I spent the morning at Biddeford Pool today. I began at Hill's Beach, as the tide had just begun to roll on, and then went over to the Pool itself. Biddeford Pool Beach was next, but I missed primetime there. And, much to my surprise, no shorebirds were roosting along Ocean Avenue. In addition to a plethora of shorebirds, some of the other sightings of note today included an Arctic Tern on Hill's Beach, along with a number of recently-fledged Common Terns. One fresh juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron and one adult were at Great Pond, while numerous young Herring Gulls and Double-crested Cormorants were on the rocky islets off of East Point. A sure sign that post-breeding dispersal is indeed underway, four Great Blue Herons passed high overhead, heading north.

Since many of the shorebirds move from location to location in and around Biddeford Pool as the tides ebb and flow, I'll simply report the high counts, and their respective locations, for each species. The highlight were my first Sanderlings of the "fall," and a "Western" Willet # a soon-to-be-species-but-still-currently-subspecies that is rather rare here in Maine.

Black-bellied Plover: 10, The Pool.
Semipalmated Plover: 49, Hill's Beach.
Killdeer: 1, Hill's Beach.
Greater Yellowlegs: 8, The Pool.
Lesser Yellowlegs: 1, The Pool.
"Eastern" Willet: 156, The Pool.
"WESTERN" WILLET: 1+, The Pool.
Spotted Sandpiper: 2, Ocean Ave.
Whimbrel: 2 each at Hill's Beach and Biddeford Pool, but I do think these were different.
Sanderling: 17, Hill's Beach
Least Sandpiper: 2, The Pool.
Short-billed Dowitcher: 92, Hill's Beach.

My last stop was the muddy Westbrook Skating Rink pond, which hosted four Glossy Ibis, three Great Blue Herons, 1 Black-crowned Night-Heron, and four molting Wood Ducks.

Finally today, in the all-too-rare "Good News" department, Ontario has recently protected its boreal forest, with half (225,000 square kilometers) of the entire ecosystem restricted for "tourism and traditional aboriginal use," while the other half will fall under much-needed updated laws and regulations.

The ramifications of this monumental decision were nicely summarized in the blog of Jeff Wells, of the Boreal Songbird Initiative.