Today was the Brunswick-Freeport Christmas Bird Count (CBC). Rich, Jeannette, and I participated by covering the circle’s area west of I-295, including most of the town of Freeport that’s on the highway’s west side, but also corners of Yarmouth, Pownal, and Durham. It’s a large territory, and the only territory in the circle that does not have any significant open water! In fact, the only open water we have is a little corner of tidal creek at the Yarmouth/Freeport border – but, it once again produced a handful of American Black Ducks, our only waterfowl species of the day.

While we don’t concentrate on waterfowl in our territory, we do concentrate on feeder birds, woodland residents, and finches. Plus, we cover a good amount of quality mixed habitats, from hemlock groves to open farm field to mixed woodlands to suburban backyards. Now, it being winter in Maine, we don’t necessarily see a ton of variety, but we have plenty of fun enjoying our common denizens, from chickadees to Blue Jays.

But today, not only did we have great totals of common birds (count highs for Hairy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Common Raven, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and American Robin) but we also had some great surprises. The count’s only Snow Bunting was a lucky find – we just happened to hear it call overhead when we stopped to listen to some Goldfinches. We spotted one Northern Shrike along Webster Road, scanning an overgrown field from its stately perch atop a young white pine. Jeannette flushed a Ruffed Grouse – not a rare bird in these parts, but one of those species that are always a pain in the neck to find on a count day, and this was the CBC’s only one. I happened upon a male Red-bellied Woodpecker stuffing a peanut into a hole in a telephone pole! And then, we finished off the day with 5 Pine Grosbeaks at Freeport’s Florida Lake Park. (Not often you see Pine Grosbeak and Red-bellied Woodpecker on the same day!).

Our tally of 333 Black-capped Chickadees was impressive, and a group of 85 Cedar Waxwings crowded atop a leafless maple made the tree look like it still had leaves (or at least large, upright brownish fruits). 26 Dark-eyed Juncos was a good total for the territory, and we REALLY would like to know what species of sparrow flushed off of the dike at Florida Lake – looks like I’ll be checking that bird out again tomorrow. (It flushed from a small patch of exposed grass into an island of firs and never showed itself again; a rather odd behavior for any of our expected sparrows.)

Christmas Bird Counts are always a good time – a chance to see new places (“I never knew this place existed!” Rich was heard saying a few times), some great birds, but also a chance to really enjoy the common species. On a CBC – every Chickadee, crow, jay, etc., counts!

The totals for our area are as follows:
(** only individuals recorded in CBC circle)
(* high count for individual parties’ territories)

American Black Duck: 6
RUFFED GROUSE: 1**
Ring-billed Gull: 2
Herring Gull: 54
Rock Pigeon: 3
Mourning Dove: 19
RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER: 1**
Downy Woodpecker: 8
Hairy Woodpecker: 11*
Pileated Woodpecker: Zero; a big “miss”
NORTHERN SHRIKE: 1**
Blue Jay: 97*
American Crow: 83
Common Raven: 5*
Black-capped Chickadee: 333*
Tufted Titmouse: 17
Red-breasted Nuthatch: 14*
White-breasted Nuthatch: 15
Golden-crowned Kinglet: 7*
American Robin: 15*
European Starling: 8
Cedar Waxwing: 85
American Tree Sparrow: 23
Song Sparrow: 1
White-throated Sparrow: 1
Dark-eyed Junco: 26
Unidentified sparrow: 1
SNOW BUNTING: 1**
Northern Cardinal: 9
PINE GROSBEAK: 5**
House Finch: 2
Common Redpoll: 2
American Goldfinch: 35