Paris, Maine that is. International travel is on hold for the first few years of a new store, so in lieu of France, we visited Oxford County yesterday. The plan was to hike two short climbs, Streaked Mountain and Singepole. They were “lifer” hills, but it was also a stretch of road we had not explored, and I needed to break in new hiking boots anyway.

We began at Streaked Mountain. It’s ½ mile STRAIGHT up hill. The habitat was mixed woodlands on the way up, with patches of Red Spruce, and much exposed rock, on top. The scenery was rather impacted by the “tower farm” of communication towers and other structures on top. However, the summit was quite birdy, with a large flock of over 50 – including many juvenile – Dark-eyed Juncos. A smaller flock of about a dozen Black-capped Chickadees also contained a couple of juvenile Yellow-rumped Warblers, and 1-2 Red-eyed Vireos.

My knee complained the whole way down, so luckily Singepole was not as steep. It was 1.5 miles each way, passing through mixed woods that was more heavily deciduous than Streaked Mountain. The path was on a wider ATV trail, but the birding turned out to be very good. In fact, we tallied 9 species of warblers on this walk, including the family group of Common Yellowthroats near the trail head.

Each time we encountered some vociferous chickadees on our walk, a little spishing and patience turned up other species that were traveling with the group. This is typical of fall woodland birding: walk a ways, see a mixed flock, walk some more, hit another flock, etc. The first flock we encountered held single Black-and-white, Yellow-rumped, Canada, and Blackburnian Warblers, 2 Magnolia Warblers, a juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and a Red-eyed Vireo. The flock included a single Black-and-white, a Black-throated Blue, and a Red-breasted Nuthatch. At the summit, the chickadee flock was joined by 4 Black-and-whites, an American Redstart, and two juvenile Hermit Thrushes. Most suprisingly, however, was a fresh juvenile Blackpoll Warbler. Could it have bred here? It seems too low, and too far east, for this mountain-top species. However, there was some thick, stunted spruce, so the habitat – although limited – was present. It could also have been a migrant – although Blackpolls are typically one of the last warblers to move – or dispersing juvenile, but it looks like we’ll have to plan a June trip here to find out!

The view from the top of Singpole was much better, with the haze lifting, and the lack of communication towers, but I left my camera in the car. Oops. On the way down, a few juvenile Broad-winged Hawks were circling overhead.

We then continued on 117 (lifer road) into South Paris, where we discovered a wonderful little bakery – the Rising Sun Café and Bakery - with good sandwiches, salads, and really good baked treats. Just as important of a find as that Blackpoll Warbler! We then took 119 (through Hebron) – another life road – looking for intriguing patches of habitat. While we didn’t find anything too unique, we did at least find some roadside Milkweed once we were back in Auburn to feed our hungry Monarch caterpillars (which now number 40 – with some real small youngsters, along with 10 chrysalises (plus three residing at the store), and one Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillar. In fact, they’re going through 5 small stalks of milkweed a day now!