Tag Archives: Stud Mill Road

This Week’s Highlights, 11/30– 12/6/2024

Leave a reply
There were very few birds along the Stud Mill Road east of Old Town on the 4th, but happily, one of them was this Northern Shrike.

A wintery week produced a very wintery slate of highlights, thanks in part to our trip north on our annual last-weekend-before-store-chaos overnight in Bangor. A push of facultative migrants with the arrival of snowcover was very evident this week as well. Here are my observations of note over the past 7 days:

  • 1 adult male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Broad Cove Preserve, Cumberland, 11/30 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
  • 192 Ruddy Ducks, 40 Green-winged Teal, 2 American Wigeon, 1 Northern Pintail, 1 Northern Flicker, 2 Belted Kingfishers, etc, Sabattus Pond, Sabattus, 12/1. A distant raft may have been scaup.
  • 1 female Red-winged Blackbirds, feeders here at the store, 12/1.
  • 1 Merlin, Wyman Road, Benton, 12/2 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 Double-crested Cormorant, Shamut Dam, Benton, 12/2 (with Jeannette).
  • 1+ Lapland Longspur, 86 Horned Larks, and 24+ Snow Buntings, River Road, Benton, 12/2 (with Jeannette). Another distant flock of 75+ Snow Buntings appeared to contain several more Lapland Longspurs.
  • 1 female Greater Scaup, Sebasticook Lake, Newport, 12/2 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 Barrow’s Goldeneye (FOS), Stillwater River at University of Maine-Orono, 12/2 (with Jeannette).
  • 2 Canada Jays and 2 Evening Grosbeaks, Sunkhaze NWR, 12/3 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 Northern Shrike, Stud Mill Road, Penobscot County, 12/3 (with Jeannette).
  • Amazingly devoid of birds, 5 hours of birding Sunkhaze-Stud Mill (walking trails plus driving) yielded only 9 species. The only finch were the two grosbeaks, and not surprisingly, the cone crop of spruce, fir, and Eastern White Pine was non-existent. 
  • 2 female Red-winged Blackbirds, our feeders in Durham, 12/4.
  • 3 Fox Sparrows, feeders at the store on 12/3 and continued through the end of the week. Jayden had 2 on Monday the 2nd here, with the third arriving the next day.
  • 20 Snow Buntings, Hunter Road Fields, Freeport, 12/5.
  • 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Saco Riverwalk, 12/6.

This Week’s Highlights, 3/5-11, 2022.

Leave a reply
The photo of the week was this cute and cuddly Porcupine from Stud Mill Road on 3/6.

It was another busy week of birding for me! And it was another great week of birding, with the vanguard of spring migration coupled with lots of winter specialties still around – and a lot more finches! Turkey Vulture, Red-winged Blackbird, and Common Grackle numbers were slowly increasing by week’s end.  Scattered Pine Siskins are now reaching the coastal plain (from the north, west, or south?). My observations of note over the past seven days were as follows:

  • 1 drake Northern Pintail, Wolfe’s Neck Center, Freeport, 3/5 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
  • 3+ Lapland Longspurs with 100+ Snow Buntings and 40+ Horned Larks, Flood Farm, Clinton, 3/6 (with clients from Texas).
  • ~35 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS, Stillwater Avenue, Orono, 3/7 (with clients from Texas).
  • Sunkhaze NWR/Stud Mill Road finch report (from a few hours in the pm on 3/6 and two hours in the early morning on 3/7 (with clients from Texas):

Pine Siskins: many hundreds, including numerous flocks of 50-75+

Purple Finches and American Goldfinch: scattered small numbers; groups up to 10-12.

WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS: Scattered individuals and small groups including one cluster of 4+ singing males.

Red Crossbills: Scattered individuals and one small group of 8. No recordings were successfully obtained.

Common Redpoll: One flock of 60-75; a few singles with other finches.

  • 1 first-winter Iceland Gull and 1 drake Lesser Scaup, Auburn Riverwalk, 3/10.

This Week’s Highlights, 11/27-12/3, 2021.

Leave a reply
Four of the five dapper drake Barrow’s Goldeneyes that Jeannette and I saw in the Penobscot River from the University of Maine-Orono campus on 11/30. This was the largest group that I have seen
in several years in the state, sadly.

My observations of note over the past seven days were as follows:

  • 6 Dunlin, Wolfe’s Neck Center, Freeport (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
  • 3 1st-cycle Iceland Gulls, Shawmut Dam from River Road, Fairfield, 11/29 (with Jeannette).
  • 5 Green-winged Teal, 8 Lesser Scaup, etc, Sebasticook Lake, 11/29 (with Jeannette).
  • 5 drake BARROW’S GOLDENEYES, Penobscot River at University of Maine campus, 11/29 (with Jeannette).
  • 2 Red Crossbills, Sunkhaze NWR, 11/30 (with Jeannette)
  • 4 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS and 2 Red Crossbills, Stud Mill Road, 11/30 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 hen American Wigeon, random lone flyover over Saxl Park, Bangor, 11/30 (with Jeannette).
  • 1 drake Northern Pintail, Androscoggin River from Rte. 136, Durham, 12/3.