Despite the weather forecast, I headed down to Kittery this morning. I always enjoy my visits to Fort Foster and nearby environs, and I try and get there at least once a month – and the month is running out.

While the weather did not look good, I completely lucked out – the rain ended during my drive down, and didn’t begin again until my last stop for the morning. In between, the weather was pleasantly mild, and I even saw a few breaks of blue.

I was hoping my good luck with the weather would produce good luck with the birds, but birding wasn’t great. I began at Fort McClary, where there was little. My next stop was the Kittery Point Town Landing, where I enjoyed a massive feeding frenzy: 1000+ Double-crested Cormorants, 100+ Bonaparte’s Gulls, about 5 Laughing Gulls, and lots of Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls.

If you haven’t been following it, by the way, it seems that the Western Reef-Heron has finally departed, having last been seen at 6:00pm last Thursday in New Castle, NH. I had a brief day-dream of refinding the bird back on “our” side this morning, but one Great Blue Heron –and a single flyover Snowy Egret – were the only wading birds: no “Reefer” today!

This morning’s outing was for some urban birding in Portland’s West End. The wooded hillside of the Western Promenade, regenerating woods along the West Commercial Street, and the isolated woods and brush along the new Commercial Street Extension provide a welcome oasis for migratory birds that find themselves over the concrete jungle at dawn. Migrants can become “trapped” here, waiting for nightfall to continue their journey. These last bastions of shelter can be crucial to an exhausted migrant’s survival. There, surrounded by water, roads, and buildings, hundreds of birds go about their business while thousands of people pass by unknowingly.

I enjoy birding these urban oasis’s. One, they can sometimes pack a lot of birds in a small place. Two, there’s always the chance at rarities. Three, I love the quizzical looks of passerby’s wonder what the heck I am looking at (OK, actually, I don’t love the quizzical looks). Anyway, although I did not expect to see many migrants this morning – with the south wind overnight – I did want to make one last visit to the area that I have affectionately been referring to as “Mercy Woods,” the woodland that is on the future site of the new Mercy Hospital.

I had heard that they have just broken ground on the project, and wanted one last swan song in the area (actually, I was thinking more along the lines of song from a Kentucky Warbler or some other “mega” to send the place off). I was rather surprised to see the pace of progress! One lone Carolina Wren sang from a small remaining stand of brush, it’s normally cheery song sounded almost mournful as it rang out from this little patch amid the hustle and bustle of the construction vehicles.

I was happy to learn however, that most of the vegetation around the pond will remain – although surely not enough for the Black-crowned Night Herons that I believed were nesting there. But, it will certainly help. Furthermore, there are still trees farther west along the road, closer to I-295, and a lot of regenerating second growth along the shore of the Fore River. All is not lost as a birding destination here.

Yesterday, Jeannette and I ventured over to New Hampshire’s Pack Monadnock hawk watch near Peterborough. This is a very good fall hawkwatching sight, and this is the second year of full-time coverage there.

After spending the night in Nashua, we began the morning with a walk at McDowell Lake. A smattering of migrants were around, but nothing out of the ordinary. Most un-ordinary, however, was the view of a Pied-billed Grebe in flight. It briefly took flight, skimming the water’s surface as it crossed the center of the lake. While far from rare, Pied-billed Grebes are rarely observed in flight (they usually only fly at night while migrating, and rarely bother to take flight during the day, preferring instead to slip underwater to evade potential predators.

I did get some great photographs of a Double-crested Cormorant sitting on a rock, but since I once again left my camera at home, I’ll have to upload those - and other photos from the day – tomorrow.

We arrived at Pack Monadnock at about 10:30 and were greeted by strong westerly winds. Every hawkwatch site is different, and every one has better success on one wind direction over another. Unfortunately, Pack does not have a lot of success on west winds, especially ones this strong.

However, Jeannette and I thoroughly enjoyed a relaxing day of scanning the skies. It turned out that we had met Julie, the counter for this season, a couple of years back in Cape May. While there were not a ton of birds (47 while we were there), many – especially the late-day Sharp-shinned Hawks, were quite low. Two Bald Eagles and 2 Peregrine Falcons were nice to see.

