How is it that I feel that I have been “playing catch-up” all summer long? Not just with the blog, but with life in general. It has been a busy couple of months for us indeed. Well, you know what they say about idle minds! Anyway, here’s some more catching-up from the past four days.

On Saturday, our store’s regular birdwalk hit Portland’s Dragon Field. As always, a summary of our Saturday morning outings are on our website, www.yarmouthbirds.com. However, the excitement for me – that is worth mentioning again – was finally tallying my 149th Dragon Field Bird, a single juvenile Lesser Yellowlegs foraging in a the large puddle/small pond at the base of the quarry. This is just the type of luck needed when patch listing.

On Sunday, we offered a bonus free birdwalk as part of our store’s Third Anniversary Celebration. With a light showing, and no “repeat customers,” we decided to head back to Dragon Field to pursue more of the excellent views of Indigo Buntings that we had on Saturday. While we did see more Buntings, we didn’t see them as well, but we did get a good look at an adult male Bay-breasted Warbler. This was a particularly intriguing sighting, as Bay-breasted Warblers do not normally migrate this early, and breeds no closer than the western mountains. And, this bird had not yet molted – but looked like it was just starting to. Bay-breasted and most other warblers molt BEFORE migrating. So, just what was this bird doing in Portland on August 12th? Well, it is possible that it had oversummered locally, but more likely, this individual has staged a short-distance “molt-migration,” where it moved a (relatively) short distance to find a good food source in order to fuel its molt (the growth of a complete set of new feathers is very energy-intensive).

Then, on Monday, Jeannette and I headed south to attend a trade show in Massachusetts. On the way down, we took a stroll around the Kennebunk Plains. Although we were at least a week too early for the full glory of the blooming Northern Blazing Star, there was still a showy display. Birding wasn’t great, as typical of this time of year, but I’m sure we would have seen more if we had spent less time bent over munching on blueberries!

We did, however, see most of the Plains denizens, including Grasshopper and Vesper Sparrows, Prairie Warblers, Eastern Meadowlarks, Bobolinks, and multiple family groups of Field Sparrows. The Upland Sandpipers stole the show, however, with at the very least 11 being seen. At one time, we had 7 in the air in one group, 3 in another, and one calling from the grass. However, we had multiple other observations of birds in flight, from singles to six together that may or may not have been the same birds. Regardless of the actually count, the constant activity was impressive for this often-secretive species. Small groups would take flight, calling, circle around a few times, and then drop back into the grass. The only explanation for this is the term “zugunruhe,” or “migration restlessness.” In other words, the Uppies are getting ready to get out of here.

After staying in Nashua, NH for the night (after seeing a concert in Bedford – yup a trade show, a concert, and a night in a Motel 6 is what passes for a vacation these days!), we visited Woodman State Forest for our morning’s outing (which, thanks to the concert, was not that early). The birding was slow, as expected at this season, but Sasha found plenty of mud to splash in, so all was well.

Then, taking Route 4 across, for a change of scenery, we made an afternoon visit to the Sanford Sewerage facility (yup, trade show, concert, Motel 6, sewage ponds – now THAT’S a vacation!). The overall numbers of shorebirds were a bit lower than when Marshall and I visited on Friday, and although the swallow numbers were also down a bit, the show was still impressive. Today, Jeannette and I tallied the following:
~700 Tree Swallows (much lower than Friday, but still excellent)
~300 Least Sandpipers (lower than Friday, but still very good)
~100 Semipalmated Sandpipers
~100 Bank Swallows
61 Lesser Yellowlegs
16 Spotted Sandpipers
15 White-rumped Sandpipers (a good count)
9 Semipalmated Plovers
9 Killdeer
3 Great Blue Herons
3 Solitary Sandpipers
3 Barn Swallows
2 Green Herons
2 Pectoral Sandpipers
2 Cliff Swallows
1 Wood Duck
1 juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron
1 Merlin, than snagged a swallow overhead.

Also, I’ve been meaning to update folks on our Monarch Butterfly crop in our Pownal yard this year. Fewer caterpillars and more milkweed plants have resulted in an easier time on our “Monarch Ranch.” So far, no visits to overgrown fields for supplemental milkweed! As of today, the count was 16 chrysalises, 4+ caterpillars, and 2 “hatched” chrysalis. Still, a productive season for our little milkweed patch!

OK, finally caught up . . . for now . . .