I enjoyed a great – although incredibly sleep-deprived week at the American Birding Association’s Annual Convention that took place last week (actually, it ended today) in Bangor. On Monday and Tuesday, I was slated to be working at the trade show booth for my friends and former employer at St. Paul Island Tours. Unfortunately, the booth didn’t leave the Anchorage airport.

By the time the booth arrived, and we set things up, on Tuesday, it was time for me to don my next, and most important, hat: the coordinator, and one of the field trip leaders for the Young Birder Track at the conference. I was luckily enough to be asked to spend three days with 15 exceptional young birders from across the country (three from Maine!). We had three trips, two workshops, and one banquet. This opportunity to spend quality birding time with some of birding’s future was a chance that I could not miss! (And it was worth every exhausted, coffee-filled minute.)

On Wednesday, we headed over to Baxter State Park. Unfortunately, it was actually pretty quiet. Although we did see a good number of many of our target birds, we did miss a few of them, and we heard much more than we saw. However, we did accumulate 16 species of warblers, including exceptional looks at single male Bay-breasted and Cape May Warblers. We only heard a few flyover Evening Grosbeaks, a single distant Fox Sparrow, and we somehow missed Olive-sided Flycatcher. A bird I called a Spruce Grouse standing in the middle of the road turned out to be a young Ruffed Grouse missing head feathers, still growing its tail, and acting a little odd – it’s tougher to make mistakes as a tour guide with the advent of digital camera technology! The “I hope we see a Moose,” requests were met with five individuals, including a young calf in Sandy Stream Pond. The highlight for many, however, was the exceptional views of a very agitated Boreal Chickadee pair. Usually known for their shy, retiring behavior, these two responded to pishing and an owl imitation (a very poor one at that) with surprising gusto – the reason, as it turned out, was that we happened to be standing 5 feet from their nest hole!

On Thursday, we made a trip to Machias Seal Island. My only complaint about the trip was that we did it on Thursday, not on Friday, the last day of the Young Birder Track – how were we going to top this! While we waited for the tide to recede – and hopefully reduce the swell near the pier enough for us to land – we made a foray a little farther offshore, which produced great looks at a couple of Sooty Shearwaters and numerous Wilson’s Storm Petrels. Amazingly, the water did calm down enough for us to land, allowing us the unique, special, and unforgettable opportunity to stand in a blind within a few feet of Atlantic Puffins, Common Murres, and Razorbills – not to mention being bombarded by Common and Arctic Terns on our way to and from the blinds!

On Friday, we ventured down to Popham and Reid State Parks. Luckily, the heaviest rain fell while we were in the van, except for a bit of a shower early on. Instead of the feared bird-less drenching, we had a fantastic outing! Beginning in the saltmarsh at Popham, we studied “crippling” views (which is rarely used when speaking about Ammodramus sparrows) of Nelson’s and Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows, and apparent hybrids thereof. We couldn’t ask for anything more – well, actually, we could of, and we did – as we did have a mild case of rarity fever after two very rare Terns (Gull-billed and Royal) were found at Popham the day before. But, today, very few birds were on the beach, or feeding off of Fort Popham, which was one of my very few disappointments of the week. Finishing at Reid State Park, we finally got good looks at a couple of Roseate Terns. And, the views of Piping Plover and Least Terns – our last targets of the day - were certainly hard to beat!

In addition to the great birding and great young birders of the Young Birder Track, I also enjoyed the opportunity to see many good friends, meet or become reacquainted with a number of birders from across the country with whom I have the utmost respect for, visit with optics and tour vendors, etc., etc. Some non-birding highlights for me was the sight of exhibitors from across the globe all converged on one tour company’s booth that was projecting a World Cup match, the opportunity to discuss birding – all aspects from identification to vagrancy phenomena’s – with many of the finest birders in the country, and spending time with friends, some of which I haven’t seen in years. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another 20-30 years for the ABA Convention to return!

And, don’t forget about the photo quiz!