In the calm, clear skies last night, a good passerine migration proceeded. I tallied 49 calls (the second most this season), in my ten minutes of listening. Many of these were thrushes, mostly Swainson’s. I hoped to ground-truth my thrush identifications from last night by seeing them this morning, but a walk at Hedgehog Mountain Park only yielded a single Wood Thrush – not a species that I though that I heard last night. One late Scarlet Tanager, and a few warblers were around, and three Black-throated Blue Warblers in my yard later in the morning was a treat.

Meanwhile, here we go again – reports have surfaced of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Florida.

Today I guided for Sky and Anne from Tuscon, Arizona – and their friend Gussy from Cape Cod. We had a number of target birds, but also a general “birding in Maine” day in mind.

We began at Sandy Point Beach in Yarmouth, hoping for a big passerine flight after last night’s cold front. It was a small flight – about 150-200 birds, but most continued on overhead. The light westerly wind did not push too many birds off into the airspace above Casco Bay it seems. (There was a decent flight moving overhead last night, with 23 calls noted in my 10-minutes of sampling). We only amassed 9 species of warblers – disappointing for me, but not for someone from out West! It’s all a matter of perspective.

Multiple Palm Warblers and Yellow-rumped Warblers, however, were a mixed blessing. One, they are nice to see. But two, they are the latest of our warblers to move through – when they show up, most other have already moved on. However, to remind us it’s still early fall, a single female Ruby-throated Hummingbird was feasting on the Jewelweed. There was at least 20 Red-eyed Vireos around, and they were quite easy to see – you don’t normally look DOWN on Vireos!

Our next destination was Scarborough Marsh. A few quick stops produced little, but our third stop produced excellent scope-views of Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows. Our last stop – the Eastern Rd Trail – not only produced our other targeted sparrow – the Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow, but also provided a side-by-side study of these two species. How’s that for a “lifer” look?

Finishing up the morning, we scoped the salt pannes, picking up 5 Stilt Sandpipers and a juvenile American Golden-Plover, good birds for the state- and trip- lists. And, it was tough to beat the weather. Plus, the beauty of the marsh in fall is undeniable – the spartina is rapidly becoming golden, contrasting with the brightening fall colors of the trees along the edge. Crimson Poison Ivy leaves, and vivid purple New England Asters, along with various white asters and goldenrods present a wonderful palette of colors surpassed only by our birds!

Despite a pessimistic weather forecast, Maine Audubon’s Annual Gulf of Maine Fall Pelagic Birding out of Bar Harbor yesterday was a definite success. We arrived at the dock dark and early to calm winds, and only a 3-5 foot swell.

Although the winds did pick up a bit during the trip, we were rain-free until the last hour or so of the trip, during which we were steaming in anyway. So, the weather more than cooperated – but the birds, and mammals, also cooperated quite well!

We traveled east to Machias Seal Island, and the Grand Manan Banks, about 60 miles from Bar Harbor. We spent a short time in New Brunswick waters, depending on whos maps you consult. Either way, at least a few birds were added to some folks’ provincial lists.

The birding was very good, including all three of the expected species of shearwaters (Greater, Sooty, and Manx). 25 Atlantic Puffins, including both adults and immatures set a new trip record. Many of these were very, very well seen. The tally of 23 or so Pomarine Jaegers was equally exceptional. Great looks were to be had of many different ages and color morphs. This was certainly one of the highlights of the day for me, since I am such a fan of jaegers!

I tallied 46 call notes in 10 minutes over the house last night, my second highest volume so far this fall. However, with very light winds, I decided to gamble and not hit Sandy Point. I’m anxiously awaiting a posting from there for today to see what I missed.

Instead, I headed down to South Portland with Sasha – who I had been promising a trip to Hinckley Park to romp with the masses of dogs there. There, and elsewhere, I searched for migrants, and Northern Wheatears.

Speaking of Northern Wheatears, check out Mike Smith’s map of Fall 2006 Wheatear sightings on the East Coast that he posted on the Augusta Bird Club’s site.

Well, no Wheatears this morning, and not many migrants either. I began at Bug Light Park (very few migrants at all, but two American Pipits passed overhead).

