It was a glorious fall morning as I wandered around Biddeford Pool today. The air was crisp (actually very crisp to start), the sky was blue, and birds were about.

It was a typical mid-October morning, with good numbers of the expected late migrant passerines, lead by Yellow-rumped Warblers. Handfuls of Golden-crowned Kinglets, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and a few Brown Creepers were in the trees. Song and White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos were in the bushes. Offshore, Northern Gannets were on the move, and an increasing numbers of seaducks were around – today, that included about 30 Red-breasted Mergansers and a few small flocks of White-winged Scoters. On the offshore rocks, Great Cormorants are slowly replacing Double-crested Cormorants, who will head further south for the winter.

5 Red-necked Grebes fished off of Ocean Avenue, and a single Lapland Longspur – my first of the fall in Maine – was at East Point Sanctuary. Three Hermit Thrushes, an immature White-crowned Sparrow, and a Pine Warbler were seen in the neighborhood.

October is a fun month to bird. In fact, it is one of my favorites. Lingering neotropical migrants can make interesting juxtapositions with early wintering birds. A Red-eyed Vireo was foraging within a bush-full of White-throated Sparrows, for example, today. Meanwhile, at Biddeford Pool Beach, a late Laughing Gull was flying around over a group of Red-breasted Mergansers and Red-necked Grebes. And, as you know by now, I am a huge fan of sparrows – and October is the peak of movement of this large and diverse family.

My “best” bird of the day, however, was an October specialty – an Orange-crowned Warbler, a predominately Western warbler that comes through Maine in very small numbers at this time of year. I enjoyed one today, in the same clump of bushes as a lingering Nashville Warbler.

Mid-October also begins the fall “rarity season” (through early November), so you never know what you may find!