A week or so ago, I excitedly reported that I finally spotted my first Dovekie in Maine. Well, just like when I finally spotted my previous nemesis – Buff-breasted Sandpiper, when it rains, it pours!

Now, I’m seeing Dovekies everywhere. OK, not necessarily everywhere, but specific places along the coast that I am going to specifically to look for Dovekies. Apparently, something is happening in the Gulf of Maine that is producing exceptional numbers of Dovekies, and Razorbills, in nearshore waters. A week or so ago, when I came up with some winter predications, I mentioned that alcids can irrupt into nearshore waters due to an abundance of food inshore, or a dearth of food offshore. Dovekies eat things like krill and euphasids. Razorbills eat mostly small fish. So, either there’s a lot of that inshore, or none of it offshore. Water temperature, currents, climate change, overfishing, and other things can effect the distribution of alcids. Whatever is going on, it is producing lots of Razorbills and Dovekies nearshore.

Today, I spotted one Dovekie flying by East Point in Biddeford Pool, but I also tallied 45 Razorbills heading south (plus 12 unidentified “large alcids” that were likely Razorbills). A couple of Razorbills were on the water, rather close to shore.

Also today, while spending the morning birding Biddeford Pool, I enjoyed seeing a wheeling flock of about 300 Purple Sandpipers wheeling around, shuffling between rocks, off of Ocean Drive, and a very tardy Hermit Thrush in the neighborhood.

Yesterday, while participating in the Southern York County Christmas Bird Count, Luke, Lysle, and I enjoyed a spectacular alcid show. We covered the northernmost territory in the circle, from the ocean west to the Maine Turnpike, between Moody Point and downtown Ogunquit. We tallied a very respectable 55 species, including two Dovekies (one, a dawn fly-by off of Moody Point, and the other quite close to shore along the northern end of Marginal Way) and a total of 57 Razorbills on the day, mostly fly-bys off of Moody Point and Ogunquit Beach.

Other highlights for us included 2 Mute Swans, an excellent total of 4 Carolina Wrens, 3 Eastern Bluebirds, 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler, a very late Chipping Sparrow, and – along Ogunquit Beach – 2 tardy “Ipswich” Savannah Sparrows that posed in perfect light along a fence, only about 30-40 feet away. Of course, Luke and I both realized we had left our cameras in the car. Figures.

Here are the totals for the day’s effort:
Start: 6:27am
Finish: 1:03 pm

Temp: 42-49F
Mostly cloudy, light westerly wind
Miles by foot: 3
Miles by car: ~20

Canada Goose: 173
MUTE SWAN: 2 (Ogunquit River, Moody Beach)
American Black Duck: 48
Mallard: 16
Common Eider: 241
Harlequin Duck : 14
Long-tailed Duck: 115
Black Scoter: 9
Surf Scoter: 36
White-winged Scoter: 102
Common Goldeneye: 26
Bufflehead: 16
Red-breasted Merganser: 29
Hooded Merganser: 2
Red-throated Loon: 5
Common Loon: 21
Horned Grebe: 49
Red-necked Grebe: 55
Northern Gannet: 23
Cooper’s Hawk: 2
Red-tailed Hawk: 2
Purple Sandpiper: 5
Bonaparte’s Gull: 2
Ring-billed Gull: 34
Herring Gull: 173
Great Black-backed Gull: 5
Black-legged Kittiwake: 8
DOVEKIE: 2 (1 off Moody Point, flyby near dawn. One on water off northernmost end of Marginal Way)
RAZORBILL: 57 (mostly, but not all, flybys)
Rock Pigeon: 111
Mourning Dove: 77
Downy Woodpecker: 3
Horned Lark: 3
Blue Jay: 14
American Crow: 51
Black-capped Chickadee: 84
Tufted Titmouse: 8
Red-breasted Nuthatch: 1
White-breasted Nuthatch: 5
CAROLINA WREN: 4
Golden-crowned Kinglet: 2
EASTERN BLUEBIRD: 3 (Kimball’s Lane)
American Robin: 1
Northern Mockingbird: 10
Cedar Waxwing: 35
European Starling: 108
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER: 1
Northern Cardinal: 23
American Tree Sparrow: 46
“IPSWICH” SAVANNAH SPARROW: 2 (Moody/Ogunquit Beach)
White-throated Sparrow: 14
Song Sparrow: 20
Dark-eyed Junco: 59
American Goldfinch: 31
House Finch: 94
House Sparrow: 79