Then, I checked the new garden on the campus of the Southern Maine Community College that includes a bunch of native plantings, flowers, a small pond, and a bird feeder. Surrounded mostly by parking lots, this spot looks perfect for a wacky vagrant. Not today though, just a single Savannah Sparrow among the multitudes of House Sparrows.

Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth also produced few migrants, but I did enjoy seeing and hearing a Carolina Wren. Sasha thoroughly enjoyed romping at Hinckley, as I spied a smattering of warblers.

While the songbirding in SoPo was slow this morning, the hawkwatching at the store was superb! The northwest wind had picked up a bit, and a handful of puffy white clouds helped us spot birds. Jeannette and I counted from 10 to noon, and tallied:
148 Broad-winged Hawks
7 Turkey Vultures
5 Osprey
2 Cooper’s Hawks
1 Northern Harrier
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 Red-shouldered Hawk (the first for our hawk watch)
1 Merlin
1 Peregrine Falcon

I am afraid however, that this excellent count may have been amplified by birds moving ahead of approaching weather. This weekend isn’t looking too pretty – and I am a little nervous about whether or not the Maine Audubon pelagic will go tomorrow. 5-7 foot swells are predicted from Hurricane Helene well offshore, and moderate southerly winds and developing rain is predicted ahead of an approaching low. Ugh. (I made a run for some Bonine, just in case!) However, the forcast has been varying quite a bit, so we may not know what is in store until we board the boat in the morning.

But, the nasty weather – which may last into Monday now – will back up migrants (passerines and hawks), which could mean some good mornings of birding early next week. Stay tuned.

The cold front moved through yesterday. Skies cleared, and as night fell, a light northwest wind continued. Birds were on the move. In 10 minutes (9:26-9:36pm) I tallied 30 call notes of migrants passing overhead.

The light northwest breeze and clearing skies continued, and made for a nippy dawn as Jeannette and I greeted the sunrise at Sandy Point on Cousin's Island. The flight started off a bit slow, but it really began to heat up as the sun came up. It wasn't a huge flight, in terms of volume, but the diversity of species was fantastic. I remained until 9:00, when things had slowed down quite a bit - although some stuff was still on the move.

First of all, most of the birds passing overhead were a bit lower than they have been of late. Secondly, northwest breeze was increasing as the time went by, and this caused more of the migrants to pause before crossing the water back to the mainland. Last, but not least, a lot of birds were lingering in the trees and shrubs around the parking lot. Therefore, my percentage of unidentified was significantly lower than some recent mornings, which was a nice change.

17 total species of warblers were seen, and I missed only one of these, a single Tennessee Warbler. Also, I did not count in that total two warblers in the genus Oporornis that remained unidentified. One flew below us at the edge of the bridge, and one flew overhead. I REALLY want a look at that overhead bird, as it was more than likely a much sought-after Connecticut Warbler (a bird that I am on the prowl for in Maine).

The bulk of the flight was made up of Black-throated Green Warblers, Northern Parula, and Blackpoll Warblers. Two large flocks of Cedar Waxwings moved overhead as well.

My personal counts were as follows:
Unidentified passerine: 282
Cedar Waxwing: 70
Black-throated Green Warbler: 58
Blackpoll Warbler: 30
Northern Parula: 28
Northern Flicker: 18
Magnolia Warbler: 18
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: 14
Yellow-rumped Warbler: 9
Red-eyed Vireo: 8
Gray Catbird: 8
American Robin: 7
Blue Jay: 6
Black-throated Blue Warbler: 5
American Redstart: 5
Eastern Phoebe: 4
Common Yellowthroat: 4
Common Loon: 3
Laughing Gull: 3
Blue-headed Vireo: 3
Black-and-white Warbler: 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch: 2
Ovenbird: 2
Unidentified Oporornis warbler: 2
White-throated Sparrow: 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee: 1
Unidentified Empidonax flycatcher: 1
Philadelphia Vireo: 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet: 1
Unidentified Kinglet: 1
Swainson’s Thrush: 1
Hermit Thrush: 1
Nashville Warbler: 1
Yellow Warbler: 1
“Yellow” Palm Warbler: 1
“Western” Palm Warbler: 1
Bay-breasted Warbler: 1
Northern Waterthrush: 1
Scarlet Tanager: 1
Chipping Sparrow: 1
Savannah Sparrow: 1
Swamp Sparrow: 1
Dark-eyed Junco: 1

After Sandy Point, Jeannette and I conducted our morning hawkwatch at the store. Moderate northwest winds, and a few big, puffy clouds for a background, presented perfect conditions for a good raptor flight. This too, did not dissapoint. In only 1 ½ hours, Jeannette, Pat, and I tallied 107 raptors from the parking lot in front of the store!

