It’s not too often I get a chance at a “Life Bird” within 40 minutes of home, so I was rather excited when I received an email last night that a Black-throated Gray Warbler was discovered by a young birder in Cape Elizabeth. Charlie found the bird on Saturday, but confirmed its identity and photographed it on Sunday. He sent the pictures to Luke. Luke posted to the listserves, and at 6:15 this morning, I was on my way to Cape Elizabeth!

I arrived at Pond Cove at 7:05 and immediately heard an unfamiliar call note. Within seconds, I had located the Black-throated Gray Warbler sallying for flies that were emerging in the sun from the warmth of the rotting seaweed lining the beach. This bird, who breeds in the West and Southwest U.S. should of been well on it's way to Mexico by now, but for some reason - whether "faulty wiring" or storm winds or something else, it found its way all the way here to Maine to brighten our Halloween! (Maybe it was just a Yellow-rumped Warbler in costume!!!!! The call is similiar!!!!)

I snapped a few photos, enjoyed a “moment” with the bird, then grabbed my cell phone and started dialing. Lysle arrived about a half hour later and we spent the next hour or so photographing and enjoying this wayward western warbler as it foraged in the bushes and in the wrack along the shoreline. It will be tough to forget the sight of Lysle crawling on his hands and knees with his tripod and camera through the wretched rotting wrack - the maggots were crawling on his legs, and he had a swarm of flies around him that was reminiscent of Pig Pen's dust cloud from the Peanuts!

The “B-T Gray” was soon joined by a late Blackpoll Warbler, a interesting juxtaposition of East and West! What a beautiful little fella (I believe it is an immature male), as Mark later said, “How is something that is only gray, black, and white so beautiful?”

After a brief walk with the dog in Robinson Woods across the street (which yielded a lingering Common Yellowthroat and a Red-bellied Woodpecker), I enjoyed the B-T Gray – along with a visit with Julie, Gloria, and Rich who had all arrived by now - for a little longer before heading out to do some more birding.

Eric and I headed up to Bremen this morning to visit our old friend, and one-time employer in Alaska, Sean who is about to head home after spending the summer working on developing the Puffin Project Visitor Center in Rockland (opening next year I believe). I haven’t seen Sean since July 4th, and Eric hasn’t seen him in years, so this was a perfect excuse to get together and do some birding on this amazingly beautiful (about time!) day!

We began our birding day at Weskeag Marsh in Thomaston. This is a site that I have not visited before (I have no excuse for that) so I was keen on taking a look. It was quite active today, with 150+ shorebirds, the most non-Sanderlings that I have seen in a while! Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs were the most abundant, 25+ Pectoral Sandpipers were present, three White-rumped Sandpipers were seen, and we also found 5 Long-billed Dowitchers (at least 4 have been reported lingering here recently) – a most uncommon bird in Maine, and actually the first that I have seen this fall. About 30 Snow Buntings flew over, and a Red-tailed Hawk regularly stirred up the shorebirds and ducks in the marsh. At least 30 Green-winged Teal were joined by 5-6 Northern Shovelers, and 3 Blue-winged Teal. What a great spot – I will be back here again sooner than later!

We then worked our way along the shoreline, scoping the shoreline, spishing in choice fields, and checking harbors for gulls. While we weren’t seeing much – it’s a bit too early for seaducks and “good” gulls, it was such an amazing morning to be outside! And, this really was more of a social event than a hard-core birding event anyway.

A stop at Owl’s Head State Park produced more Common Loons and Black Guillemots offshore, and the gulls attending a distant lobster boat included a young Glaucous Gull, my first of the season. Despite the warm temperatures, the birds were telling us winter is in fact on the way. (Nooooooooooo!)

I hate to even bring this up, but I thought I should mention something at some point about “The Bird Flu,” more specifically known as Avian Influenza H5N1. The reason I have been hesitant about mentioning it is that once again the American Media has done a wonderful job of disseminating misinformation, causing undue panic, and flaming hysteria about the next disease that will wipe out humanity - and many of us are already sick of hearing about it. (Weren’t we all supposed to be dead from SARS and West Nile Virus by now anyway?)

Don’t get me wrong, H5N1 is real. It has killed around 70 people in the past three years (Insert comment about how many people die each day from lighting strikes, car accidents, and just plain stupidity). Yes, the threat of a pandemic is real – but one, it is only a threat, and two, it happens to be a rather low threat. There are a lot of “ifs” involved in the discussion. But, from too many television and print “news” report, the real facts are – as always – lost among the hype and hysteria.

But, I’ll leave the threat to humans for the medical professionals, which I am most
definitely not. But, how does it affect birds? And do we have to be worried about feeding birds and going out birdwatching?

Simple answer – no. At this time there is no threat to North American birds, those who feed them, or those who watch them. And, there is very little chance that it will become a threat. When bird flu has been found in wild birds, it has been found in waterfowl. It can be transmitted from waterfowl to domestic poultry. It may be transmitted from poultry to humans. However, it is not known to occur in “perching birds”, such as our songbirds from warblers to sparrows to finches. There has never been a case of transmission between wild birds and humans.

I strongly urge you to do a little more reading on the subject to learn the FACTS about Avian Influenza. The media in this country has once again done a terrible job of presenting the facts and has done little to accomplish anything other than sensationalize the issue.

The best resource that I have found on the issue is from the USGS National Wildlife Health Center. See especially the answers to questions 4 and 5. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the American Bird Conservancy have issued a statement on the topics, and you can check the World Health Organization’s website to learn more.

I simply refuse to believe that more, and better, rarities don’t occur in Cape Elizabeth! The geography is there, and the habitat is still there! The Crescent Beach State Park- Kettle Cove – Two Lights State Park area just looks prime for something really, really good. And I’m not going to stop looking for it!

So today, I did my usual loop through the area. Parking at Kettle Cove, I walked the trails through the brush to Two Lights Road. A loop through park, and then back along the roads to Crescent Beach State Park. First the woods, then the beach, then back to the car and eventually to work! As I have complained about before, I have done this trek many times, and have very little of note to show for it. One day though – watch out – the phones will be ringing off the hook and birders will be flocking to the area (pun intended). Uh, not today though. However, it was quite birdy around this morning. It seems that a lot of sparrows moved on the clear skies and light northwest winds overnight. Although I did not find the “Mega” rarity I was looking for today, there was enough birdlife about to give me hope – that if I stubbornly continue to walk this circuit regularly I will EVENTUALLY be rewarded.

