Last week, I spoke of the joys of birding in early June. One of the things that I mentioned were rarities. Well, in the past week, Maine has had some stellar discoveries: a Loggerhead Shrike, a Glossy x White-faced Ibis hybrid, the return of our Red-billed Tropicbird, and Acadian Flycatcher, and something few of us had expected to be adding to the state’s list anytime soon – a Kirtland’s Warbler! (Photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpersons/) Now that I am back in town, and (mostly) caught up on work, I need to get out there and find some of this festive stuff!

Meanwhile, since I have been busy catching up on work (and on Sunday, sleep), my birding has been a bit limited. However, on Monday, I spent the first couple of hours of the day conducting an extremely informal breeding bird survey of Hedgehog Mountain Park. By slowly walking the same route that I walked last year at about the same time, I tallied singing males of most of the migratory species. Resident species, like Black-capped Chickadees, are busy nesting already, so there’s not many singing. If this was a true breeding bird survey, it would be conducted repeatedly over a longer period of time to tally everything that’s around. Even early June is too late to tally migrants like Pine and Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Hermit Thrushes, all of which have become much more quiet now – and all of which are more common than indicated by the tallies below.

I made this same loop last year, and here I report my findings from both last year and this year.

Species: 6/6/07/ 6/9/08
Blackburnian Warbler: 1/1.
Black-and-white Warbler: 4/6.
Black-throated Blue Warbler: 2/5
Black-throated Green Warbler: 6/12
Blue-headed Vireo: 3/1
Canada Warbler: 1/1
Chestnut-sided Warbler: 2/2
Chipping Sparrow: 3/ 0 (but they were present today, however, none were singing)
Common Yellowthroat: 0/2
Eastern Bluebird: 1 pair nest building/1 pair with occupied nest box.
Eastern Kingbird: 1/0
Eastern Phoebe: 1/1
Eastern Towhee: 1/1
Eastern Wood-Pewee: 4/5
Field Sparrow: 1/1.
Great-crested Flycatcher: 0/1
Hermit Thrush: 3/2
House Wren: 1
Nashville Warbler: 2/4
Northern Parula: 1/2
Ovenbird: 19/26
Pine Warbler: 1/2
Purple Finch: 0/1
Red-eyed Vireo: 11/19
Red-winged Blackbird: 0/2
Scarlet Tanager: 1/4
Veery: 3/7
Winter Wren: 0 (but present last year)/2
White-throated Sparrow: 1/1
Wood Thrush: 2/4
Yellow-rumped Warbler: 2/1

Other species recorded:
2007: American Crow, American Goldfinch, American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Cliff Swallow, Common Raven, European Starling, Hairy Woodpecker, Mourning Dove, Song Sparrow, Tree Swallow, Tufted Titmouse.
2008: American Crow, American Goldfinch, American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Brown Creeper, Brown-headed Cowbird, Cedar Waxwing, Chipping Sparrow, Cliff Swallow, Common Grackle, Downy Woodpecker, European Starling, Mourning Dove, Pileated Woodpecker, Tree Swallow, Tufted Titmouse, Wild Turkey (with poults).

So, what can we conclude from this? Well, actually, not a whole lot, other than the fact that I had a busier day in 2008 than on my survey in 2007! I don’t think that many birds increased that much, but I do think – based on my regular visits to the park – that this year’s increases in Black-throated Blue Warbler, Red-winged Blackbirds (new habitat), and Wood Thrush are genuine – I have certainly been seeing more of these here than I have in previous seasons.

What is noteworthy, however, is that I had quite a few singing birds this morning. I was rather pleasantly surprised, as I have felt that the woods have been a bit “quieter” this year than last. Clearly – and happily – this very unscientific survey disputes that, at least on one particular day!

On Tuesday, Jeannette and I took a ride down to Robinson Woods in Cape Elizabeth in search of the previously reported Acadian Flycatcher. Well, we didn’t relocate it, but we did enjoy a long stroll through the property here, where we used to walk regularly when we lived in Portland. Then, we walked the Eastern Promenade. An out-of-season Merlin was the highlight, and we tallied 8 territorial Yellow Warblers.

Temperatures – and humidity – finally settled down a bit on Wednesday thanks to a cold front Tuesday night that produced some very strong thunderstorms. But, at least this front has temporarily ushered out the Bermuda High that has been funneling strong southwest winds – and unusual, near-record heat and humidity for the past few days. On the other hand, however, it’s not too late in the season for such weather situations to produce a rarity or two.

But, on Wednesday morning, I didn’t have a whole lot of time, as Jeannette was spending the morning conducting a shorebird survey in Scarborough Marsh. Therefore, I simply walked my 6-mile “neighborhood” loop in Pownal, where I counted all of the singing and/or territorial migrants that I encountered. The same methodology, or lack there of, and the same caveats as stated above apply here as well.
Bobolink: a lot!
Ovenbird: 28
Red-winged Blackbird: 18
Red-eyed Vireo: 17
Common Yellowthroat: 16
Song Sparrow: 16
American Robin: 14
Chipping Sparrow: 14
Black-throated Green Warbler: 9
Eastern Wood-Pewee: 7
Black-and-white Warbler: 7
Brown-headed Cowbird: 7
Chestnut-sided Warbler: 6
Purple Finch: 5
Veery: 4
Gray Catbird: 4
American Redstart: 4
Rose-breasted Grosbeak: 4
Alder Flycatcher: 3
Hermit Thrush: 3
Indigo Bunting: 3
Great-crested Flycatcher: 2
House Wren: 2
Eastern Bluebird: 2 pairs.
Nashville Warbler: 2
Yellow Warbler: 2
Magnolia Warbler: 2
Black-throated Blue Warbler: 2
Blackburnian Warbler: 2
Pine Warbler: 2
Scarlet Tanager: 2
White-throated Sparrow: 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird: 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler: 1
Prairie Warbler: 1
Baltimore Oriole: 1

But, all along this walk at this time of year, I think about finding something like a Blue-winged Warbler or a Clay-colored Sparrow on territory. There are chunks of habitat that seem perfect for each along this route, and elsewhere in the area. In fact, this morning, while running, Jeannette found a Blue-winged Warbler! The bird was singing from the back edge of a small field along Pownal Road, about 1/10th of a mile from the Freeport/Pownal line, between mailbox #414 and Engel Lane (private). Since I have not been to Biddeford’s Rotary Park yet this year, this was my first for the year, and a great bird to see on one’s way to work. Jeannette first heard the bird at about 8:30, and I had it in the same place between 9:15 and 9:30.

Oh, and there are still spaces remaining on my birdwalk this Sunday at the Libby Hill Forest in Gray. See www.yarmouthbirds.com/travels.asp for more info. Hope to see you there!