Here’s the count:
96 Broad-winged Hawk
7 Osprey
2 Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 Northern Harrier
1 Peregrine Falcon

Another great day for observing migrants! Fall is grand.

(Tomorrow should be pretty good for passerines and raptors as well, by the way)

It not only feels like summer again out there, but the birding has been rather mid-August-like. The mornings have been very slow.

However, there’s a whole lot on the move. The calm, clear skies overnight are allowing for great flights. In my ten-minute sampling of nocturnal migrants calling overhead during the last three nights have resulted in 27, 25, and 18 calls respectively. Therefore, migrants are definitely on the go. However, the perfect conditions for migration are allowing them to pass us by, or at the very least, not cause any coastal or migrant-trap concentrations. What’s good for birds is not always good for birding!

There has been a distinct turnover though, with birds coming and going each morning. In the past two days, there has been a significant increase in the number of Savannah Sparrows that are around. This morning, I also spotted my first “Western” Palm Warbler of the fall.

Yesterday, Lysle, Robbie, and I birded from the Portland peninsula through Cape Elizabeth, checking rocky areas, barren wastelands, gravel piles, short-cut fields, and other less-than-heavily-vegetated areas. We checked the areas around the Commercial Street extension in Portland, Bug Light Park in South Portland, Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth, and elsewhere. Today, I birded the Eastern Promenade, Back Cove, and the Mackworth Island causeway. Why you ask? Two words - Northern Wheatear.

Good ol’ Capisic Pond Park. It always comes through with good activity, and sometimes some good birds – even when it’s another slow morning elsewhere.

I began at Portland’s Dragon Field. 2 Bobolinks were still around, a somewhat tardy Yellow Warbler, and a recently arrived Swamp Sparrow were among the sightings, with one calling Dickcissel heard as well. In another couple of weeks, this place will really be hopping (when the migrant sparrows really begin to pour in).

The next stop was Evergreen Cemetery, which was exceptionally quiet. I did hit one wave of migrants in the woods that contained 7 species of warblers and an always-nice-to-see Philadelphia Vireo. A highlight however, was a leucistic Eastern Chipmunk. Nearly pure white, except for a light sandy-buff underside, it was quite a surprise as it scurried conspicuously across the forest floor.

Then, I arrived at Capisic. Lots of Gray Catbirds, American Robins, Cedar Waxwings and Song Sparrows. One Virginia Rail called from the marsh, a Brown Thrasher foraged along the trail, and a total of 3 Lincoln’s Sparrows – one of the earlier sparrow migrants. A Ruby-throated Hummingbird fed on some large, unidentified pink flower (my guess is that it is in the touch-me-not family). Three Northern Waterthrushes responded aggressively to some spishing, as did a very bitter House Wren. Meanwhile, the bird of the day was a all-too-brief look at a Yellow-breasted Chat. The Chat flew across the trail, and I was able to observe it for only a few seconds before it slipped into the cover of a thick hawthorne.

Now, with southerly winds for another few days, we should expect limited nocturnal movements. However, the next cold front that brings a bout of northwest winds behind it could produce a heckuva flight! Furthermore, southerly winds – southwest in particular – during migration are quite helpful in carrying rarities are way it seems. So, we’ll see what the weather brings!

Wow, I DIDN’T see a Buff-breasted Sandpiper today! I was even on a sod farm (the Mayall Rd fields in Gray/New Gloucester), a preferred habitat, for part of the morning. In fact, only 8 Killdeer were present. 4 Indigo Buntings were nice to see, however.

But, it wasn’t just the sod farms that were quite this morning. Walks at Hedgehog Mountain Park and Pineland Farms were eerily quiet. Very few warblers, or any other migrants, were out and about this morning. Just one of those days!