There were LOTS of sparrows around today. Small flocks of Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows; groups of Song and Swamp Sparrows; 6 total White-crowned Sparrows, a few Savannah Sparrows, and 32 total Chipping Sparrows (getting late for this many of these guys). There were small flocks of Yellow-rumped Warblers flitting through the trees, a total of 4 Pine Siskins called overhead.

The lonely Brant continues at Kettle Cove, and a Carolina Wren greeted me with a brief bout of singing along the entrance road to Two Lights State Park. Six lingering Gray Catbirds were in the bushes there, and 4 Harlequin Ducks (3 drake and one hen) were in the surf offshore. A couple of Snow Buntings called in flight. One Red-winged Blackbird was in a field on Two Lights Road, and multiple small flocks of American Robins were encountered. Over at Crescent Beach State Park there were two Common Yellowthroats, a “Western” Palm Warbler, a late Blue-headed Vireo, and an Eastern Bluebird passing overhead. One Black-bellied and three Semipalmated Plovers were all that was left on the beach.

Well, no “Mega” today, but it was a extremely pleasant, crisp fall morning to be out – and it gives me encouragement to continue to work this area.

I was really hoping for something other than rain and tropical-storm force winds for our day off. But, alas, it was another wet and miserable Tuesday. But, as I often preach, bad weather often equals good birding.

I started the day from my usual spot during strong onshore winds: under the porch at the Lobster Shack at Dyer Point in Cape Elizabeth. The winds were howling, the rain was blowing sideways, but birds were on the move. In 3 hours, I tallied 1,449 Northern Gannets, a number of ducks – including the first Harlequin Duck of the season, 2 Pomarine Jaegers, and the first Iceland Gull of the season. The oddest sight, however, had to be a Wilson’s Snipe flying high offshore, trying to head north into the wind for some unknown reason. Complete totals are listed below.

With all of the ducks on the move this time of year, strong storms will often “ground” them on inland lakes and rivers. Monday evening, I took Luke to see Ruddy Ducks (successful) and chase reported Redheads (unsuccessful)that were seen over the weekend. While the 200+ Ruddies were impressive, we were most impressed by the diversity of “sea ducks” on the lake, including one small flock of each Black and White-winged Scoters, along with a Red-throated Loon, and two Horned Grebes. Over 200 Scaup, both Lesser and Greater were also present.

Checking some ponds in Scarborough yesterday, after seawatching, produced more duckage – including Ruddies in Grondin and Prout’s Pond, and Common Goldeneyes and Buffleheads at Massacre Pond in Scarborough Beach State Park. Now is a great time to check any and all inland bodies of water, from big lakes to small flooded fields. I can’t remember the last report I heard from Sebago Lake – and I can only salivate over the potential rarities that have landed there!

Cape Elizabeth Seawatching, 10/25.
-Start: 8:05. Winds northeast 23, gusts to 26. Rain. Poor-moderate visibility. Seas 6-8ft.
-End: 11:05. Winds northeast 32, gusts to 41. Drizzle. Moderate visibility. Seas 8-10ft and growing!

American Black Duck: 8
Green-winged Teal: 2
Greater Scaup: 8
Common Eider: 137
HARLEQUIN DUCK: 1 drake.
Surf Scoter: 181
White-winged Scoter: 22
Black Scoter: 137
Unidentified dark-winged Scoter: 6
Unidentified Scoter: 20
Long-tailed Duck: 29
Bufflehead: 2
Red-breasted Merganser: 60
Unidentified duck: 3
Red-throated Loon: 26
Common Loon: 21
Unidentified Loon: 5 (one possible Pacific, but the look was just too brief, and at a lousy angle).
Red-necked Grebe: 1
Northern Gannet: 1449 -steady close-in flight continued when I left. About 40-50% adults
Double-crested Cormorant: 25
Great Cormorant: 3
Unidentified Cormorant: 1
WILSON'S SNIPE: 1 -very odd sight of one flying high offshore fighting the winds, slowly but surely heading north.
POMARINE JAEGER: 1 adult, one subadult. Adult was quite close.
Laughing Gull: 27
Bonaparte's Gull: 36
Ring-billed, Herring, and Great Black-backed Gulls.
ICELAND GULL: 1, 1st cycle.
BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE: 11 adults, one juvenile.
RAZORBILL: 1
Snow Bunting: 4 on lawn in front of Lobster Shack.

An “irruption” of birds is when a larger-than-normal number of a species moves a longer-distance-than-normal in pursuit of food. In Maine, we see “irruptions” of northerly species that push south in large numbers in some winters. These irruptions are not due (directly) to weather, but due to a failure of food sources in their typical range. Therefore, when these birds exhaust their local food supply, they head elsewhere in search of sustenance.

If the berry and fruit crop is poor to our north, we may see large numbers of Bohemian Waxwings. If the vole population is low, we may see larger numbers of Northern Shrikes and Rough-legged Hawks. Bad year for lemmings = good year for us to see Snowy Owls. Last year, we saw an irruption of Red-bellied Woodpeckers that arrived from the south, possibly due in part to a low acorn crop in the Mid-Atlantic States.

“Winter Finches” are well known irruptive migrants. While Purple Finches and Pine Siskins do breed locally in most of Maine, large numbers occur in winter when seed crops (such as birch and hemlock) are poor. Common Redpolls irrupt on a near-biannual cycle, so this should be an “on” year for them – although last year northern Maine saw many more than is typical for an “off” year, so we’ll see if the pattern returns to schedule. Evening Grosbeaks, Pine Grosbeaks, and both Red Crossbills and White-winged Crossbills can also occur in larger numbers when specific seed crops to our north are poor. The same scenario goes for the Red-breasted Nuthatch.

Earlier this fall larger-than-normal numbers of Purple Finches and Red-breasted Nuthatches were being seen, and many folks are still seeing them in regular numbers. Observers as far south as New Jersey and Virginia were commenting on the unusual quantity of “Red-nuts” over a month ago, and now good numbers of Purple Finches are arriving in places like Cape May. So, it seems that something has caused Purple Finches and Red-breasted Nuthatches to irrupt this year. A seed crop failure? An extremely successful breeding season? Both? Something else? Who knows?

