One of two Baird’s Sandpipers that were in the salt pannes of the Eastern Road Trail through Scarborough Marsh on the 7^th, it was one of an estimated 3500+ shorebirds present that day. Low water conditions are currently ideal, but they are drying out fast, and without some rain in the next week, this hotspot might just become too dry to hold many birds.  

With a busy few days of catching up, my birding was limited immediately upon our return from our summer vacation. However, I made up for it this week with a couple of tours and two birding outings with friends. There is a surprising number and quality of summertime rarities around the state right now, but I stayed fairly local and tried to find my own rare shorebird or two! Here are my observations of note over the past 12 days here in Maine.

• A vocal Yellow-billed Cuckoo continues daily in our yard all week.

• 1 Great Egret, flying over downtown Waterville at dusk, 7/28 (with Jeannette).

• 2 Long-tailed Ducks, Simpson’s Point, Brunswick, 8/1.

• 1 TRICOLORED HERON (FOY), Pelreco Marsh, Scarborough Marsh, 8/3 (with Birds on Tap – Roadtrip! Tour Group). Photo in trip report here.

• 3 adult RED-NECKED GREBES, 1 White-winged Scoter, and 1 Black Scoter, Ocean Avenue-Biddeford Pool Beach, Biddeford, 8/5 (with Bill Thompson)

• 1 female PURPLE MARTIN, Timber Point, Biddeford, 8/5 (with Bill Thompson). Confirmed breeding as it entered a powerline visual marker ball with food and exited with a fecal sac!

• PATCHES! Perhaps Patches the IVth? Presumed TRICOLORED HERON X SNOWY EGRET X LITTLE EGRET HYBRID that now may be a fourth-generation bird that’s a backcross again with a TRICOLORED HERON as this year’s bird has significantly more bluish color than previous years, and in all the right places for a Tricolored. In other words, “Tricolored Heron x Small White Egretta SPP”, or, “Patches.” But the hybrid heron was in the salt pannes of the Eastern Road Trail on 8/7 (with Ian Doherty). My phone-scoped photos in the heat shimmer don’t do it justice!

• 7 Bonaparte’s Gulls, Sabattus Pond, 8/8.

And as expected for the season, shorebird migration is now in full swing and that was the focus of my birding attention, resulting in a solid 21 species. Here were my high counts over these past 12 days:

• American Oystercatcher: 7 (4 ad, 3 juv), Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 8/5 (with Bill Thompson).
• Black-bellied Plover: 60+, The Pool, Biddeford Pool, 8/5 (with Bill Thompson).
• Killdeer: 11, Sabattus Pond, 8/8.
• Semipalmated Plover: 375, Hill’s Beach, 8/5 (with Bill Thompson).
• Whimbrel: 3, Pine Point, Scarborough, 8/3 (with Birds on Tap – Roadtrip! Tour Group).
• Ruddy Turnstone: 5, Ocean Avenue, Biddeford Pool, 8/5 (with Bill Thompson).
• Red Knot (FOF): 1 ad, Hill’s Beach, 8/5 (with Bill Thompson).
• Sanderling: 2, Hill’s Beach, Biddeford, 8/5 (with Bill Thompson).
• BAIRD’S SANDPIPER (FOY): 2, Eastern Road Trail Scarborough Marsh, 8/7 (with Ian Doherty). Photo above.
• Least Sandpiper: 350+, Eastern Road Trail, Scarborough Marsh, 8/7 (with Ian Doherty).
• White-rumped Sandpiper: 75+ (wow! Great count!), Eastern Road Trail, 8/7 (with Ian Doherty).
• Pectoral Sandpiper: 1, Eastern Road Trail, 8/7 (with Ian Doherty).
• Semipalmated Sandpiper: Incredible concentration of 2750-3000+ at Eastern Road Trail, 8/7 (with Ian Doherty), but an honorable mention of 2500+ at Pine Point, Scarborough, 8/3 (with Birds on Tap – Roadtrip! Tour Group).
• WESTERN SANDPIPER (FOY): 1 ad, Eastern Road Trail, 8/7 (with Ian Doherty).
• Short-billed Dowitcher: 58, Hill’s Beach, 8/5 (with Bill Thompson).
• American Woodcock: 2, our property in Durham, 8/1.
• Spotted Sandpiper: 2, several locations this week.
• Solitary Sandpiper: 1, Moosehorn NWR – Baring Division, 7/28 (with Jeannette) and Sabattus Pond, 8/8.
• Lesser Yellowlegs: 104, Walsh Preserve, Freeport, 8/2 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
• “Eastern” Willet: 22, The Pool, Biddeford, 8/5 (with Bill Thompson).
• Greater Yellowlegs: 12, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 8/1.

UPCOMING TOURS w/ Space Available:

Shorebird Workshop with Down East Adventures, August 18^th, 8:00am to 4:00pm.