It’s once again time for my annual Predictions Blog, where I view into my crystal binoculars and attempt to forecast some of the “new” birds to grace the State of Maine – and then my own personal state list – in the coming year.

But first, let’s look back at last year’s predictions.

2025 Next Maine Birds Predictions Blog

It was a great year for birding in Maine, with rarities at every season, especially during a truly epic November Rarity season. As a snapshot of just how many notable species were in the state in 2025, consider Noah Gibb and Stacey Huth’s Maine Big Year total of 332 species broke the old record by an astounding 10! Surprisingly, with such an eventful year for rarities in the state, no new species were added to the state’s list in 2025. With that, I’m going to keep Next 25 Species to be found in Maine list the same, but based on current trends and regional sightings, I am doing a little shuffling at the top to bump up Limpkin as the northward mini-irruptions of this tropical/sub-tropical bird continue.

1. Limpkin
2. Scopoli’s Shearwater
3. Neotropical Cormorant
4. European Herring Gull
5. Black-chinned Hummingbird
6. California Gull
7. Gray Heron
8. Bermuda Petrel
9. Graylag Goose
10. Little Stint
11. Audubon’s Shearwater
12. Common Shelduck
13. Anna’s Hummingbird
14. Heerman’s Gull
15. Common Ground-Dove
16. Allen’s Hummingbird
17. Spotted Redshank
18. Lewis’s Woodpecker
19. Ross’s Gull
20. Black-capped Petrel
21. Lesser Nighthawk
22. Dusky Flycatcher
23. Painted Redstart
24. Hooded Oriole
25. White Wagtail

As for me, there were so many great birds seen in Maine in 2025, and the birds I chased just scratched the surface of the litany of vagrants this past calendar year as once again, my birding involves fewer and fewer chases each year. The MacGillivray’s Warbler in Yarmouth in November was one of the highlights – including becoming the 255^th All-time Saturday Morning Birdwalk bird!- and a Fork-tailed Flycatcher in the Kennebunk Plains in July.

My first self-found rarity of the year was a Ruff at Walsh Preserve on 5/9…

..and Jeannette I chases the Northern Wheatear in Scarborough Marsh in September for a new ABA Area bird for her.

And shortly after successfully relocating a Bell’s Vireo on Monhegan (5^th state record; found by Bill Thompson and Jess Bishop the day before), my group and I found the state’s 6^th Black-throated Gray Warbler to cap off one of the best weekends on Monhegan in years! Add to that a record-shattering season at the Bradbury Mountain Spring Hawkwatch and two extraordinary flights at Sandy Point on 10/9 and 10/16, and I had an amazing year of birding in Maine.

I even added two species to my State List in 2025, starting with an overdue Cerulean Warbler (#11) found by Doug Hitchcox in Evergreen Cemetery on 5/6. But nothing beats a “self-found” rarity, so finding a Virginia’s Warbler (#20) on Peak’s Island on 11/24 was even more special!

Virginia’s Warbler on Peak’s Island, 11/2025.

Of course, a few potential State Birds got away from me last year. However, all appeared to be one-day wonders, so it’s hard to complain: Crested Caracara in Scarborough Marsh on 4/30, a Franklin’s Gull (some day!) in The County on 5/21, an Anhinga over South Portland on 5/27, and an un-chaseable Ancient Murrelet at Matincus Rock on 6/19.

So, with those hits and misses, my updated list of the Top 25 Next State Birds for Me is now:

1. Franklin’s Gull (this is getting amusing/frustrating)
2. Neotropic Cormorant
3. Brown Pelican
4. California Gull
5. Brown Booby
6. Crested Caracara
7. Slaty-backed Gull
8. Boreal Owl
9. Calliope Hummingbird
10. Graylag Goose
11. Gull-billed Tern
12. Pacific Golden-Plover
13. Limpkin
14. Wood Stork
15. Black-chinned Hummingbird
16. Brewer’s Blackbird
17. Anhinga
18. Yellow Rail
19. Scopoli’s Shearwater
20. Western Wood-Pewee
21. Red-necked Stint
22. European Herring Gull
23. Gray Heron
24. Heerman’s Gull
25. Little Stint

Well there ya have it, let’s see what 2026 brings, at least when it comes to the birds in Maine.