Jeannette and I simply had no choice but to take advantage of yesterday’s beautiful weather and use our day off to do some coastal birding. Normally, mid-January birding along Maine’s coast does not yield complaints of having over-dressed. But, as temperatures climbed through the 40’s again, layers were rapidly shed.

We began the day at Fort Foster in Kittery, hoping for Black-headed Gull. No luck with that but we did have great looks at a Northern Shrike. Nearby Seapoint Beach only hosted the usual cast of characters, as did York Harbor (after stopping for treats and hot caramel apple cider at the Bagel Basket in York as we usually do while birding this route in winter!) and Long Sands Beach. A brief check of the neighborhood near The Nubble in Cape Neddick produced little, except for a small flock of about 10 American Robins.

Around the Nubble itself however, we began our tally of Harlequin Ducks (6). A pleasant surprise was a drake Barrow’s Goldeneye feeding in the surf, the first time that I have seen this species here. Two more Harlequin Ducks were off of Short Sands Beach, and then we tallied 21 from various stops along Shore Road in Ogunquit.

The Cliff House – one of the most popular winter birding destinations in the state – yielded 15 more Harlequin Ducks and a couple of Black Guillemots. Perkin’s Cove hosted its usual large flock of Mallards, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Our last stop of the day, Marginal Way – the shoreline path that begins at the Perkin’s Cove parking lot – also produced the birds of the day. While I was counting more Harlequin Ducks (20 more, giving us an impressive total of 62 on the day), Jeannette spotted three lingering Eastern Bluebirds perched in a tree – a nice January treat. However, that sighting was soon trumped when we found our target bird of the day’s outing – a King Eider! There have only been one or two reports all winter of this charismatic species. Usually, one to three birds are found between Cape Elizabeth and York (like at the Cliff House, Wells Harbor, Two Lights State Park for example) and stay put long enough to be enjoyed by many birders. Not this winter though – so Jeannette and I hoped to find one this day. Hopefully, this individual will remain in the area to be enjoyed by all – I really believe that this is one of the most beautiful birds in the world!