I decided to try my luck Monday morning at Fort Foster in Kittery. I had a feeling Sandy Point would be decent, but I try to hit Fort Foster once a month. I haven’t made it here yet this month, and Monday looked to be my last chance, so I gave it a go.

I might have been better off saving the gas and going to Sandy Point, as a report from there noted a good flight. Meanwhile, at Fort Foster, there were definitely some migrants around, but Monarch butterflies actually outnumbered birds! It was an impressive show, however, as hundreds of butterflies were covering wildflowers and swirling in the air, with many heading across the water to New Hampshire. This spectacle alone – one of the best Monarch concentrations that I have seen in Maine – made the trip worthwhile.

Leaving Fort Foster, the birding picked up a bit. 6 Rusty Blackbirds, a calling Carolina Wren, and an American Pipit were among the treats at Seapoint Beach, but today’s “One that got away” was a very small goose within a flock of 29 Canada Geese. Unfortunately, it was just too high and far to make out bill and head shape. Was this just a “Lesser” Canada Goose or did my state Cackling Goose just pass overhead?

While in Kittery, I also checked Fort McClary (a handful of raptors) and Legion Pond (2 adult and 2 immature Mute Swans continuing, plus 3 Wood Ducks). 6 Broad-winged Hawks were circling low over Kittery Village, and 8 Greater Yellowlegs were in the York Harbor marsh. The Cape Neddick neighborhood near Nubble Light was fairly productive, however, with a good number of White-throated Sparrows around, and a handful of other migrants. The “bird of the day” award goes to a Clay-colored Sparrow – always a treat to see in Maine – that I found feeding with a group of 6 Chipping Sparrows on a patch of lawn along Shelton Street. This was just up the road from where I found a Lark Sparrow a couple of years ago. I also watched a Northern Flicker flying in from the open ocean – so clearly at least one bird was pushed offshore overnight.

After lunch at the Jamaican Jerk Center (before they close for the season), I hit the always sparrow-y Beach Plum Farm (a smattering of the expected sparrows), Harbor Road in Wells (58 Greater Yellowlegs), and Community Park (very, very little) before heading back.

Meanwhile, Jeannette – late joined by Lionel – had a good hawk flight at the store, which included an excellent 33 Ospreys in an hour and a half. Lionel mentioned he had a good hawk flight on Bradbury Mountain earlier, so it seems that raptors were definitely on the move on Monday as well.

On Tuesday, the heat and humidity began to arrive as the winds turned to the southwest. With some work beginning on the house, Jeannette and I had to skip early morning birding, but spent the late morning on a short hike up Singepole Mountain in South Paris. A smattering of migrants were in the woods, with Dark-eyed Juncos being the most common bird of the stroll. But, a Moose near the summit certainly made the hike worthwhile. But, our avian highlight of the day was in the afternoon when 33 Wild Turkeys – a new record for our yard – came moseying through.

A steady southwest wind overnight Tuesday into Wednesday brought migration to a halt. While last night’s radar does show SOMETHING in the air, a check of the Velocity Image shows that this echo was moving WITH the winds – from the SW, heading NE, so these were not birds. The midnight images are shown as the example here.

Reflectivity:

Velocity:

Compare that to, for example, the distinct North to South migration of birds on Sunday night.

My morning visit to Hedgehog Mountain confirmed the dearth of migrants overnight, as things were very, very slow at dawn. I did have a Wood Thrush, however, the first I have seen here in about a month, so this bird was surely a migrant – whether or not it arrived last night is impossible to know, however,

The slow birding day continued as I spent a few hours guiding for a client from Massachusetts. Steve and I hit a few of the Portland migrants traps, looking at whatever happened to be around. Dragon Field and the Eastern Promenade produced little (the Semipalmated Sandpiper flock was still on the rocks, but now greatly reduced to 48 birds). But, as if often the case, good ol’ Capisic Pond Park delivered. A tardy Yellow Warbler and an uncommon Prairie Warbler were highlights, but the overall activity and quantity of the common birds was impressive.

But, things are about to change – we have some weathah’ on the way! The next few days may not be the most productive birding – but that will depend on the exact timing of the various fronts and wind shifts, so I’ll be keeping a close eye on things. But, what it does set up is 4 days of lousy migration conditions (including the SW winds of the past 2 nights) followed by a strong cold front to clear things out for the weekend. Even better, I’ll be on Monhegan Island with a group this weekend! (Which, by the way, I have 1-2 spaces left, just to throw that out there!)

So, with our increasing knowledge of how weather and geography affect migration - and our ability to see migration with radar - we still don't completely know HOW birds migrate. We've known for a long time that birds can sense the Earth's magnetic field. But, now, we think we know how they do it: they SEE it, according to a new study.