On Sunday, I guided for Lesley and Becky in Scarborough Marsh, conducting a private shorebird workshop. I had donated a ½ day of private guiding to the Merrymeeting Audubon fundraising auction, and Lesley was the winning bidder. Shorebirds were the subjects today, and as usual, the marsh did not disappoint.

In fact, we were able to study 14 species of shorebirds (although we did total 15 species on the day, as I flushed an American Woodcock behind Pelreco). Three Whimbrel were off of Pine Point, 15 Little Blue Herons were behind Pelreco, and large clouds of Tree Swallows were seen at various locations.

The highlight of the morning however, were the salt pannes off of the Eastern Rd Trail. To give you an idea of how cooperative the birds were – and how intensely we were studying each species – we spent over 2 hours traveling all of about 150 feet! As with any “workshop” style outing, the goal is to see similar species side-by-side. When the very first small panne produced Semipalmated, Least, Western, White-rumped Sandpipers, Pectoral, and Stilt Sandpipers, with Short-billed Dowitchers, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, all side-by-side, we knew this would be a productive outing. Two juvenile Western Sandpipers and two Stilt Sandpipers, one adult, and one juvenile, were the highlights from a rarity perspective, the fantastic views, close studies, and diversity of species, ages, and plumages provided for an excellent canvas for practicing our shorebirds identification skills. Of course, it wasn’t all work – we took plenty of time to enjoy the sights, such as battling peeps (one of the Westerns kept chasing everything that landed nearby) and the Peregrine Falcon that made a few passes overhead, just to cause a bit of ruckus. It was also interesting to see the changeover since just last Thursday. There were many more juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers, but many fewer White-rumps, Leasts, and Short-billed Dowitchers. I would expect that the northwest winds that are on their way will result in a big exodus of our current suite of shorebirds.

Juvenile Western Sandpipers:

Look at those scapulars!

This Short-billed Dowitcher clearly had a close encounter with something predatory.

Spiffy juvenile Stilt Sandpiper.

Lesser Yellowlegs and Stilt Sandpiper.

But, my favorite shot of the day was this Western Sandpiper taking flight as a Peregrine Falcon was making another pass overhead. "Action" shots are tough when digiscoping, so I was lucky to get this mostly in focus.

Today (Monday), Luke and I birded the Kittery area. It was shockingly unproductive! Only a large handful of Common Terns were feeding off of the Town Landing, very few migrant landbirds were detected at Fort Foster (despite a good flight with the calm winds overnight), but the beaches there and at nearby Seapoint Beach produced a decent amount of the common shorebirds. York Harbor hosted some more of the expected shorebirds, and a whirlwind visit to the Sanford Sewerage facility produced continuing excellent numbers of Least Sandpipers (289) and a good count of 465 Semipalmated Sandpipers. 15 White-rumped Sandpipers, 23 Lesser Yellowlegs, 10 Semipalmated Plovers, 3 Killdeer, and a single Pectoral Sandpiper were added to the mix.

Not that this is of any relevance to the previous rambling, here’s an interesting article about studying Cormorant vomit.

Also, check out the new BirdCapeMay website, especially the “National Birding Forecast” by Paul Lehman.