Tomorrow starts our store’s annual hawkwatch. Jeannette and I have conveniently placed our store directly under a fall hawk migration flight path. Therefore, we have begun a small sampling of the flight by standing outside of the store each morning from 10 to 11:00am (but we’ll stay out longer on the good days!). We’ll do this every day – except Tuesdays, when we’re likely to be out hawkwatching elsewhere! – from now until October 13th.

Last year, between September 14th and October 15th, we tallied 547 migrant raptors of 12 species! Some of the highlights included 13 Bald Eagles (8 of them together on the same day!), a Northern Goshawk, a Peregrine Falcon, and 455 Broad-winged Hawks! Not bad for a total of only 22 ½ hours!

We invite you to join us, for a little bit of hawk spotting. We’ll discuss the finer points of hawk identification and learn about tools for learning hawk identification. Drop on by!

In other news, a new bird species has been discovered in India!

Yesterday was about as perfect as it gets: mid-60’s, sunny skies, just a light breeze. Nice. I love fall in Maine. And the birding isn’t too shabby either.

Jeannette and I began our day at Sebago Lake State Park. I’ve only visited this park a couple of times before, and I have never seen a report posted from there. However, the park certainly looks good for birds, with nice mature woods, some riparian brush, a little marsh, and a sandy beach. With the lake’s low water levels this year, the sandbar and beach are more extensive, and there is an exposed mud in the lagoon – perfect conditions for shorebirds.

With the clear, calm night, we knew birds would be on the move, and since we had wanted to head to the mountains for a hike, we decided to start here at dawn, seeing if there was a morning flight along the north shore of the lake (there was a small one, as pockets of warblers were heading north overhead at daybreak as we walked the entrance road in). Sunnier edges along the road, the beach, and later on some of the trails produced 6 species of warblers (Pine, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-rumped, American Redstart, and Northern Parula.)

We did not expect, however, to have our shorebird total beat our warbler total! But, seven species of shorebirds were present at the mouth of the Crooked River, including: Spotted (3), Least (4), Pectoral (3), and White-rumped Sandpipers (2), along with 10 Killdeer, 3 Greater Yellowlegs, 10 Semipalmated Plovers, and much to our surprise – two BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS! This is getting silly – these were my 11th and 12th individuals of this normally rare species in Maine in the past 7 days!

Today, I was hired for a one-on-one shorebird workshop. Phil wanted to really work through, and study shorebirds – both rare and common. I absolutely love guiding for pursuits such as this – really studying and teaching, not just twitching!

We did not plan the day as a shorebird “big day,” in the true sense. Although I set a goal of 20 species, my plans were mostly centered around choice opportunities and vantage points for good studies – such as side-by-side comparisons of similar species. We did have a few target species in particular – especially Buff-breasted Sandpiper, so extra effort was made for some species.

If we were to do this as a true big day, we would of begun at Pine Point in Scarborough at dawn – and low tide – to scan the mudflats, and finished up at Hill’s Beach (or visa versa) on the outgoing tide in the evening for similar habitat. We would also have tried a few specific spots to fill a few specific holes.

However, the species count was secondary to the quality of the observations: our goal was to really see each species well, study them, and compare them to similar species.

We began at the Sanford Sewerage facility, which started the day off right with great views of Stilt Sandpipers and Lesser Yellowlegs side-by-side, and Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers side-by-side. We also found our only Solitary Sandpiper of the day, and a Killdeer flew over, calling, a very lucky bird for us as this was the only one we would see the whole day!

Jeannette, Ed, and I began the morning at Sandy Point. With the cold front passing through in the late evening, and northwest winds predicted for most of the night, we were expecting a huge flight. And, the flight was off to a good start with 18 calls heard in 10 minutes over the house last night, not long after the rain had stopped.

However, come morning, the winds were westerly, and the skies had yet to clear completely. The flight was moderately-heavy, and pretty diverse, but not the “big one,” I hoped for. Regardless, it was a good morning, with included a total of 14 species of warblers – mostly American Redstart and Northern Parula. One Lincoln’s Sparrow – one of my favorites – was in the scrub at the parking lot’s edge, my first of the fall. About 700 passerines in total were tallied, but I clicked 561 unidentified passing overhead. My percentage of unidentified was even worse than normal due to some thick clouds at dawn preventing the sun from shining – most of the flyovers were colorless silhouettes.

