Tag Archives: Vermont

This Week’s Highlights, 7/12-7/20/2025

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Jeannette and I raced down to the Kennebunk Plains on Monday the 14th for this Fork-tailed Flycatcher. A notorious “one-day-wonder,” it conveniently was discovered on a day off for a change. Even more surprisingly, unlike most Fork-tailed Flycatchers that occur in the Northeast, this one stuck around, continuing through the 16th. There are between 10 and 16 previous occurrences of this vagrant from South America in Maine – incredible considering the distance it has to fly “incorrectly” to get here!

Only in the middle of July is a trip to Monhegan not the birding adventure of the week. But betweenthe chase of a “megs,” an opportunity to visit a banding project on a mountaintop in Vermont, and a couple of boat trips, it was a great week (plus) of birding for me nonetheless. Here are my observation of note over the past nine days.

  • 1 RAZORBILL (just off of Smuttynose outside of Monhegan harbor) and 1 Atlantic Puffin, Hardy Boat from Monhegan to New Harbor, 7/12. Only tubenoses encountered on a very foggy day both to and from were Wilson’s Storm-Petrels.
  • 1 FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER, Kennebunk Plains, Kennbunk, 7/14 (with Jeannette and m.obs). Found earlier in the day by Sam Darmstadt. Photo above.
  • 7/19: I co-lead the morning Whale and Puffin Combo Cruise tour with our partners Cap’n Fish’s Cruises: 1 MANX SHEARWATER (unexpected close fly-by between our boat and Eastern Egg Rock); 2 American Oystercatchers, Eastern Egg Rock; 3 Cory’s Shearwaters and 100-125 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels offshore. I stayed aboard for the afternoon trip and only had 1 Cory’s Shearwater and 75-100 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels offshore.

UPCOMING TOURS w/ Space Available:

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

Saturday Morning Birdwalks Return 8/2!

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.

This Week’s Highlights, 11/17-19, 2021.

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Part of this fall’s incursion of Cattle Egrets into the Northeast, we caught up with this cooperative individual while birding in Vermont at the Goose Viewing Area of the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area on 11/13.

After spending a long weekend in Vermont – including quite a few birding highlights – it’s been mostly catching up here at the store. Nonetheless, I did have a great morning at Sabattus Pond on Friday.

  • 1 Winter Wren, Highland Road, Brunswick, 11/18.
  • Sabattus Pond, Sabattus, 11/19 – 16 species of waterfowl!

520 Ruddy Ducks

444 Mallards

251 Lesser Scaup

154 American Black Ducks

74 Green-winged Teal

48 Greater Scaup

41 Common Mergansers

19 Hooded Mergansers

18 Canada Geese

16 American Wigeon

13 Northern Pintails

8 Buffleheads

3 Common Goldeneyes

2 Surf Scoters

1 White-winged Scoter

1 Ring-necked Duck

X Mallard x American Black Duck hybrid

37 Turkey Vultures

1 Carolina Wren

This out of place Brant graced the Burlington Waterfront Park when we spent the morning strolling it on the 11/14.

A Vermont and Montreal Roadtrip In Photos

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Jeannette and I made a run for the border in our annual pre-hawkwatch roadtrip getaway.  We’ll be covering Katrina’s days off at the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch through the end of the season.  Then, my guiding season kicks off in full force through early July.  In other words, it’s a good time for us to get a little break.

This year’s destination was a visit with family in Vermont, followed by a few days in Montreal.  I had not been to Montreal before – no excuse for that, really – so this was a good incentive to head (mostly) west.  Sure, the weather could have been a little more seasonable, but we enjoyed a really great trip nonetheless.

While this trip wasn’t necessarily a “birding trip,” we obviously were going to do some birding.  And there were a few “goodies” around that, if nothing else helped guide us in fruitful directions.  First up was the Northern Hawk Owl that has been spending the winter in Waterbury, Vermont.  Since we had to pass through the intersection that the bird has been frequenting on the way to see the fam, I don’t think this counts as a chase, does it?

Although most hawk owls are notoriously tolerant of people, this bird was ridiculous!   People were walking back and forth on a trail right below it, and it didn’t care.
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Then, spotting something of interest, it dove through the line of admirers, and landed in the snow.  It scuffled around for a bit, and then came up with a White-footed/Deer Mouse, which is proceeded to devour on a nearby snag…in clear view of everyone.  Returning to its original perch, it flew between two photographers, right at head-level!
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The lighting and the proximity were so good that I believe these are the best phone-scoped photos that I have ever taken!

