Yesterday, Ed and I birded the Wells area. We began at Laudholm Farm (Wells Reserve) as we walked over to Laudholm Beach. We were hoping for an unusual tern or two (this is a good time of year to find southern terns that wander north, likely failed and/or non-breeders), but that was not in the cards today. We did enjoy watching the very busy Least Tern colony here, however, with many males flying around presenting small fish to females. One Piping Plover stood guard by the shoreline, and 3 White-winged Scoters and 2 Surf Scoters were lingering offshore. The most unusual sighting, however, was a drake Wood Duck – nearly in eclipse plumage – riding the waves of the incoming tide.

Heading over to Drake’s Island we were disappointed to not see any Purple Martins (for the second year in a row). A colony of this rare and declining species (in Maine) had persisted here until very recently, when a new homeowner took down a Martin house. The birds have not taken to any of the other houses located in the neighborhood, unfortunately.

We then wandered around the marsh off of Harbor Road for a while, hoping to run into something like a Seaside Sparrow, but all we turned up was one fleeting glimpse of an unidentified sharp-tailed sparrow. The salt pannes along the road, however, held one Greater Yellowlegs, which was joined a little later by a flock of 5 Lesser Yellowlegs – my first migrants of “fall.” Yup, I said, “fall!” The first southbound migrant shorebirds – again most likely failed and/or non-breeders – are already on the move.

Then, today, I headed out with clients Jim and Sherry from Cambridge, Mass in the Boothbay area. It was a casual outing, with a general birding focus, rather than specific targets. Since we weren’t targeting specific species, we simply took walks at a handful of the wonderful Boothbay Region Land Trust properties. We covered a diversity of habitats, as we strolled Lobster Cove Meadow, Penny Lake Preserve, Porter Point Preserve, and the Zak Preserve – all great spots, and we thoroughly enjoyed the breeding birds that we encountered, along with an assortment of butterflies (I did my best to identify them!) and wildflowers.

We totaled 9 species of warblers (plus the Northern Parula that I heard while waiting for them outside of their inn), with Common Yellowthroats especially ubiquitous. Blackburnian Warblers were also more vocal than can be expected at this time of the year, but they were their usual difficult selves to get good views of! The sampling of various habitats provided a good mix of species - and combined with an absolutely gorgeous day – made for a successful excursion.