A warm front that produced some light rain Tuesday morning ushered in some warmer southerly winds, and set up a very pleasant day for our day off on Tuesday. Skies were clearing, and temps were rising (reaching 55 in Portland by the early afternoon) as Jeannette and I headed to Portland to catch a ride aboard the Casco Bay Ferry’s Mailboat run.

It’s really tough to beat this deal: 3 hours on the water for $13! Gorgeous scenery and good birding add to the bargain. The Bay wasn’t too busy with birds yesterday, but a Northern Gannet off the western shore of Long Island was definitely a surprise – inshore gannets are usually only seen during or after storm events. The “buteo sp” that we tallied was probably a Rough-legged Hawk, but it was perched just too far away to be sure.

Here’s the tally from the outing:

Location: Casco Bay via Mailboat Run
Observation date: 11/14/07
Notes: Casco Bay Ferry Mailboat Run: Portland-Little Diamond-Great
Diamond-Long Island-Chebeague-Cliff-Long-Little Diamond-Portland.
Increasing southerly wind, clearing skies, temps in low 50's. Most
landbirds from Cliff Island during 15-minute "layover."
Number of species: 35

Canada Goose 12
American Black Duck 6
Mallard 4
Common Eider 221
Surf Scoter 61
White-winged Scoter 2
Long-tailed Duck 64
Bufflehead 36
Hooded Merganser 1
Red-breasted Merganser 23
Common Loon 41
Red-necked Grebe 1
Northern Gannet 1
Double-crested Cormorant 4
Great Blue Heron 2
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Buteo sp. 1
American Kestrel 1
Bonaparte's Gull 7
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Great Black-backed Gull X
Black Guillemot 19
Rock Pigeon X
Downy Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 6
American Crow X
Horned Lark 6
Black-capped Chickadee 5
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Song Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco 5
Purple Finch 1
House Finch 3

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

My Wednesday morning visit to Hedgehog Mountain Park was extremely quiet this morning, with the 2 Purple Finches overhead and a total of 7 Dark-eyed Juncos being the only non-residents noted. However, the walk was punctuated by a great view of a Barred Owl – always great to see.

Meanwhile, in the news there’s the story of the man in Texas who’s on trial for killing a cat to protect Endangered Piping Plovers. The only thing less rational than some of the prosecution’s accusations is the brilliance displayed in some of the comments to the article (since it is impossible to read tone, that above comments was sarcastic). Personally, I am going to find out how to donate to his legal defense fund, if only because this guy will get shafted by ridiculous sensationalism and anthropomorphism. Too bad it’ll be tough for the jury to make a decision on whether or not a LAW was actually broken – which doesn’t seem to be the case. The only problem here is that it really IS NOT the cat’s fault. But, it’s not the Piping Plover’s fault either – and they have more of a “right” to exist on a beach in Texas than an abandoned feral cat living under a bridge.

Coincidentally, the cat vs. birds issue was also brought up in this week’s Grist online magazine. I do wish, however, that Umbra had also looked at it from a cat’s welfare perspective. As a loving pet owner, subjecting my animal to disease, cars, humans, other pets, etc is inconceivable. Did you know cats are a leading carrier of rabies? And more so than dogs? The American Bird Conservancy’s Cats Indoors! Program has been so successful because it shows how the issue is about the health and welfare of BOTH cats and birds. And they provide links to resources for FACTS (imagine that!) on the issue, not the courtroom rantings of some overpaid attorney or the mindless dribble of irrational comments to newspaper stories. (Uh, speaking of rantings . . .)