Lately, more Pine Siskins have been arriving in the area, so we’ll see if they follow this pattern as well. Common Redpolls are still a month or two off, if they show up at all, and it’s been quite some time since there has been an irruption of Evening Grosbeaks. So, get those feeders - especially the Nyger feeders - filled and ready to go. It could be an exciting winter at the feeding station!

So, is anyone else seeing large numbers of these species around Maine, or elsewhere? I’d love to hear from you! Let us know if you’re seeing Purple Finches, Pine Siskins, Red-breasted Nuthatches, crossbills, or Evening Grosbeaks in and around your yard. If so, do you usually have them at this time of year? Are you seeing larger than normal numbers now? You can use the “Post a Comment” field below this blog entry (and every other blog entry) to share your notes and comments. If I get a number of responses, I will try and synthesize them in an upcoming entry to try and decipher any patterns. I look forward to hearing from you!

Strong onshore winds? You know where to find me – seawatching from the porch of the Lobster Shack at Dyer Point in Cape Elizabeth! Highlights for the day included hundreds of Northern Gannets – many (especially before the winds changed) quite close to shore. One distant Jaeger was just a little too far for me to be completely certain that it was in fact a Pomarine. Two Black-legged Kittiwakes, one adult and one in the snazzy juvenal plumage, were nice to see but the highlight was probably the Wood Duck that flew by offshore – not sure I have ever seen one over salt water before!

Start: 7:45: Rain. Winds NE 20, gusting to 31. Seas 6-8ft. Poor visibility.
(Switching to north at about 8:45)
End: 10:45: Light rain. Winds N 26, gusting to 31. Seas 10+ feet. Moderate visibility.

WOOD DUCK: 1
American Black Duck: 21
Mallard: 3
Green-winged Teal: 1
Common Eider: 129
Surf Scoter: 27
White-winged Scoter: 59
Black Scoter: 57
Unidentified “dark-winged” scoter: 11
Unidentified Scoter: 13
Long-tailed Duck: 52
Bufflehead: 1
Red-breasted Merganser: 19
Unidentified ducks: 20
Red-throated Loon: 12
Common Loon: 26
Red-necked Grebe: 1
Northern Gannet: 326
Double-crested Cormorant: 244
Great Cormorant: 11
Unidentified Cormorant: 50
Unidentified Jaeger: 1 (probable Pomarine)
Laughing Gull: 7
Bonaparte’s Gull: 6
Ring-billed, Herring, and Great Black-backed Gulls
BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE: 1 adult, 1 juvenile.
Black Guillemot: 1

Rich showed up just as I was heading out, so we decided to spend an hour poking around some other Cape Elizabeth spots. A lone Brant, our first of the fall, was grazing at Kettle Cove. Brief visits to Alewife Brook Farm, Great Pond, and Spurwink Marsh produced little, but at our last stop at Maxwell’s Farm was quite productive. There, amongst a flock of Savannah Sparrows in the field, we located one Dickcissel.

I almost skipped out of work today to join some friends in a chase of an exceptionally rare Black-tailed Gull that has been hanging out on Lake Champlain in Vermont. I was tempted – I am a big fan of gulls, and this is one I have not seen (despite some effort – I remember one many-mile death march on the beaches of the Jersey Shore one winter day in particular). But, 8-10 hours in a car, for only an hour or two of birding was just a little much for me, so I reluctantly declined.

I did want a change of scenery this morning, and on this beautiful crisp fall morning, with a light coating of frost on the ground, I decided to go look for some ducks. I headed north to Sabattus Pond, in the town of Sabattus, just east of Lewiston. Sabattus is a dependable spot for a variety of ducks, especially Ruddy Ducks at this time of year.

I began at Martin Point Park, but little was visible from there in the fog and heat shimmer, except for two gorgeous drake Hooded Mergansers and a Bufflehead. About 20 Common Grackles were at a feeder in the neighborhood as I began a clockwise drive around the pond.

So, while I was expecting to see some Ruddies this morning, I wasn’t expecting to see 341 of them! Most of them were in two huge “rafts” that were near the shore, visible from Sawyer Road on the pond’s west side. A few Bufflehead and some Ring-necked Ducks (my favorite duck, by the way) were mixed in as well. What a site!

Completing the loop around the pond, I spotted two American Coots in the southeast corner. The total duck count for the morning was:
American Black Duck: 3
Mallard: 27
Ring-necked Duck: 13
Bufflehead: 5
Hooded Merganser: 2
Ruddy Duck: 341
Unidentified Ducks: 60 - in one distant raft, my guess is that they were a mix of Ring-necked and even more Ruddies.

I then stopped for a short walk at the Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary in Lewiston, simply because I hadn’t been there before. It was expectedly – at this time of year – quiet, but I did enjoy spending a few minutes watching a Winter Wren – and again, it was such a beautiful morning to be out!

Driving towards Yarmouth I checked the Androscoggin River for ducks and nearby farm fields for geese (not much of either). I stopped by Bell Farms in Durham to ask if they had seen a Sandhill Crane yet this year (one spent most of early winter there last year). They had not, but thanks to the delayed onset of frost and freezing temperatures, the fields were still producing corn - which I just had to purchase some of (not getting local corn again for a while!) and so they had yet to be plowed.

And let's keep our fingers crossed for the critically endangered Cozumel Thrasher (and other island endemics, not to mention the people of Cozumel and the Yucatan) that is about to face Hurricane Wilma today.

As the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, I thought I’d take a moment today to offer some fall birdfeeding tips for your backyard:

1) Thoroughly clean feeders, and your feeding area, in preparation for the winter activity.

2) If you don’t offer suet in the summer (it is fine to offer suet in the summer, especially reduced melting varieties, but many people do see less action on it in the warmer months) now’s the time to put it back out. Suet, in various forms, is a favorite of woodpeckers, nuthatches, titmice, and chickadees. You can also try suet blocks with other ingredients – such as real fruit and dried insects – to add more nutrition or to try to attract an atypical feeder visitor.

3) If you haven’t been feeding a mix that contains White Proso Millet, now is a great time to start. Most of our native ground feeders, such as Song and White-throated Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Mourning Doves prefer this over just about anything else and can be enticed to remain by including this inexpensive seed in your offerings. Some people prefer a blend that included millet, or White Millet can be purchased on it’s own and scattered on the ground or a tray feeder. (Make sure that it is in fact millet however – millet sometimes gets a bad rap because people mistakenly refer to another small round seed, Milo, as millet. Milo, the commercial name for sorghum, is a cheap filler whose low fat and protein offers little in nutritional value to our feeder birds. Pigeons and blackbirds like it, as do mice and other rodents, but more often than not the stuff either rots or grows below your feeder!)

