I’ll get right to the good stuff. This morning (Monday, May 12), I discovered a White-faced Ibis in Scarborough Marsh. The bird was foraging with 3 Glossy Ibis behind the Pelreco building off of Pine Point Road.

When I first found them – at 9:10am - they were only about 30 yards from the edge of the muddy parking area of Pelreco. Soon, they flew a short distance to the right, directly behind the building itself. You needed to walk about 10-15 feet into the marsh, then look to the right, in order to see them. The 4 birds slowly worked out into the marsh, before the White-face took off at 9:45. It flew to the far side of the Pelreco marsh, and landed in the phragmites, joining about a dozen Glossies. Although out of sight, the bird was still present in that area through at least 10:00. I returned at 10:45, and the bird was still not visible, but the occasional ibis head and/or back would poke out of the phrags in the same general area.

Despite a fairly stiff wind and resultant scope-shake, my digiscoping attempts were fairly successful.

This was a nice, spiffy adult. Some ibis can be fairly tough to identify, especially immatures. Not this one! The wide, white border around the face – the species’ namesake – surrounded bright pink facial skin and a deep red eye. The legs were pale fleshy-pink with bright pink “knees,” (technically its ankle). Also, the overall tone of the bird’s body appeared more bright overall and brighter chestnut than nearby Glossies.

Besides being a gorgeous bird, and a great rarity (although I am not sure how many have actually been recorded in the state, there has not been one in the past 6-7 years, at least), it was equally exciting since I “called my shot.” I left the house this morning, saying to Jeannette, “I’m off to Scarborough Marsh to find a White-faced Ibis.” Now, granted, I say this EVERY time I go to Scarborough Marsh at this season, but I had a good feeling this morning, considering the fact that there have been 1-2 in Eastern Massachusetts recently.

I began the day at the Eastern Road Trail, where the onshore winds have really piled water in the marsh for high tide, pushing birds – especially Savannah Sparrows and shorebirds – up to higher, drier edges. These conditions also provided me with a Virginia Rail right up against the roadbed. I also checked all of the usual spots, and accumulated a decent tally of shorebirds overall:
62 Least Sandpipers
~45 Black-bellied Plovers
36 Willets
23 Lesser Yellowlegs
18 Greater Yellowlegs
2 Solitary Sandpipers
1 Killdeer
1 Spotted Sandpiper

The Leasts and Willets were actually my first of the spring, since I haven’t been to the Marsh in a couple of weeks. The Black-bellied Plovers, however, along with a total of 3 American Pipits, were also my first of the year, but were much more recent arrivals to the area.

So, when I arrived at Pelreco, I saw Robby’s car. He found me in the woods, and I asked him “How many White-faced Ibis have you seen?” After catching up, he departed, and told me to call him if I found anything good. Literally 5 minutes later, I was reaching for my cell phone!

Robby eventually tracked down Gloria – her car was there, but she had disappeared into the woods! – and my friend ___ who had just snuck out of work also arrived, along with a few other birders, before the ibis disappeared into the reeds. A round of phone calls were made to get the word out.

Finishing up my outing, I checked out the recently-exposed mudflats at Pine Point, and was rewarded with 3 American Oystercatchers, another first of year for the day, 2 Bonaparte’s Gulls, and off of Pine Point Beach, my first 22 Common Terns of the season, fishing in the surf.

In addition to searching for White-faced Ibis and shorebirds, I decided to head to the marsh this morning because I expected little had migrated overnight. Winds were supposed to remain out of the northeast, but they actually went calm by dusk, and slowly picked up out of the east, then the northeast. Therefore, some birds were indeed on the move, according to the radar, with a lot of birds lifting off, but many fewer arriving in the area. By 4:00am, the winds were a little stronger, and I believe most birds had ceased their flight well before dawn this morning. Therefore, my guess is that there was in fact some new arrivals – like my American Pipits this morning – scattered about.

10:00pm radar:

1:00am:

4:00am:

Meanwhile, migration was in fact close to nil on Saturday night, thanks to winds out of the northeast, becoming northwest - just a little too much of a headwind. Since I wasn’t expecting many new arrivals, I decided to spend my morning checking out some new locations, and headed north for a loop through southern Androscoggin County.

I began at Lisbon’s Papermill Trail/Miller Park, a little patch that I am a big fan of – I think this would make a perfect Patch List location if I lived closer. It did not disappoint today, despite the slow migration the night before. 10 species of warblers were seen, led by 6 Ovenbirds and 5 Yellow Warblers. 5 Baltimore Orioles, 4 Warbling Vireos, and 4 Pine Siskins were also present.

My next stop, the Alexander-Harkins Preserve in Auburn was equally fruitful, also yielding 10 species of warblers (for a total of 12 on the morning), led by 6 Ovenbirds and 5 Nashville Warblers. My first visit to this park also produced my first House Wren and Veery of the spring, and I am curious to check back here to see what is breeding in the beech-maple forest and wet areas of this park.

I thought the nearby Barker Mill Trail, which I visited for the first time a couple of months ago, held potential. Whether or not it does indeed hold potential, today, it didn’t hold many birds! Even the Auburn Riverwalk – a very narrow band of green between the river and the downtown – held more birds, including a likely-migrant Black-and-white Warbler and a Least Flycatcher that entertained me as it struggled to subdue than devour a mouth much wider and longer than its head!

Then, I checked out the Oak Hill Cemetery off of Riverside Dr. Although it was now a bit breezy, and already later in the morning, a handful of warblers suggested this spot had some decent migrant potential with its east and southeast facing slopes. In fact, I wonder if the view is good enough to have fall-hawkwatching potential, as it overlooks the Androscoggin River valley?

But, despite my success with this morning’s birding, I finally gave in and headed up to Bradbury Mountain. See, yesterday afternoon, Dane had a Swallow-tailed Kite, the first ever for the park and our hawkwatch. Of course, the chances were slim for twitching a Swallow-tailed Kite, but hey, I did it last summer! I had noticed I was a bit distracted today – always keeping one eye, whether in the woods or driving! – on the sky, I gave in to my urges and headed up the hill, despite the northerly wind. Unfortunately, this northerly wind is not very conducive to a hawk flight, especially this late in the season, and when I left at 11:45, our tally was all of 4 raptors – and none of those were kites. But, my first Blackburnian Warbler of the season, at the summit, was a good consolation prize. And besides, that aforementioned White-faced Ibis was “good enough” to temporarily satiate my current bout of “Rarity Fever!”