My family has been visiting this week, so my birding has been limited. On Sunday, on the way to the airport, I stopped by Back Cove. 14 Semipalmated and 2 Least Sandpipers, and 1 Semipalmated Plover worked the shoreline. And, for the 3rd time in 4 years, Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows are breeding (at least one pair) in the small remnant marsh here.

On Monday, I took a morning walk with Sasha to Hedgehog Mountain Park. There were quite a few Ovenbird fledglings around, and it appears that most of the Cliff Swallows have fledged, although I did hear a few nests still with chirping youngsters. A brief look at a large, long, and dark animal was probably my third-ever Fisher sighting, but it was just too quick of a look to confirm.

On Tuesday, Jeannette and I began the day by exploring some Freeport Conservation Trust properties. First up was Jackman Woods, at the end of Litchfield Rd. A short walk through mixed woods down to a grassy river edge was fairly productive today, including single singing Northern Parula, Magnolia Warbler, and Golden-crowned Kinglet. The next location was the Quarry Woods, off of Lower Mast Landing Road. This property features more of the mixed woods typical of the area, but also a couple of gullies dominated by Eastern Hemlock, and some wet swales and a stream. The trails connect to the Mast Landing School, providing a nice chunk of property that bears some further exploration.

The third and final property that we visited was the Powell Point Preserve, off of Lambert Road. This was definitely the highlight of the morning, and a place I will surely return to # and perhaps with a Saturday morning birdwalk in tow. Although this property was more of the typical mixed woods, the trees were quite a bit larger, and overall, the forest looked "better." There are lots of hemlock here # and therefore a lot of Black-throated Green Warblers as one would expect in such habitat, as well as one or two Blackburnian Warblers (there are no doubt many more here; we just heard one or two on this warm July late-morning. And, we finished off the stroll with an adult Broad-winged Hawk perched above our car.

We played tourists/tour guides the rest of the day with my family, including an outing aboard the Lucky Catch. While I have run a number of birding trips with this boat, I had never been out on their "regular" tour. And, since my Grandparents are big lobster fans, what better prelude to a lobster dinner than a little lobster fishing!?

My Grandfather having to work for his dinner.

I must say, this was really a great outing, and I was really impressed by the job Tom and Jen did to give people a (very) relaxed taste of what it is like to lobster fish # from filling bait bags to haul traps to measuring the catch. And, how much fresher lobster can one get than carrying it from the boat to the restaurant!? Oh, and Jeannette and I enjoyed some birds # a couple of adult Laughing Gulls, one subadult Bonaparte's Gull, and a handful of busy Common Terns, along with sunning Double-crested Cormorants, fuzzy Common Eider chicks, and an Osprey nest with two young on the verge of fledging.

On Wednesday morning, I took Sasha for a walk at Old Townhouse Park, but I was soon disheartened when I saw the fields had been mowed. Just this past Saturday, on our birdwalk, we enjoyed fields full of Bobolinks. Today, I had one pair in the far back field in marginal habitat. Unfortunately, as is seen all too often, the mowed fields were devoid of Bobolinks, the young killed outright by the machinery, died of exposure, or were quickly discovered by predators. Either way, there won't be much productivity from Bobolinks in this park again this year.

But, it wasn't all doom and gloom. The edges were full of birds, including many fledglings, such as Common Yellowthroats. Three Eastern Bluebird kids had recently left their nesting cavity, while an Alder Flycatcher was still singing.

The rest of my morning was spent giving the obligatory South Portland # Cape Elizabeth lighthouse and shoreline tour, but before I leave you today, I wanted to call to your attention to a little petition asking the Government of South Korea to not begin a massively devastating canal project.

This project will destroy habitat and effect hundreds of species, but the issue recently came to my attention due to the impacts it will have on the Spoon-billed Sandpiper. I recently had articles published in Winging-It, the newsletter of the American Birding Association, and in Bird Watcher's Digest, regarding this enigmatic, and highly endangered species. I then received an email, which included the following:

"The Republic of Korea's current president is pushing to implement what is commonly referred to as the "Grand Canal Project." To quote from the Birds Korea English website, "If completed as proposed, the Grand Canal project will link up all four of South Korea's major river systems (the Yeongsan, Geum, Nakdong and Han), and even link rivers in the North with those of the South," for the purpose of facilitating shipping of goods between Busan and Seoul. This feat cannot possibly be accomplished without sacrificing much of the country's ecology, and the ramifications for biodiversity, both regionally and nationally, are such that numerous bird, mammal, amphibian, fish, and plant species will be jeopardized, some as seriously as the Spoon-billed Sandpiper.

"I encourage (everyone) to visit Birds Korea's website for more information, and more importantly, to sign a petition that will be used to help dissuade governmental leaders from proceeding with the "canalization" project. The URL for the petition is

"Be sure to check out this fine website thoroughly, as it is extremely informative and replete with stunning photographs of Korea's avifauna -- including the Spoon-billed Sandpiper."