4)Add fat and protein providing peanuts. Split peanuts, or a woodpecker mix that contains mostly split peanuts, can be offered in a tray or specially-designed mesh peanut feeder. This is especially popular with woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, and Blue Jays.

5)Take part in Cornell’s Project Feederwatch and submit your sightings to Ebird.

And remember, food is just one part of the mix. Shelter and water are also critically important in the winter. Dense plantings and Roosting Boxes can provide good cover, but even a loose pile of branches and brush will do wonders in attracting birds. Brush piles are the simplest and least expensive way of providing the dense tangles that many species, such as Cardinals and Sparrows like to see in the vicinity of a feeding station.

As we know, there isn’t much open water in Maine in winter, so offering heated bird baths are a great way to attract even more birds to your yard. Today’s heated birdbaths are energy and cost effective, require minimal maintenance, and come in a variety of styles. I am always impressed by the activity at the heated birdbaths that we provide here at the store and in our home yard.

Jeannette and I spent most of our day yesterday birding along the Southern York County Coast. But first, at dawn, we began the day at Sandy Point Beach on Cousin's Island in Yarmouth. With a light west wind and partly cloudy skies overnight, migrants were again on the move. And, as we approach late October, we get into Rarity Season.

There wasn't a whole lot of activity at Sandy Point, with handfuls of Yellow-rumped Warblers, American Robins, and Purple Finches passing overhead. More Dark-eyed Juncos had arrived overnight, while many White-throated Sparrows that were there the day before seemed to depart. A Red-bellied Woodpecker that has been hanging around the area was heard in the distance.

We then headed down the 'Pike to Fort Foster in Kittery. Fort Foster is one of my absolute favorite places in Maine to bird. The habitat and geography combine to make this area a magnet for rarities. I'd bird this park every day if I lived closer! Who knows what would be discovered with regular coverage? Personally, I have seen some fun things like Worm-eating Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and mid-winter Virginia Rails.

No rarities yesterday, but the park was quite birdy. 9 Eastern Phoebes, 2 Field Sparrows, both "Yellow" and one "Western" Palm Warbler, a late Blackpoll Warbler, a Winter Wren, a Blue-headed Vireo, and an "Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow were highlights along with good numbers of the expected late-season migrants.

Nearby Seapoint Beach was surprisingly devoid of shorebirds, but the thicket at the end there produced two more Yellow-billed Cuckoos. I have seen more Yellow-billed Cuckoos in the past 3-4 weeks than I have seen in Maine in the previous 3+ years! As we began to walk back to the car, a feeding frenzy developed offshore, led by 200+ Double-crested Cormorants. 25 Red-breasted Mergansers, a dozen Common Loons, and at least 75 Bonaparte's Gulls, along with hundreds of Herring and Ring-billed Gulls joined the festivities. It was quite a site as birds filled most of the cove and gulls covered the beach! Our first Horned Grebe of the season loafed offshore.

Our next stop was The Nubble Light in Cape Neddick. The neighborhood around there is also one of my favorite places to look for vagrants. Here I have found such treats as a December Pine Warbler and a Lark Sparrow. Again, Jeannette and I were vagrant-less today, but we did have a late, large flock of at least 50 Brown-headed Cowbirds. An Eastern Towhee and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, along with scattered small flocks of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Song Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, and Dark-eyed Juncos were all detected.

Well we might not have had the First State Record we had hoped for - but any day of birding is a good day of birding - especially when it's not raining!

I spent a few hours today slogging around Scarborough Marsh with some birding friends and Amy Sinclair (and Don behind the camera) from Channel 13 news. Peter Vickery is working on “The Birds of Maine” book, and we organized a search team to try and dig up some data on Yellow Rails.

Yellow Rails are elusive swamp dwellers that breed in boreal bogs. Some may breed in north-central Maine, but many breed in the St. Lawrence River Valley. Migrants pass through Maine in small, but likely regular, numbers. A hundred plus years ago, rail hunters regularly shot them in our coastal salt marshes. However, there has not been a verified sighting of one during fall migration in the southcoast in about 30 years. Are they just not being detected? There’s few rail hunters left, and there’s few birders spending the time wading through rising tides looking for them. They are small, camouflaged, and secretive, so finding a migrant Yellow Rail is no easy task.

Thanks to a full moon, high tides are substantially higher than normal. Plus, with all the rain that we had, more water is traveling down the rivers and filling up marsh pools. So, with more marsh underwater, there is less dry land for a Yellow Rail to seek cover in. This would then give us a slightly smaller haystack to search for our needle in.

Yesterday, a number of small teams hit various marshes, and today we decided to more thoroughly search a couple of promising areas. Peter, Don, Denny, Ed, and Sasha (my dog) and I began the day searching the marsh around Jones Creek, behind the Clambake Restaurant. Then, we thoroughly combed the edge of Eastern Road and the marsh to the northeast of the road. We splashed around the edges of the marsh, waded through pools of water (more than once I had water flow in over the top of my boots – a lot of good those did today!), and jumped across channels. Sasha didn’t know why she was out in the marsh, but she was having the time of her life (Rails tend to fly from dogs, but slink away from humans, so we thought Sasha – despite not having any training as a bird dog – could only help our cause). She did add Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow to her life list, and she found a couple of voles, and a Peregrine-killed Green-winged Teal carcass that I had to stop her from snacking on.

But, despite all of our (especially Sasha’s) best efforts we finished the day rail-less. Well, there is value to “negative data,” and we certainly did have a pleasant day of birding. A number of raptors were overhead, including a Northern Harrier or two, a Bald Eagle, a Merlin, and a number of Sharp-shinned Hawks. About 8-10 Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrows were flushed out of the marsh here and there, 2 “Ipswich” Savannah Sparrows were along Eastern Road, and the first two Snow Buntings any of us have seen this fall were also along the road. (Oh goodness – SNOW BUNTINGS. Winter can’t be too far off!). Certainly a highlight was an American Bittern that flew from the edge of Eastern Road, also pushed up by the very high tide. Basically, we were just loking for an excuse to go play in the water!

