Yesterday, I began the day at dawn at Sandy Point Beach. Usually, we need northwest winds to produce a good flight, but given the fact that we’ve had three nights of southerly or easterly winds, I thought I’d see what had blown in on a light westerly Monday night.

The clearing skies were incentive enough for birds to move, and the light west wind pushed enough offshore of Casco Bay to produce a decent flight for Tuesday morning. I was pleasantly surprised by the volume of passerines, about 250 individuals. Most, however, were high overhead and not alighting in the shoreline trees, so my identification rate was much lower than usual – I only ID’d about one in very 5 birds. 36 Blackpoll Warblers led the way, with 2 Philadelphia Vireos (in the bushes) and one flyover Olive-sided Flycatcher (my first of the fall) being highlights. I was also surprised by an eastbound Wilson’s Snipe flying over the tress well after dawn.

Later in the morning, Jeannette and I took my Mom (visiting from NJ) out on the Odyssey Whale Watch out of Portland. It was a perfect day on the water – light winds, almost no swell, and very little chop. The thin, high clouds overhead also provided excellent visibility for spotting distant birds and whales.

Unfortunately, the bird- and mammal-watching wasn’t as stellar. It had been four days since Captain Dan had been able to head out (due to the coastal storm), and so he didn’t know where the whales would be. Since the storm does so much churning of the seas, fish, plankton, etc are not likely to be in the same place as they were a few days ago.

So, the captain went out in search of them – we logged over 50 miles roundtrip, with the farthest distance offshore being about 20 miles. Birding was slow, but there were the typical pockets of activity. We tallied 115 Common Terns, 34 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels, 12 Greater Shearwaters (including some tremendous views, such as the bird that was riding our wake just off the stern!) and 7 Northern Gannet. One Blackpoll Warbler passed by, despite being about 18 miles from shore at the time. This long-distance migrant didn’t even flinch at the thought of taking a rest on the boat.

The real highlight, however, was a crippling view of a juvenile Atlantic Puffin. I spotted it when we were about 18 miles out of Portland, looking like a small dark, blunt-faced lump up ahead. I mentioned it to the Captain, who immediately began to slow down. The problem with birding from a whale-watching boat, is that most of the clients could care less about birds, and the Captain isn’t about to take off after that possible jaeger. However, a Puffin would be a real crowd pleaser, so when I confirmed the ID, he grinded to a halt, and made a circle around the bird – providing great views for all on board. This was by far my best look ever at a fledged Atlantic Puffin; it was as close as about 50 feet at one time. It lazily paddled away, and we moved on – but everyone enjoyed the sighting, especially the Captain, who had not seen a Puffin before from this boat (they’re usually MUCH farther offshore). This was a very pleasant surprise, and made up for the fact that Jeannette still hasn’t seen a Cory’s Shearwater well enough to count! (She’s not “taking” the split second look at one in the fog on the way back from Monhegan last summer)

I also really enjoyed the Bluefin Tuna jumping out of the water after Skipjacks as well (which we saw on two occassions), and we finally did see some whales: two close Minkes on the way in.

Today also produced a pleasant surprise. After a walk at Hedgehog Mountain (where I enjoyed my first Tennessee Warbler of fall, among 8 species of warblers in the woods this morning) I headed over to the Mayall Road sod fields on the Gray/New Gloucester border.

The short-cut, dense grass of a sod farm make a nice replica of tundra, and especially when wet from recent rainfall, is a favored habitat of migrant “Grasspipers,” shorebirds that often prefer grass over shore. Having recently been purchased from the New England Turf Company, much of this field is being converted to corn or other crops. However, there is still a fair amount of sod left, and this hopefully is enough to attract a few sought-after species.

I tallied 34 Killdeer, the most common shorebird in this habitat, and one Least Sandpiper, but in the last field that I checked, I noticed two, warm, buffy shorebirds in the distance. I grabbed my scope, peered through the eyepiece, and finally saw my first Buff-breasted Sandpipers - two juveniles -" in Maine (state bird #301 for those keeping score at home). This bird was becoming a bit of a nemesis for me – I have chased one or two, missed a couple by as little as a half hour, and I have been checking places like Wainright Farm Rec Area in South Portland, and these sod fields, repeatedly in hopes of seeing this snazzy shorebird. It’s been a couple of years since I have seen this species, one of the most beautiful and elegant shorebirds in my opinion, so the pursuit of a Buffy was much more than just a tick on the ol’ state list, for sure.

Not a bad couple of days of birding, at all!

Oh, and my segment on the Western Reef-Heron with Amy Sinclair is now up on WGME’s webpage. The download links are at the top of the page. Enjoy.