Ed and I then headed to Phippsburg, with shorebirds at Popham Beach State Park being the primary targets. Most of our shorebirds were seen in Atkins Bay from Fort Popham and Fort Baldwin, but as the tide rolled in we headed over to the park. 175 Sanderling, all juveniles, was my highest count so far this year, but other than a few Semipalmated Sandpipers and a smattering of Semipalmated Plovers, there was little else.

Ed and I were stationed on the beach, overlooking the mouth of the Morse River, waiting from any shorebirds that were feeding upstream to come to the sandbar to roost. Nearly ready to give up, I then whispered, “Ed, don’t move. Look down to your left.”

Two Buff-breasted Sandpipers had appeared directly in front of us, no more than 15 feet away! They were walking by us, below a little sand ledge, and then hopped into view to forage on some wrack. We watched them for about 15 minutes, as they foraged along the beach and in some dry wrack. Ed snapped away with his camera – but the birds were too close for digiscoping! (Although he did get some pretty darn good shots). I however, sank my head in disgust – once again, my camera was in the car.

As the Buffies walked back towards me, I crouched down in the sand, looking over the little lip, as they slowly sauntered by – a mere 12 feet away. Not only did they clearly know that I was camera-less, but I think they were even laughing at me!

But, having seen NINE of these gorgeous birds in the last FOUR days – they were a nemesis bird 5 days ago! – I guess I really can’t complain!

After thinking about it for a week – and trying to find the time – I finally made a run down to Sanford this morning to look for the Eared Grebe that Lysle found there (he’s on a roll!) last week at the Sanford Sewerage facility.

Ah yes, sewage treatment plants, just the wonderful type of effervescently and aesthetically pleasing locals that birders often find themselves at. The Sanford Sewerage facility is well known among birders, as a great spot for shorebirds and waterfowl. Plus, they have always been welcoming to birders.

OK, the place actually looks quite nice - just hold you nose and don't look down into the water!

After a year (or has it been two?) of construction, the facility is open again, and it’s prime time for shorebirds. And, the shorebird numbers and diversity have been quite good recently. With the pursuit of the Eared Grebe and the opportunity to study shorebirds, I ventured down to this odoriferous location this morning.

After successfully twitching (chasing) quite a few birds in a row, I was due for a “dip” (miss). Unfortunately, that dip came today. No Eared Grebe for me, despite much searching – I walked every inch of dike, including the entire perimeter, hoping to find it tucked into the grass somewhere, but no luck. I did, however, thorough enjoy close studies of a juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper and a juvenile Wilson’s Phalarope.

I decided not to head to Sandy Point Beach at dawn this morning, as the weather forecast was not predicting the cold front to pass through until the early morning hours. Between 9: 15 and 9:30pm last night, I only tallied 9 call notes from migrants overhead.

Therefore, I was quite surprised to see a decent wave of warblers (40-50) moving over the yard between 6:30 and 7:00am this morning. All fairly high, and all heading due west, these birds were certainly migrants moving inland from the coast. Winds were light out of the west this morning, so at least some things were pushed farther east than they would of preferred, and their morning correction was taking some of them over our Pownal yard. I began to wonder what I was missing at Sandy Point! (But, no one I knew was there, so what I don’t know can’t hurt me!)

Instead, I took a stroll at Old Townhouse Park in North Yarmouth. Not much doin’ there today, just a handful of warblers in the woods.

So, I found this cool website today, where you can follow the movements of Greater Shearwaters being tracked by satellite in the North Atlantic.

Also today, I received the September Birding Community E-Bulletin, a monthly email newsletter about birds, birding, and bird conservation. This month, there was one particular article of note about Machias Seal Island:

“MACHIAS SEAL ISLAND DILEMMA

This has been a very difficult season for Arctic Terns at a popular birding site, Machias Seal Island. This tiny Canadian island, located between Maine and New Brunswick, has long supported the largest Downeast colony of Atlantic Puffins in the Gulf of Maine.

The Atlantic Puffins are not in immediate trouble, but Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls have been increasingly devastating to the Arctic Tern colony on Machias Seal Island. Gull predation in recent years, says University of New Brunswick biologist Tony Diamond, has resulted in the loss of the largest Arctic Tern colony in eastern North America.