So, keep an eye out for Amy Sinclair’s piece on today’s birding adventure on WGME Channel 13 News at 6 sometime in the next week or two. I’ll let you know if I get a heads up as to when it will be in. Lucky for us, none of us fell face first into any salt pannes!

Earlier in the day, starting at Sandy Point on Cousin’s Island in Yarmouth, at dawn, a fair number of birds were moving overhead, mostly American Robins and Yellow-rumped Warblers. A lingering Common Yellowthroat, a handful of “Yellow” Palm Warblers, at least 3 Black-throated Blue Warblers, and a late Black-throated Green Warbler, 3 or more Blue-headed Vireos joined a number of Dark-eyed Juncos, and a plethora of White-throated Sparrows. With a mostly rain-free night last night, birds were really on the move! There were also at least 1000 Double-crested Cormorants were in a feeding frenzy offshore, with at least 50 Bonaparte’s Gulls attending. Then, at Pine Point in Scarborough, I found two late Brown-headed Cowbirds hanging out with a flock of House Sparrows, and there was a small group of shorebirds roosting on the jetty as the tide came in: 30 Black-bellied Plovers, 3 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 5 White-rumped Sandpipers, and 31 Dunlin.

Today I led a trip for Merrymeeting Bay Audubon with a goal of seeing 15 ½ species of sparrows as we traveled between Yarmouth and Scarborough. Well, at least it wasn’t raining, but the strong winds were tough. 9 brave souls joined me to fight the gusts as we covered a significant amount of ground, visited a number of “Secret Spots”, and amassed a total of 64 ½ species of birds.

We met here at the store at 7:00am, as our first site was weather dependent. We saw a Song Sparrow at the feeders for out first sparrow of the day, and 4 lingering Common Grackles were the only ones we saw today.

Our first stop was Twin Brook Recreation Area in Cumberland. We soon added Savannah, White-throated, Swamp, and a single White-crowned Sparrow (Sparrow numbers two through 5). We also had “one that got away” as a very blank-faced sparrow peeking out of the corn stalks may have been a sought-after Grasshopper Sparrow – but I guess we will never know! Two Pine Siskins flew over, a late Red-winged Blackbird and a Blue-headed Vireo were present, and raptors (2+ Sharp-shinned Hawks, a Red-tailed Hawk, and an American Kestrel) put on a good show. About 12 Wood Ducks and a Great Blue Heron in the flooded creek were nice to see as well.

Dragon Field in Portland, having been mowed recently, produced little, but we did have a tardy House Wren, Northern Parula, and another Blue-headed Vireo. The wind-swept Eastern Promenade was dead, but an offshore feeding frenzy of 150-200 Double-crested Cormorants attracted 4 Bonaparte’s Gulls for a good study. (And no new “Prom birds” for me.)

My stomach was demanding attention by now, and my suggestion of hot soup seemed to go over well, so we stopped for lunch at O’Naturals in downtown Portland. The Butternut Squash Apple soup – my favorite there - was certainly one of the highlights for many on this blustery day of birding!

So, anyone see any hummingbirds lately?

Probably not, but if you have, by now it's a good chance it is NOT a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. October and early November are prime time for rare hummingbird vagrants, such as:

Rufous Hummingbird (6-8 records for Maine)
Calliope Hummingbird (1 record for Maine - just last week!)
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Allen's Hummingbird
Green Violet-Ear (has occurred as close as New Jersey)

Rufous Hummingbird is by far the most likely, and I am not convinced that only 6-8 have ever occurred in Maine. I'm sure that that number only reflects how many records birders have adequately documented and submitted. Many more likely pass by undetected or undocumented.

So, keep your feeders cleaned, nurse those slavia a little longer, and keep your eyes open (and have our store's phone number handy if you see one!) Just this week, Rufous-type hummingbirds were found in Epsom, New Hampshire and Byfield, Massachusetts. They're out there!

Hey, tell you what - $20 Gift Certificate to our store for the first person who finds a rare hummingbird - and I get to see it! (Hint: leave your phone number at your local garden center and ask them to keep an eye out in their plantings and greenhouses!)

“I have a bird question for you. In the past week, I have been seeing flocks of cardinals . . . The first time, I pulled my car over on a street near my house and tried to count them (really close up!) and I think there were about 12-15. Today I saw at least 7-9 in my friends’ yards near a small stream, that is not far from the other sighting. There were males and females.

So my questions are-
How many are in a brood? Are they youngsters that have banned together looking for mates and a new house? Were they all juveniles-they didn't look huge, but it wasn't obvious that they were youngsters. And is this unusual? I have never seen this before. Blue Jay's- yes sure, but never this many cardinals together. I thought they were extremely territorial.
Cheers!
Nancy”

Good question Nancy. First, I’ll answer the easy ones: 1) Northern Cardinals lay 1-5 (usually three) eggs in a clutch. 2) They would not be juveniles looking for mates or a breeding territory, as these are both springtime activities. Plus, cardinals do not nest communally, so the flock would split up if breeding was on their minds. 3) They may or may not be juveniles – and there is no way to tell from size: as with most birds, juveniles are essentially the same size as adults by the time they fledge. 4) Is this unusual? Not really, but it’s not seen around these parts that often.

So, what WAS going on here? Nancy, you are correct that Northern Cardinals are extremely territorial – but not necessarily so outside the breeding season. During the breeding season, if you’re another cardinal – or a reflection of a cardinal in the window – WATCH OUT! However, when reproduction is not on a cardinal’s mind, then it’s all about food. Cardinals will form flocks at abundant food sources. Flocks even as high as 60-70 birds have been recorded in the southeastern U.S. If there’s enough food for everyone, then there’s little reason to fight over it. Safety in numbers than becomes a greater benefit than fighting to maintain control of a winter territory. Therefore, birds of various ages and sexes will form small foraging flocks in the fall, and they may be maintained straight through the winter.

Here in Maine, we are approaching the northern limits of the range of the Northern Cardinal so we have fewer Cardinals. We do have more and more every year however – only a few decades ago, Cardinals would of made the Rare Bird Alert in Maine. If we had more Cardinals, we would see cardinal flocks more often. If you lived in the Carolinas, for example, you would see flocks of Cardinals all the time in the winter.

