Let it snow, let it snow, let is snow . . . Finally, a little winter around here – enough with these 60 degree temps!

Before the short-lived snowfall began, I was at Dyer Point at Cape Elizabeth, scanning the suprisingly calm ocean waters. It was supposed to be a quick check to see if any Harlequin Ducks were near the shore, but 45 minutes had blown by when the snow began to fall and visibility was reduced. Despite a very light – and variable wind – my brief bought of seawatching was very productive.

Since the visibility was so good, and the water so calm (with only a 1-3 foot swell, but no chop whatsoever), I just had to look around for a while to see if anything was moving. I thought I might spot a Razorbill – which I did, but 11 southbound Black Guillemots were a good count. 26 Common Eider, 20 Northern Gannets, 10 adult Black-legged Kittiwakes, 9 Harlequin Ducks, 7 Black Scoters, 3 Red-throated Loons, 2 Common Goldeneye, 1 Long-tailed Duck, 1 Common Loon, 1 Bonaparte’s Gull, and the aforementioned Razorbill and Guillemots were all tallied heading south. However, while quantity was low, quality was VERY good. In addition to those birds, I enjoyed a Pomarine Jaeger (an immature) – which I am always happy to see, but also a overdue, yet unexpected addition to my Maine list – a Dovekie!

This miniscule little alcid, measuring a mere 8 ¼ inches (only the Least Auklet of the North Pacific is smaller) spends most of its life on the open ocean, far from land. It’s a real treat to spot one of these little gnomes from land. They’re not rare at all, but they just stay very far out to sea for all but the breeding season. Therefore, this was a great sighting – at least from a rare-occurrence perspective. The sighting itself wasn’t exactly great - it was REALLY FAR out there, but the minute size, plump, football-like shape, and black-above, white-below pattern is unmistakably in the Atlantic. Flying south, it was coming slightly closer to shore before landing near a lobster trap buoy – which completely dwarfed it. It then dove, and I never saw it again.

With the snow falling, I pulled my eye out of the scope, and took a walk. First, at Two Lights State Park (very quiet, except for a few Golden-crowned Kinglets in the woods, three American Tree and Song Sparrows in the brush, and one drake Harlequin Duck among the Common Eiders offshore), and then Kettle Cove (a couple more Tree Sparrows), and then Crescent Beach State Park (well, at least my prediction of an increase this week in American Tree Sparrows has come to fruition!)

The snow was falling rather heavily, furnishing a decent coating – and looking quite festive, especially on the bright scarlet Winterberry. But, it did seem to keep bird activity to a minimum – I figured anything insectivorous or frugivorous would have been hunkered down. However, when the snow came to an end (too soon, if you ask me!), more sparrows were popping out of the bushes – more American Tree Sparrows, a handful of Song Sparrows, but also a late Savannah Sparrow. And, to top it off, a quick glimpse of a very late Brown Thrasher that darted across my path.