Five years ago, there were about 2,000 pairs of Arctic Terns and 1,000 pairs of Common Terns on Machias Seal Island. This past nesting season, there were only 900 pairs of Arctic Terns and 213 pairs of Common Terns. Diamond and his researchers estimate that 1,700 nests were destroyed by gull predation this spring.

With declining tern numbers, and lacking aggressive gull-control, researchers fear that the gulls will eventually begin preying on Atlantic Puffin eggs and young. Beyond the threat of gulls, researchers say that the puffins are beginning to also reflect the possible effects of human overfishing. The puffins' diet has shifted from a normal fish diet (such as herring) to less healthful krill and smaller fish. Puffin chicks appear to be growing more slowly and fledging later than in past seasons.

For more information on Machias Seal Island, click here.

Stephen Kress, a researcher who has been working on puffin restoration
efforts elsewhere in the Gulf of Maine (e.g., Seal Island NWR, Matinicus
Rock, Eastern Egg Rock, etc.), where gull control IS practiced, remarked,
"There is no such thing as balance. There is management."

For details on Project Puffin, click here.

The complete e-bulletin is posted on our website, as we do every month.

Yesterday, I began the day at dawn at Sandy Point Beach. Usually, we need northwest winds to produce a good flight, but given the fact that we’ve had three nights of southerly or easterly winds, I thought I’d see what had blown in on a light westerly Monday night.

The clearing skies were incentive enough for birds to move, and the light west wind pushed enough offshore of Casco Bay to produce a decent flight for Tuesday morning. I was pleasantly surprised by the volume of passerines, about 250 individuals. Most, however, were high overhead and not alighting in the shoreline trees, so my identification rate was much lower than usual – I only ID’d about one in very 5 birds. 36 Blackpoll Warblers led the way, with 2 Philadelphia Vireos (in the bushes) and one flyover Olive-sided Flycatcher (my first of the fall) being highlights. I was also surprised by an eastbound Wilson’s Snipe flying over the tress well after dawn.

Later in the morning, Jeannette and I took my Mom (visiting from NJ) out on the Odyssey Whale Watch out of Portland. It was a perfect day on the water – light winds, almost no swell, and very little chop. The thin, high clouds overhead also provided excellent visibility for spotting distant birds and whales.

Unfortunately, the bird- and mammal-watching wasn’t as stellar. It had been four days since Captain Dan had been able to head out (due to the coastal storm), and so he didn’t know where the whales would be. Since the storm does so much churning of the seas, fish, plankton, etc are not likely to be in the same place as they were a few days ago.

So, the captain went out in search of them – we logged over 50 miles roundtrip, with the farthest distance offshore being about 20 miles. Birding was slow, but there were the typical pockets of activity. We tallied 115 Common Terns, 34 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels, 12 Greater Shearwaters (including some tremendous views, such as the bird that was riding our wake just off the stern!) and 7 Northern Gannet. One Blackpoll Warbler passed by, despite being about 18 miles from shore at the time. This long-distance migrant didn’t even flinch at the thought of taking a rest on the boat.

As I have mentioned before, bad weather often produces great birding. Unfortunately, the weather – as the remnants of Ernesto wandered through over the last two days – was not quite bad enough to produce much of a birding bonanza.

Yesterday, Jeannette and I spent the morning seawatching from Dyer Point in Cape Elizabeth. The easterly winds were not nearly as strong as predicted, and we saw relatively little. The high counts were of Double-crested Cormorants (78), Laughing Gulls (48), and Common Terns (46). While we did spot 17 Northern Gannets, and we were a little surprised by a decent late-summer total of 15 southbound Common Loons, we only tallied one other pelagic species. Luckily, it was one of my favorite birds, and it passed quite close by, providing a great view. This one subadult Parasitic Jaeger made the outing worthwhile, even if it was not the most productive morning.

Today, Ed, Ian, and I birded Scarborough. We began at the Wainright Farm Recreation Area, where grass-loving shorebirds sometimes land, especially after heavy rains that leave large puddles behind. This is a brutally under-birded location, and deserves more attention, especially during shorebird migration.