Here’s some more info on cardinals:
1) Cornell’s “All About Birds” Website.
2) More biology stuff from the Animal Diversity Web.
3) Some technical reading on cardinal flock behavior.

With the onshore wind continuing, I again began my day seawatching from the Lobster Shack at Dyer Point in Cape Elizabeth. Two Black-legged Kittiwakes were a highlight, as was a flock of 12 American Wigeon, and my first Lesser Scaup and Long-tailed Ducks of the year. Complete totals are below.

After a couple of hours there, I headed to Dragon Field in Portland. This is the old capped landfill near the corners of Ocean Avenue and Presumpscot Streets near the Falmouth border, behind what is now the Quarry Run Dogpark. This had been one of my favorite places to bird in October while I lived in Portland. The weedy edges and overgrown field are prime sparrow habitat, and a great place to find other mid-October treats such as Orange-crowned Warblers and Dickcissels. The woods can harbor lingering warblers, raptors are frequent (including a resident pair of Red-tailed Hawks that breed in the old quarry), and – as always – you never know what surprises a morning’s birding can hold.

Unfortunately I do not get there as often as I like now that we don’t live in Portland. Plus, ever since they built the dog park there, there are a bit too many dogs loose in the field for even this dog-lover’s tastes. Furthermore, this year the field was mowed, so there are many fewer sparrows to be seen.

But, I haven’t checked it in a while, and I needed to scout it for my upcoming Sparrows of Greater Portland trip for Merrymeeting Audubon this Sunday. There weren’t too many sparrows around – just some Song and White-throats at the edges, and some Savannahs up top, but I did have a couple of treats in my quick check this morning. A late Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo – new for my Dragon Field List – and a Orange-crowned Warbler, an October favorite of mine.

It’s been an interesting fall for Yellow-billed Cuckoos. They reach the northern limits of their breeding range in Central Maine, but they are widely scattered – few and far between – north of southern York and Oxford Counties (Brownfield Bog is one of the best places in the state to see one of these secretive birds). This fall however, we have seen an impressive autumn influx, with many birders reporting far more than usual throughout the southcoast this fall. I have seen 5 or 6, some of which were in places that I have never seen one before. With many sightings of this species also being reported from the Canadian Maritimes (north of their usual range), we can hypothesize that these birds are riding the persistent southerly winds into the northeast. Reverse migration? Misorientation? Random wanderings? Storm-blown youngsters? Who knows – but they are nice to see!

This morning’s seawatch totals:

I really like October birding. Days are cooler. Lots and lots of sparrows. Raptors are moving through. Seabirds are on the move. Ducks are arriving. Any birding outing can produce a late lingering migrant or an early winter arrival. And October (especially late in the month) is a great time for finding vagrants.

October birding can be bittersweet however. Days are shorter. Fewer and fewer warblers, except for Yellow-rumps, everyday. Fewer shorebirds. And, in another week or two we will see our first American Tree Sparrows. Don’t get me wrong, I really like American Tree Sparrows, but once they show up – we know it is the end. They are the last of the regularly occurring common yard birds to arrive from their arctic breeding grounds. There arrival signals the end of fall migration and the all-too-soon onset of winter. (Actually, migration occurs almost all year long, and there are other birds to arrive later – such as Redpolls – but the bulk of fall migration has passed by the time the Tree Sparrows get here.)

One of the things that I enjoy about October birding are the interesting juxtapositions on a day’s list. A late warbler and an early winter raptor, or a late lingering oriole and a redpoll at the same place at the same time, for example. Yesterday, Jeannette and I birded the Biddeford Pool area with Marshall before he had to head back to the airport.

We began at East Point Sanctuary where a bit of seawatching produced hundreds of Double-crested Cormorants (with an ever-increasing number of Great Cormorants mixed in) and flocks of all three Scoters. A Razorbill flew by, our first of the season. Then, while birding the woods, we encountered a few mixed flocks of birds that contained a few non-Yellow-rumped Warblers, including a Northern Parula, a couple of Blackpoll Warblers and a late Blackburnian Warbler.

The neighborhood, Biddeford Pool Beach, and Hill’s Beach produced little, but we had some very good birding in the marsh behind Hattie’s Deli. In addition to a fair number of shorebirds still hanging around (including at least 35 Black-bellied Plover), we had a great look at a Northern Harrier hunting just over the grass. But, two of the “best” birds of the day were two species you do not normally see at the same time in Maine. Not long after a late Tree Swallow flew overhead, three large sparrow-shaped birds began their descent into the marsh grass. They called a couple of times – identifying themselves for us – but they eventually got low enough for visual confirmation: 3 Lapland Longspurs recently arrived from their (very) High Arctic breeding grounds.

So the day list included a late Blackburnian Warbler and an early Razorbill, a late Tree Swallow, and three early Lapland Longspurs – that’s the odd mix of species that makes October birding so interesting!

One thing that this weather is great for is seawatching! I spent another enjoyable morning at Dyer Point today. I’m always amazed by how different seabird flights can be from one day to the next. Yesterday, I had hundreds of scoters, today just over 200. Only a trickle of cormorants yesterday - over a thousand today. True seabirds however, were again scarce with only two very distant shearwaters seen. (Totals below)

My next stop was a visit with the Sandhill Crane that has been hanging out for about 2 weeks now at Maxwell’s Farm in Cape Elizabeth. While enjoying and photographing the crane, 14 Horned Larks flew over, and I tallied 29 Killdeer in the fields nearby.

Maxwell’s Farm have been great hosts to this magnificent bird, allowing folks to walk the dirt road through their farm (between Spurwink and Sawyer Roads) to look for the bird that has been reliably seen most days as the bird forages in the plowed fields and loafs with Canada Geese (I recommend thanking them with a quick stop at their farm stand for some great fresh produce). Interestingly, a couple pairs of Sandhill Cranes have recently been found breeding in Central Maine, but there is no way to know if the Maxwell Farm bird is one of those, or simply a bird from farther west that has wandered a bit off course.

Here is the totals from this morning’s Seawatch from the Lobster Shack at Dyer Point:
Start: 7:45. Wind NNE 11, Cloudy, excellent visibility.
End: 9:45. Wind NNE 14, cloudy, excellent visibility.

