What a beautiful day! (Finally, on a Tuesday!) You knew Jeannette and I were going to take advantage of a day like this!

Merrymeeting Bay was our destination. The largest freshwater estuary on the East Coast north of the Chesapeake, Merrymeeting Bay is one of the best places in the state for waterfowl. Attracted by sheltered coves, tidal flats, and extensive beds of wild rice, thousands of migrant ducks descend on the area every spring and fall.

The birding tends to be better in spring, as the birds are a bit less wary without hunters out and about, and you don’t need to worry about having a hunter flush a flock just as you were sure you had spotted something exotic! And, in general, mid-tide is the best at most locations. Jeannette and I basically followed the route prescribed in the Birder’s Guide to Maine, with a few additional stops in between.

Overall, the waterfowl numbers and diversity were lower than we expected, except for one species. We had seen small groups, and scattered pairs, of Common Mergansers at many locales. However, when we arrived at Shore Road in Gardiner, along the Kennebec River (one of the major rivers that empty into Merrymeeting), we got out and saw not a small group of Common “Mergs,” but over a THOUSAND! We estimated between 1,000 and 1,100 of these large, gorgeous ducks. This was by far the largest group of Goosanders that either of us have ever seen! They peppered the river with plobs of gray and chestnut (hens) and black and glossy green (drakes), as far as the eye can see in either direction. It was truly an amazing site!

Here are our complete waterfowl totals for the morning.
Canada Goose: 140
American Black Duck: 404
Mallard: 116
Green-winged Teal: 45
Ring-necked Duck: 1
Bufflehead: 4
Common Goldeneye: 40
Hooded Merganser: 14
Common Merganser: 1,091-1,191
Ring-billed Gull: 63
Herring Gull: 4

Other highlights:
Bald Eagle: 1 (2nd or 3rd cycle)
Horned Lark: 1
Pine Siskin: 1+

And, birding is
about to get better – by mid-afternoon the winds had turned to the south!