For our birdwalk on Saturday morning, I took the group to Portland’s Eastern Promenade to cover that thoroughly for the Greater Portland Christmas Bird Count. This was the first CBC that I joined in Maine, and I really regretted not being able to fully cover my territory this year. But, since the snow date turned out to be the Saturday before Christmas, there wasn’t much chance that I could escape! But, at least we got to “play” for a couple of hours. Totals for our outing are on our store’s website, as usual, and here’s some photos from the morning by Kirk Rogers.

On Sunday, I enjoyed the downright balmy (temps were rapidly climbing through the upper 30’s) morning at Reid State Park in Georgetown. Not only was it a great morning weather-wise – especially when the sun peaked out - it was an exceptional morning bird-wise.

As I walked down the road to Todd’s Head, I crossed the marsh, and was first treated to a large mixed flock of at least 40 Snow Buntings and 15 or so Horned Larks took flight. The reason: a Short-eared Owl was on the move, cruising low of the grass, looking for voles or unsuspecting buntings and larks. It’s always a treat to see any owl, and this was the first Short-ear that I have seen in at least two years in Maine.

At the edge of the parking area of Todd’s Head, a flock of 24 Bohemian Waxwings were roosting in a spruce, before making a trip down to gobble some Winterberry. Offshore, an adult and an immature Black-legged Kittiwake passed by, but it was a massive conglomeration of Red-necked Grebes on the water that was the headliner today. One big, strung-out raft of 176, plus 55 individuals and scattered small groups, for a grand total of 227 birds was by far the largest number of this species that I have seen in Maine, and probably the largest number that I have ever seen away from Whitefish Point in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It was really an impressive sight. Meanwhile, another 26 Snow Buntings left the beach and headed into the marsh.

Driving towards Yarmouth, I checked a handful of locations, including the New Meadows River at the New Meadows Ledges Inn, where one late hen Ring-necked Duck joined 3 Hooded Mergansers, a pair of Common Goldeneye, along with the usual attendant Mallards and American Black Ducks. And finally, I enjoyed 4 pairs of Common Mergansers in the Androscoggin River from the Rte 24 bridge between Brunswick and Topsham.

We remained on the warm side of a strong low pressure system that passed through Sunday night, producing steady rain which compressed the snow pack a bit. I was happy, however, to see that by this morning, our solar panels were finally seeing the sun again after being covered with snow for almost two weeks!

While the morning was spent packing the car, etc, as we prepared to head to Jeannette’s sister’s place in Vermont for Christmas, I’ve enjoyed some excellent birding right out the store’s window (yup, we’re open today. Closing at 3, and then driving 4 ½ hours to northern Vermont!). A flock of about 30 Common Redpolls has been coming and going, joining a group of up to 8 American Goldfinches. Meanwhile, an American Tree Sparrow, our first in almost a month, showed up this morning, joining two Song Sparrows which arrived two days ago, and a White-throated Sparrow that has been here for a couple of weeks. The diversity of sparrows under our feeders here is considerably greater this winter than seasons past. This is due to two reasons: 1) the amount of snowfall already has inundated natural food sources, and 2) our continued efforts to thicken up the cover in and around our garden.

So, as I mentioned, we are heading to Vermont for Christmas. We’ll no doubt do some birding, and probably add a few winter irruptives to my pitiful Vermont state list. However, I’ve got to be honest – I wish we were heading to Jeannette’s folks’ place in Gloucester, MA this year. But, we won’t tell them it’s because a Slaty-backed Gull was found in Gloucester Harbor yesterday!

Merry Christmas everyone!