I had two good days of birding Sunday and Monday. On Sunday, I guided for a client from Colorado, and on Monday, I added American Avocet to my Maine State List.

I met Sarge at 6:30 am at Portland’s Back Cove, and we spent the day birding from Cape Elizabeth through Wells. Sarge has not birded the East Coast before, so the common birds that we in Maine often take for granted (like Common Eiders) were “life” birds, and our goal for the day was to spot, study, and photograph seaducks and other species that cannot be found in Colorado. We visited various Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough sites, checked out the Biddeford Pool area, and then worked our way to Wells, totaling 53 species for the day (without really trying to “add” birds to pad the day list).

We both thoroughly enjoyed the day, despite the gray skies limiting Sarge’s photography opportunities. While the highlights for me were sightings such as the two Redheads still in Grondin Pond, and close Razorbills on the water at Dyer Point and Biddeford Pool, Sarge was even happier with close views of Purple Sandpipers, Brant, and Common Eiders (and the Great Blue Heron that just stood in the grass at Wells Harbor, allowing for full-frame shots!)

This morning, I headed back down to Wells to look for the American Avocets that were first found on Thanksgiving Day. 5 of these elegant birds were found in the marsh between Wells and Wells Beach. These are very likely 5 of the 6 birds that were seen in Scarborough Marsh way back on November 6, possibly having been swept north by Hurricane Wilma. Having been seen each day since Turkey Day, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up - these are very rare birds in Maine.

The best viewing times have been on the outgoing tide, as the birds leave their roosting spots and begin to feed at the edge of the recent exposed mud. They have been favoring a creek off of Webhannet Road, usually seen within a quarter-mile stretch. When I arrived on the high tide, no Avocets to be found, so I birded down to Ogunquit Beach, where I enjoyed a small group of Yellow-rumped Warblers, an extremely late Tree Swallow, some Snow Buntings, and a hunting Northern Harrier.

With the tide just beginning to ebb, I met up with Ed at the end of a small dirt road (Bethcula Lane) just south of where the Avocets have been seen. We figured scanning the marsh from there would give us a view of the birds as they left their roost and began to feed. And sure enough, no sooner than we got out of the cars, Ed shouts, “There’s One!” The Avocet made a brief flight before dropping out of view in the tall marsh grass. Not a great look – we wanted to do better than that.

After Ed spotted an American Bittern frozen in the grass directly in front of us (he was on fire this morning!), we decided to allow the tide a chance to further receed, and birded Wells Harbor for a bit. A Merlin and a stunning male Northern Harrier hunted the marsh, a Great Blue Heron stood guard (in the same EXACT spot Sarge photographed him yesterday afternoon!), and about 10 Purple Sandpipers roosted on the jetty.

We returned to our Avocet viewing area around 10:00 and I soon spotted two Avocets in flight again. Although farther away than our first sighting, these two flew a few laps - being joined by 4 very late Long-billed Dowitchers - allowing for a long look of the bird’s striking black and white flight pattern. With the tide (now about 2 hours passed high) still not out far enough to produce mud in the bird’s favored creek, Ed and I both gave up on being greedy - neither of us had seen Avocets in years, so we really wanted to enjoy better views of the birds and gave in to the fact that we were both now very late for work!