However, the storm that also disappointed with its weaker winds, also disappointed with its lower rainfall totals, leaving only a few small puddles behind. A couple of Least Sandpipers and 6 Killdeer were all that were to be found today, but the potential bird-of-the-morning remained unidentified – a large, dark accipiter made two very quick passes through the trees, only providing split-second glimpses of what was probably an immature Northern Goshawk.

Nest, we visited the Eastern Road Trail, where there were many, many fewer shorebirds – and waders – than expected. Did a bunch of birds get up and leave before the storm, or even immediately after early this morning? We had significantly lower counts of all the regular species, especially the usually abundant Semipalmated Sandpipers (only about 80 this morning). Two Merlins and a Northern Harrier were terrorizing the birds, keeping them on the move – has the recent raptor concentration here forced the birds to roost elsewhere (such as on Stratton Island)? Or, have they simply left already – it is early September after all. There were also very few Snowy Egrets, and only one flyover Glossy Ibis, lending credence to the theory that things have started to clear out. The long-staying Tricolored Heron has not left us yet though!

Ed and I then took a walk at Fuller Farm, where neither of had been for a while, to see if there were any landbirds in the woods. Fuller Farm is a large landtrust property off of Broadturn Road that includes some great fields, young brushy stands of trees, and some nice hemlock groves. We did chance upon one small group of migrants containing 4 Blackpoll Warblers, 2 Black-throated Green Warblers, 1 Red-eyed Vireo, and 1 Blue-Headed Vireo. However, we were most disheartened to see a large swath of devastation there, with what looks like a road being built through what was once some of the more productive second-growth. A large skidder and trailer were clearly taking out some large timber as well. I thought this was all protected land. Does anyone know what’s going on back here? I’d love to hear if anyone knows what’s up . . .

So I headed back down to Kittery yesterday for yet another visit with the Western Reef-Heron (#6). However, this was actually a “business” trip. I was meeting Amy Sinclair from WGME Channel 13 to film a segment on the Heron.

Originally, the “angle” was to focus on the bird’s economic impact on the area, as I am now doing with my survey of birders who have visited the area (By the way, if you have gone to see the Heron please take a moment to fill out my survey, if you have not done so already…Thanks!). Well, that story went by the wayside as Amy and Jason (the cameraman) got completely sucked into the thrill of the chase!

We began looking for the bird in New Castle, around Goat Island. Not there. Then, it was to the bridge near the Wentworth Hotel. Not there either. However, a gentleman pulled up and said that it was seen about 20 minutes earlier. (The dreaded, “You just missed it.” Definitely, one of the worst things a birder can be told!).

So, we went to check back at Goat Island. No dice. However, the gentleman who gave us the message before was kind enough (the TV camera and big, fat WGME-13 lettering on the car didn’t hurt with our “cred” no doubt) to drive back around and tell us that the Heron was just around the corner from where we had been – and was across the street from his house! We followed him over, and were treated to a great view (perfect light) of the bird. Nice!

Our view was a bit distant, but the light was great. This photo is through my spotting scope with a 32x eyepiece on.

Two other birders then joined us for our previously-scheduled outing with Captain Neil of Captain and Patty’s Piscataqua River Tours – part of the original plan to feature the economic side of things. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour as we motored into Little Harbor hoping to get the camera a little closer to the Heron (but of course, not too close as to disturb or flush it).

Captain Neil Odom of the Sir William Pepperrell.

Amy keeps an eye out, and Jason is ready to go.

The Heron was not where we left it, but I soon spotted it feeding in a small patch of marsh with some Snowy Egrets, as usual. We enjoyed it, and it’s feeding behavior, for nearly an hour before it was time to head in.

We were much closer this time, as this photo is taken through my 7 power binoculars.

The boat ride and harbor tour, the absolutely perfect evening out on the water, and the excitement of Amy and Jason – two non-birders really – upon seeing the bird made for a great evening and yet another wonderful experience with “The Reefer.”

You can see the segment on tonight’s 5:00 News (WGME, Channel 13), or you can download it soon on the station’s website.

By the way, tomorrow at the store, we have another in our series of Maine Artist Feature Days when we will be welcoming Falmouth bird painter Sue Shane. Drop in to say hi!