Common Loon: 26
GREATER SHEARWATER: 1
SOOTY SHEARWATER: 1
Northern Gannet: 100's heading north, south, and feeding offshore -some incredibly close.
Double-crested Cormorant: 1006
Great Cormorant: 16
Unidentified Cormorant: 50
American Black Duck: 5
Northern Shoveler: 1
Green-winged Teal: 2
Common Eider: 109 (southbound, other heading north or on water)
Surf Scoter: 29
White-winged Scoter: 50
Black Scoter: 11
Unidentified “dark-winged” Scoter: 4
Unidentified Scoter: 157
Red-breasted Merganser: 6
Unidentified Duck: 6
Unidentified "Peep": 1
Laughing Gull: 24
Ring-billed, Herring, and Great Black-backed Gulls
Black Guillemot: 2

Four friends of mine from Joisey were in town this weekend for the Maine Audubon Pelagic trip that was cancelled (tough to argue with that call based on the weekend’s weather). My friends needed their seabird fix, so this morning David, Ben, Blake, Inga and I headed to the Lobster Shack at Dyer Point in Cape Elizabeth for a bit of land-based seawatching.

The rain was tapering off, and the fog was being held at bay, so visibility was not too bad at all for most of the time – not good, but hey, we could see birds. Plus, we were under a porch – not in the pouring rain. And, there were a decent amount of birds passing by. There were lots of close-up Northern Gannets, and numerous flocks of Scoters – especially White-wings using the tail wind to head south. David spotted one Jaeger but his lousy directions (just kidding buddy!) did not allow the rest of us to get on the bird.

Here’s the totals for the morning:
Start: 7:30am. NE 24, heavy rain, fog, poor visibility.
End: 10:00am. NE 18, drizzle, light fog, moderate visibility.

Common Loon: 13
Northern Gannet: 100+
Double-crested Cormorant: 17
Great Cormorant: 2
Canada Goose: 37
American Black Duck: 18
Mallard: 2
Northern Pintail: 1
Green-winged Teal: 1
Common Eider: 5 (heading south, dozens more on water)
Surf Scoter: 121
White-winged Scoter: 302
Black Scoter: 67
Unidentified dark-winged Scoter: 45
Unidentified Scoter: 40
Unidentified duck: 19
UNIDENTIFIED JAEGER: 1
Laughing Gull: 5
Bonaparte’s Gull: 3
Ring-billed, Herring, and Great Black-backed Gulls
Black Guillemot: 3

Well, it wasn’t exactly how I had planned the weekend. After so many beautiful weekends in a row we had to expect one like this. But why this weekend?

Today (Saturday) was a big event for us many Maine, and non-Maine, birders. It was the annual Maine Audubon Pelagic birding trip out of Bar Harbor. This all-day trip travels to deep water and upwelling areas out towards the offshore Mount Desert Rock in search of true seabirds – things like Northern Fulmar, jaegers, shearwaters, alcids, kittiwakes, and maybe even a Skua. I was going to be one of the “spotters” of the trip – assistant tour leaders stationed around the boat searching the horizon and helping participants see whatever happens to be flying by.

Last year, (my first year on the trip), was a great success, with a highlight being a fantastic close-up view of a young Long-tailed Jaeger, one of my favorite birds. What would this year bring? Great Skua? South Polar Skua?

Well, as you might of expected if you looked out the window on Saturday, the trip was cancelled. It was certainly no day to be out on the water – and it’s not like there would have been any visibility if we had gone out. Yes, Thursday afternoon, the trip was called off due to the very ugly forecast, which has essentially come to fruition.

So, needless to say, this was a major disappointed. HOWEVER, since I was planning to take a couple of days off anyway, I now had the flexibility for a last-minute run out to Monhegan Island. No, not for muskrat (or whatever it is) trapping, but for a bird smaller than the size of my thumb.

Well, the mystery seems to have finally been solved (but maybe not completely beyond a reasonable doubt) and my hopes of having found a new species of mammal (not that I ever REALLY thought that could be the case) have been dashed.

First, I was able to contact the two authors of the field guide Mammals of North America, Roland W Kays and Don E. Wilson (by far the best field guide that has been produced on North American mammals to date). I figured if they couldn’t identify it, no one can. Well, they each identified it – but came up with two different answers! One said Muskrat, one said Rat (determining the actual species of rat would be more difficult).

The only real sticking point that I see as a strike against muskrat is my observation of a furry tail. However, I could have been mistaken, or as my friend Don mentioned – Muskrats do have some hair on their tails, but it is usually only evident when they are dry. I can’t say I have ever seen a dry (live) muskrat before! Did a trick of the light make the scattered hairs look denser than they actually were?

Speaking of Don, I have been waiting for his return from a trip to weigh in on the subject. Don is the most knowledgeable outdoorsman I know – from birds to bugs to furry goblins. I knew Don would be able to help solve this mystery. And, he did not dissapoint!

He too thought Muskrat, but mentioned a rat as being a possibility based on the photographs. However, what seems to seal the deal of this being “just” a muskrat or a rat at least is his recollection of a rodent trapping project being done on Monhegan in the mid-90s as part of the Maine Lymes Disease Project. Don called one of his old colleagues from his time serving on the state’s Lymes disease task force to find out what they had captured on Monhegan. As it turns out, the only rodents they caught were Muskrats and Norway Rats, with muskrats being abundant and predominant. While it is certainly possible that another mammal has made it’s way out there (especially as stow-aways; that’s how the rats got there) in the past 10 years or so, this would be rather unlikely, and certainly hedges the bet towards Muskrat or Rat. Furthermore, Don, a former trapper, mentioned that he has regularly seen Muskrat “kits” even into early November, so the size is not surprising.

So, my Unidentified Furry Goblin was probably a muskrat – with a rat of some flavor being an outside chance now it seems. Not a Rodent of Unusual Size (although it was certainly not in it’s preferred Fire Swamp habitat anyway) from The Princess Bride or anything else new to science. But, it was a great learning experience, as I spent a lot more time researching mammal identification and learning about muskrats, in particular, than I ever have so it was certainly not a lost cause by any means.

But, I think I will stick to birds . . .

It’s been a bit foggy out there, hasn’t it? Jeannette and I had hoped to spend much of our Tuesdays in October hawkwatching, but the weather hasn’t been too cooperative. Fog and continued southerly winds put a damper (pun intended) on our latest hopes for a day of hawkwatching up on Cadillac Mountain.

