreen Cemetery, 5/8 (with Birds on Tap Roadtrip! tour group)
  • 2 House Wrens, Capisic Pond Park, 5/8 (with Birds on Tap Roadtrip! tour group).
  • 2 Blue-winged Teal, Walsh Preserve, Freeport, 5/9.

Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch

The Week 7 report – in which we broke the all-time season record – can be found here.

Upcoming Tours (with space available):

Rangeley Birding Festival, June 5-8

This Week’s Highlights, 5/20 to 5/25, 2023

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This reported Little Blue Heron x Snowy Egret Hybrid in Spurwink Marsh of Cape Elizabeth may add to the mix of ultra-rare hybrid herons that have been occurring annually since 2012 in the Greater Scarborough Marsh area. Or does it? See below.

The last cadre of migrants are arriving, and the late spring “rarity season” is now upon us. With new arrivals, breeding birds on territory, and the expectation of the unexpected, it was a great week of birding for me as I head out to Monhegan Island with our annual tour group.

My observations of note over the past seven days included:

  • 1 continuing reported LITTLE BLUE HERON X SNOWY EGRET HYBRID, Spurwink Marsh, Cape Elizabeth, 5/22 (with Jeannette, et al). Present since 5/16, this would be the first record of this hybrid combination in Maine, and one of the few ever. Or, is this just a funky 1st or second summer Little Blue Heron that is showing oddly dark legs? Plus if it is truly a hybrid with a small white heron, I am not sure how we would rule out Little Egret (or a hybrid that includes Little Egret) as the other half of the mix, especially with the long-ish-looking dual wiry plumes. Furthermore, some folks have raised doubts about even the potential of mixed parentage here. While clearly different from the TRICOLORED HERON X SMALL WHITE EGRET SPP hybrids that have been in Scarborough Marsh since 2012, I hypothesized about the possibility of Little Blue joining the mix(es) in my 2021 article in North American Birds. I saw the bird again on the 23rd with clients, and obtained better photos than the evening before. Unless of course, my fascination with the hybrid herons of Maine is clouding my judgement here? (Edited for clarity and for minimizing definitives*)

The bicolored bill and blue-gray lores looks fine for Little Blue Heron, but the bill seems a little longer and thinner. The two wiry plumes on the back of the head also look longer and wispier than a Little Blue – could it suggest that the small white egret that’s 50% of its blood (we think) is actually a Little Egret…or the Little Egret x Snowy Egret hybrid…or…

The extra bushy plumes suggestive of Snowy is evident here, and are the soles of the feet a little yellowish? Other photos show the blakcish legs better than this, and 1st summer Little Blue Heron should have uniformly yellow-green legs, especially if still this white.

Also very Snowy/Little-like are the bushy plumes on the foreneck. When it shook, I also observed some whispy white plumes on the back…neither of these should be so fluffy and obvious in a pure Little Blue Heron, especially in its first summer.

***5/26 am edits: The more I think about and study this bird, the less sure I am. It bothers me that the lores and bill are spot on for a Little Blue. But would color develop further when in high breeding, which it won’t reach until next year? Could this just be a super-shaggy-looking Little Blue? Howver, the legs are black or blackish, which is not a characteristic of Little Blue Heron at any age. There seem to be too many anomolous features here to dismiss it as just another splotchy 1st-summer Little Blue. Perhaps, as the summer goes on, and more adult-like characteristics develop, a true pattern and its presumptive ID will become apparent. Hope it sticks around in the same area!**

  • 1 BLACK-NECKED STILT, Eastern Road Trail, Scarborough Marsh, 5/23 (with clients from Maine and Idaho). First spotted by one of my clients as we were split up and scanning both sides of the marsh for sharp-tailed sparrow activity. Awesome find, Ralph! Here’s a lousy, one-armed phone-scoped photo of the bird in the distance.
  • 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Garcelon Bog Preserve, Lewiston, 5/25.

With the advancement of the season, my personal “FOY’s” this week were limited, as expected in late May, but many of our latest-arriving breeders are showing up on territory now.

  • 1 Alder Flycatcher, Long Reach Preserve, Harpswell, 5/21 (with Harpswell Heritage Land Trust tour group).
  • 1 MOURNING WARBLER, Long Reach Preserve, 5/21 (with Harpswell Heritage Land Trust tour group).
  • 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee, our property in Durham, 5/22.
  • 1 Common Nighthawk, over Bayside neighborhood of Portland, 5/22 (with Jeannette).
  • 3+ Saltmarsh Sparrows, Scarborough Marsh, 5/23 (with clients from Maine and Idaho).
  • 2+ Nelson’s Sparrows, Scarborough Marsh, 5/23 (with clients from Maine and Idaho).
  • 7 RED KNOTS, Pine Point, Scarborough, 5/23 (with clients from Maine and Idaho).
  • 3 Short-billed Dowitchers, Pine Point, 5/23 (with clients from Maine and Idaho).

TOURS AND EVENTS:

Derek’s Birding This Week, 5/1-7/2021

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It was fun to watch two male Red Crossbills feeding earlier this week without even leaving the store!

My highlights over the past seven days included the following:

  • 2 Red Crossbills, feeding on Scots Pine here at the store, 5/1.
  • 1 continuing PROPOSED TRICOLORED HERON X SNOWY EGRET X LITTLE EGRET hybrid, Pelreco Marsh, Scarborough Marsh, 5/2 (with clients from Maine.  Full explanation in an upcoming article in North American Birds slated to be published this fall).
  • 10 species of warblers (FOY; finally!) led by only 9 Pine Warblers and 7 Black-and-white Warblers but including 1 LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, Morgan Meadow WMA, Raymond, 5/7.
  • 1 Evening Grosbeak, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/7.

As the Neotropical migrant floodgates open, my personal first-of-years and new spring arrivals included:

  • 1 continuing TRICOLORED HERON, Spurwink Marsh, 5/2 (with clients from Maine).
  • 6 Piping Plovers, Western Beach, Scarbrough, 5/2 (with clients from Maine).
  • 1 Least Sandpiper, Dunstan Landing, Scarborough Marsh, 5/2 (with clients from Maine).
  • 3 Willets, Scarborough Marsh, 5/2 (with clients from Maine).
  • 1 Ovenbird, our yard in Pownal, 5/3.
  • 1 Northern Parula, our yard in Pownal, 5/3.
  • 1 Black-throated Green Warbler, our yard in Pownal, 5/3.
  • 1 Baltimore Oriole, feeders here at the store, 5/4.
  • 1 Northern Waterthrush, Florida Lake Park, Freeport, 5/5.
  • 1 Nashville Warbler, Florida Lake Park, 5/5.
  • 1 Chestnut-sided Warbler, Runaround Pond, Durham, 5/6.
  • 3 Black-throated Blue Warblers, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/7.
  • 4 Common Yellowthroats, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/7.
  • 1 Yellow Warbler, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/7.
  • 1 Warbling Vireo, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/7.
  • 1 Veery, Morgan Meadow WMA, 5/7.
  • 3 Chimney Swifts, Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch, 5/7.
  • 1 Blackburnian Warbler, Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch, 5/7.
This Tricolored Heron was sitting pretty not far off into Spurwink Marsh when I visited the area with clients on Sunday the 2nd.