After visiting friends and family, we departed the next day.  Of course, we couldn’t help but stop at the hawk-owl once again.  “Let’s just drive past this Northern Hawk Owl,” said no one, ever.
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After lunch in Burlington…
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…we dipped down to Charlotte to board the ferry over to Essex, NY.  With such extensive ice on the lake, the only open water is limited to the ferry channels.  Ducks have concentrated in this narrow band of open water, including some very good birds.  The Tufted Duck being seen here was nothing more than an excuse to take the ferry, and we are very glad we did.
5. NHOW-phonescoped1a,3-9-14 (24)This was a great little “mini-pelagic!”  In fact, after we took the car across to NY, we hopped back on as round-trip passengers to have another look.  Good thing we did, because as we began the half-hour journey back to Vermont, the Tufted Duck was right in front of the bow!  And Jeannette “nailed” it, I think it’s safe to say.
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In addition to the Tufted, impressive numbers of Common Goldeneyes and both Greater and Lesser scaup were enjoyed and extensively photographed.  Mallards, American Black Ducks, a small number of Common Mergansers and Buffleheads, 3 Ring-necked Ducks, 2 female Long-tailed Ducks, and 1 White-winged Scoter (the latter three only in New York, and the final two being good birds for the season here) were also present, and early in the third leg, we spotted a female Barrow’s Goldeneye among the masses for a nice addition to my paltry Vermont state list. Jeannette very nicely augmented here library of waterfowl –especially flight – photos, and this fun little ride turned out to be a real highlight of the entire trip.
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How many species can you identify in this photo?

A quick stop to look for coffee in Plattsburgh, NY resulted in what was perhaps the best cupcake we have ever had (a butter cream-iced tres leches cupcake at Delish), and eventually we made our way across the border and arrived in Montreal in the evening.

The next morning, we walked from our downtown hotel to Parc du Mont Royal, the expansive park in the heart of the city.  There’s been a Black-backed Woodpecker here all winter, but we did not know exactly where.  We did find a grove of Scotch Pine that had the classic sign of foraging Black-backs, but we didn’t see it…or much else, really.  Just like at home, deciduous-dominated forests are awfully quiet right now.
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After lunch, we visited the Botanical Gardens, including their impressive Insectarium and extensive greenhouse biomes.  Stealing the show, however, was the free-flying butterfly (and some moths) exhibit.
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A stroll around Olympic Park…
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…Was followed by dinner, at a place with 30 kinds of poutine on the menu: Poutine la Banquisse!
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The next day, another walk at Parc du Mont Royal (which was actually less birdy than our first visit) …
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…was followed by exploration of Old Montreal and the OldPort.  Unfortunately, the weather had taken a turn for the worse.
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The storm was fully upon us…
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…as we ventured out for our “splurge” dinner of the trip at the famous Au Pied de Cochon.  Because we didn’t have enough poutine the night before, we shared the intriguing and tasty fusion of a poutine temaki, and the duck carpaccio.  Entrees were outstanding as well, with Jeannette getting primal with a Bison rib as I went all in with what may have been the best sandwich I have ever eaten – and by far the most expensive!  With 10 grams of truffles and an apparent three pounds of butter, this was not your everyday grilled cheese!
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The snow was piling up as we departed the restaurant…
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…and about 8 inches had accumulated by morning.  Now that we actually knew where to look for the Black-backed Woodpecker at Mont Royal, it turned out it was rather east to find after all!

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Before hitting the road, we took a walk around Ile Sainte-Helene, which was actually quite birdy; the birdiest place in the city during this short visit.  In addition to the usual woodland residents, goodly numbers of Cedar Waxwings and American Robins were present.  Waterbirds in the fast-moving river were limited to four Common Mergansers and a single Common Loon, however.
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It was a long and slow drive home, in large part due to the heavy snow in the mountains.  With about two feet in some places, a few of the passes in northern New Hampshire and Maine were a little interesting.  I think it’s safe to say it was a good idea to have taken our Subaru on this road trip!
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Back to work early in the morning on Friday, we were very pleased to be greeted at the store by some Red-winged Blackbirds.  The hawkwatch is underway, with a goodly 38 birds on the first day (6 Red-shouldered Hawk!), spring is definitely here…even if, once again, it doesn’t feel like it!