Instead, we spent the foggy morning hours birding Popham Beach State Park in Phippsburg. (The afternoon was spent in the yard using a roto-tiller to tear up lawn in order to seed for a meadow of native wildflowers). Since dogs are allowed on the beach after October 1st, we were able to combine “family” (read: dog) time with a bit of birding.

The fog also eliminated any potential seawatching, but the woods were rather busy. At least 150+ Yellow-rumped Warblers were around the area, with most at the edges of the parking lot. There were a smattering of other species mixed in, including a couple of Magnolia Warblers, a Pine Warbler, and a Blackpoll Warbler or two. There were quite a few of both flavors of Kinglets in the woods, and there were lots of Dark-eyed Juncos were around – a sign that winter is not as far off as many of us would like!

A few shorebirds were still on the beaches however, with over 70 Sanderling being joined by 23 Semipalmated Plovers, a few Greater Yellowlegs and Semipalmated Sandpipers, and a single Black-bellied Plover. A Dickcissel was calling as it flew overhead of the parking lot, seemingly in circles, but never materializing out of the fog. A little later, while walking down the beach, a Northern Harrier did materialize out of the pea soup, passing low overhead as it kept an eye on the scattering flock of Sanderlings – an exciting sight.

Today, I hit my new local patch – Hedgehog Mountain Park in Freeport. The fog reduced visibility considerably, and it probably reduced overnight migration as well. However, there were plenty of Yellow-rumped Warblers around – ‘tis the season – and I did happen upon a very good bird for my ‘Hog List – a Yellow-billed Cuckoo: a bird that is seemingly being found a little more often than usual in the area this fall.

Just a quick backyard tip: if you haven’t done so already now is a good time to clean out your birdhouses. Many species, such as Chickadees and Nuthatches will roost in a birdhouse on cold winter nights. Cleaning the house of this year’s nest contents will eliminate the filth and parasites that build up over the course of the breeding season and make the house more attractive as a winter shelter. A whiskbroom or a gloved hand is all that is necessary – there’s no need to do anything more than sweeping out the box’s contents. If you own a convertible birdhouse – a house that doubles as a nesting box and a winter roost by switching the position of the entrance hole - now is a good time to make the conversion to winter mode. Convertible boxes really hedge the bet of keeping a birdhouse occupied year-round by conserving as much heat as possible in the cold winter months. Feel free to drop by the store to learn more; we carry a great convertible house that has been very popular with our local avifauna.

Granted, with the warm temperatures (over 10 degrees above normal) of the last few days, it hardly seems like time to think about winter shelters! But, we really can’t complain, can we? It’ll be snowing before we know it!

Meanwhile, I know I have been enjoying being outdoors on these past few warm October mornings - although the weather really has been a bit too nice for great birding! Today, I finished up my Tour De Portland, picking up where I left off at the end of yesterday’s York County Audubon field trip. Another quick visit to the west end of Commercial Street with a friend visiting from California who had some free time before he met his tour group produced little other than good conversation. My next stop was Capisic Pond Park. The amount of bird activity in this little overgrown city park always surprises me – lots of the common species but sometimes a surprise or two – like today’s Orange-crowned Warbler (sorry Kathy, I know it was your request for YESTERDAY’S outing). My final stop was at Evergreen Cemetery, where a few pockets of activity near the ponds and in the woods held a handful of birds, such as single Swainson’s Thrush, lingering Scarlet Tanager and Baltimore Orioles, a few Blue-headed Vireos, a handful of Red-eyed Vireos, and ever-increasing numbers of White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos.

This morning I led a field trip for York County Audubon. The goal of this “Migrants of Portland” trip was to explore some of the migrant traps in the urbanized Portland area to search for such things as lingering warblers, migrant sparrows, and well – everything else.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, with clear skies and temperatures quickly rising through the 60’s into the low 70’s by noon and a warm, light southerly breeze developed. Tough to beat the weather for the second of October in Maine, but as we know, sometimes good weather doesn’t provide for the best birding. That seemed to be the case today, as birding was rather slow, and despite the theme of the trip – Portland did not hold a plethora of migrants today.

7 of us began the day at Back Cove at 7:00am. None of us checked the date of the Maine Marathon – oops – so parking was at a premium and navigation was definitely challenging, causing at least one person to miss our departure. There were a handful of lingering shorebirds on the mudflats of Back Cove: 20 Black-bellied Plovers, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers, and 2 Semipalmated Plovers. 4 Snowy Egrets foraged at the water’s edge, and one American Pipit flew overhead.

The first stop was Dragon Field. Our first bird upon getting out of the cars was a close-up Pileated Woodpecker – always a treat. The field has recently been mowed, which significantly decreases the amount of sparrows around. We birded the weedy, woody, and shrubby edges and saw plenty of Song and Savannah Sparrows. 4 Eastern Phoebes flycatched from the edges, a Cooper’s Hawk passed by, and two late Red-winged Blackbirds passed overhead. Another American Pipit or two called as it flew over, but apparently never landed. A few warblers were still around, including a couple Common Yellowthroats, and single Blackpoll, Nashville, and Black-throated Blue Warblers. We also briefly saw a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, White-crowned Sparrow, and a Blue-headed Vireo. We also welcomed one more birder into our group.

Portland’s Eastern Promenade was also rather quiet, but there were plenty of Song and White-throated Sparrows around, a good look at a Great Blue Heron, a Belted Kingfisher, and a couple of Yellow-rumped Warblers. Two Yellow Warblers were rather late, and a nice group of 33 Greater Yellowlegs were roosting along the shore.

The western end of Commercial Street was very quiet, but we did have a handful of Yellow-rumped Warblers and 2 Blue-headed Vireos, and this was a “life birding location” for everyone in the group. The final stop was a quick spin through Deering Oaks park, the under-birded greenspace near downtown. There, we enjoyed close studies of American Black Ducks, Mallards, and hybrids thereof, along with good studies of the various ages groups of Herring and Ring-billed Gulls. A Merlin zipped overhead, and the old oaks held a few Yellow-rumped Warblers, with our only Dark-eyed Juncos of the day in the gully there.

Wrapping things up at about 11:30, we tallied a respectable (considering the overall slow day with relatively few birds around) total of 55 species as we visited a number of parks and patches in and around the Portland Peninsula. Urban birding may not always be the most aesthetically pleasing pursuit, but it can often offer up all sorts of avian surprises!