After being away for a week, much of the past few days has been spent catching up. Therefore, my morning birding has been rather limited. Nonetheless, I managed so squeeze in at least an hour or three each morning. With increased activity with so many birds fledging, shorebird migration in full swing and the beginnings of passerine migration - along with post-breeding dispersal now underway, which is a great way for rarities to find their way here - August birding can be a lot of fun.

On Monday, with a few errands to run in the big city, I checked out Portland’s Dragon Field and the Eastern Promenade. There was quite a bit of activity at Dragon Field, including at least 15 Bobolinks, a Green Heron, and two busy pairs of Indigo Buntings. One pair already had two fledglings out of the nest, the second pair was collecting food, presumably for nestlings. Both males occasionally interrupted their foraging for a few moments of singing. Then, at the Eastern Promenade, a smattering of shorebirds included 11 Semipalmated Plovers, 5 Spotted Sandpipers, 3 Greater Yellowlegs, and 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers. Tree Swallows (40+) were on the move, heading south, overhead.

On Tuesday, Jeannette and I visited the New Gloucester Marsh, where we enjoyed 9 singing Alder Flycatchers and 2 Wood Ducks. We also scouted out the sod farms on Mayhall Rd, one of my favorite late August and early September shorebird locations (great for American Golden-Plover and the occasional Buff-breasted Sandpiper, for example). But, as I expected, there’s no longer a sod farm along Mayhall Rd – it’s all veggies this year. Well, one birding locale off the list, but hey, better than condos!

On Wednesday morning, a visit to Hedgehog Mountain Park yielded more “breeding confirmation” of the local residents, with more fledglings out and about. The same was true this morning at Bradbury Mountain State Park, where I also heard a calling Black-billed Cuckoo, my first for this location, I believe.