Jeannette and I, along with our friends Glenn and Maryanne visiting from Michigan, spent a very productive afternoon birding Scarborough Marsh yesterday. We began with our International Shorebird Survey routes. Glenn, Maryanne, and I walked the beach from the Old Orchard Beach/Scarborough town line to Pine Point, while Jeannette walked up Jones Creek. The shorebirds survey routes weren’t too productive this day -although there was a smattering of various species.

Most of the birds were across the Scarborough River, viewed in the distance from Pine Point. At least 125 Black-bellied Plovers were on the mudflats, along with about 30 Ruddy Turnstones, 20 or so Willets, 7 Short-billed Dowitchers, and 5 fairly-rare-in-spring Red Knots.

These Knots were a “state bird” for Glenn. He has set a goal to find 20 state birds for his Maine list during this visit. He has threatened not to leave the state until he gets 20, so I better get to work!

We missed Blue-winged Teal and Gadwall behind Pelreco (potential state birds for Glenn), but we did enjoy a few more Least Terns (my first of the year). Our next stop was Eastern Road. At low tide, there are usually many fewer shorebirds, and as we were running a bit late (to get home in time to feed the dog exactly at her dinnertime, of course), I almost scrapped the walk out to the pannes. But, I knew we had another chance at Blue-winged Teal, a very good chance at Marsh Wren, and we should “clean up” the swallow list with Northern Rough-winged Swallows.

We soon got the swallow, along with my first Bank Swallows of spring, and there were a small number of shorebirds in the pannes, including two White-rumped Sandpipers among a small group of Semipalmated Sandpipers. Then, Jeannette spotted a “Maine Bird” for ALL of us – a male Wilson’s Phalarope! One or two pairs probably breed in the marsh almost every year, but finding them is searching for a needle in a haystack. We lucked out today, though, giving my a Phalarope Trifecta for this May in Maine.

After getting good looks at a Marsh Wren, we walked back towards the car, and I spotted a Tricolored Heron overhead – after nearly blowing it off as another passing Little Blue Heron. A rare - but regular- bird in the state, and Glenn’s 5th Maine bird of the day. 15 more to go!