With the timing of the passage of last night’s cold front still in doubt when I went to bed last night, I decided to check in at Sandy Point Beach, just in case things had cleared enough to get a few birds on the move. Prior to last night’s line of thunderstorms – which passed through Pownal at about 9:30, with only a few drops falling on my thirsty garden – a few call notes were heard overhead. I was curious to see if birds would be moving after the front had passed and/or if birds would show up at Sandy Point on foggy conditions with very light winds. I know a good west, and especially northwest, wind produces the best flights here, but this season I wanted to check things out in less-than-optimal conditions to get a better understanding of the morning flight phenomena that occurs here. This morning, however, I obtained mostly “negative data:” one unidentified warbler overhead and one Black-and-white Warbler in the bushes. Tomorrow morning should be good, if the forecast holds true, but with some (non-birding) college buddies visiting this weekend, I’m not counting on any pre-dawn starts to birding outings!

After Sandy Point, I went into Portland, beginning in the woods along the Commercial Street extension. A Northern Waterthrush and an American Redstart were found. Then, it was over to the East End, first stopping at the “Chat Lot.” Unfortunately, smack-dab in the center of this weedy lot that hosted two Yellow-breasted Chats last fall was a new foundation and a big wall cut into the hillside. Too bad. However, there’s still enough vegetation on the hillside – including the two productive apple trees – so this spot will likely still be worth a check during migration – at least once the construction is complete.

Over at the Eastern Promenade, 6 Common Yellowthroats (not likely to be migrants), 2 Yellow Warblers (may or may not be migrants), and another Northern Waterthrush (definitely a migrant) were present. The weedy hillside here is looking real good for fall sparrows (peaking in October), as long as the City doesn’t decide to start ravaging it once again. I also saw a single White-throated Sparrow, which was odd for this location at this season – another example of a short-distance molt migration, perhaps?

Meanwhile, despite my focus on passerine migrants this morning, a handful of shorebirds (Semipalmated Plovers and Sandpipers) fed along the shoreline, a reminder that shorebird migration is far from over. A quick check of some of the vegetated patches in the downtown area (such as the garden of the First Parish Church) didn’t yield any migrants that could have been disoriented by the fog and weather last night.

But, after all, it is still August (until tomorrow anyway), and passerine migration is really beginning to heat up. As the season’s cold fronts get stronger, dig deeper south, and are followed by cooler air and northwest winds, we will see more and more birds in the bush. It’s a fun time of year!

Yesterday, I spent a day guiding on Monhegan. I was hired by Chrissie, a summer resident of Chamberlain, for a day of birding on this Maine mega-hotspot. Although it is still only late August – passerine migration is just now heating up – and the weather was “too nice,” we had a fantastic day.

We began at Pemaquid Point, where the loop road produced 6 species of warblers, including a Blackpoll and a Northern Waterthrush – two species that we did not see on the island. The smattering of migrants here is usually a good sign that birds were in the air overnight, and hopefully some of them had wandered out to Monhegan.

The boat ride from New Harbor to Monhegan was not very eventful; just a few Common Loons, Northern Gannets, and Common Terns were spotted. By the time we arrived on the island, at about 10:00, the air was already quite warm, and the southerly breeze had picked up. Clearly, we would have to work harder for birds today!

And work we had to! Migrants, other than Purple Finches, and a few warblers were hard to find in the “usual” spots in and around town. Lobster Cove produced a group of 9 Least Sandpipers – any shorebird is a good bird on the island, as the habitat for them is so limited. After lunch, we headed into the woods, and out to Whitehead, and then back through the woods. Here, in the cool shade, sheltered from the winds, birds we easier to see and hear, and we rapidly added to our daylist - including a Prairie Warbler, a decent bird for the island – and a very active family group of at least 3 bitter Winter Wrens.

Our all-too-short time on the island came to an all-too-quick end, and before we knew it we were back on the boat, heading to the mainland. A diversion to the Outer Duck islands, however, to look for seals was very productive for us, as 4 Great Cormorants (3 adults, and an immature) were roosting here, along with a lone Ruddy Turnstone. We encountered a few more Northern Gannets on the ride back in, but the real excitement was the three Parasitic Jaegers that we saw, all within a few minutes. First, there was a subadult, then a full-adult with spiffy tail streamers, followed by another immature (juvenile or subadult, I couldn’t get a good look at the plumage detail due to distance and the light). Any day seeing a jaeger is a good day, so three in a row is a great day! But, for this trip, this was only the icing on the cake!

On Sunday, I guided for Lesley and Becky in Scarborough Marsh, conducting a private shorebird workshop. I had donated a ½ day of private guiding to the Merrymeeting Audubon fundraising auction, and Lesley was the winning bidder. Shorebirds were the subjects today, and as usual, the marsh did not disappoint.

In fact, we were able to study 14 species of shorebirds (although we did total 15 species on the day, as I flushed an American Woodcock behind Pelreco). Three Whimbrel were off of Pine Point, 15 Little Blue Herons were behind Pelreco, and large clouds of Tree Swallows were seen at various locations.

The highlight of the morning however, were the salt pannes off of the Eastern Rd Trail. To give you an idea of how cooperative the birds were – and how intensely we were studying each species – we spent over 2 hours traveling all of about 150 feet! As with any “workshop” style outing, the goal is to see similar species side-by-side. When the very first small panne produced Semipalmated, Least, Western, White-rumped Sandpipers, Pectoral, and Stilt Sandpipers, with Short-billed Dowitchers, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, all side-by-side, we knew this would be a productive outing. Two juvenile Western Sandpipers and two Stilt Sandpipers, one adult, and one juvenile, were the highlights from a rarity perspective, the fantastic views, close studies, and diversity of species, ages, and plumages provided for an excellent canvas for practicing our shorebirds identification skills. Of course, it wasn’t all work – we took plenty of time to enjoy the sights, such as battling peeps (one of the Westerns kept chasing everything that landed nearby) and the Peregrine Falcon that made a few passes overhead, just to cause a bit of ruckus. It was also interesting to see the changeover since just last Thursday. There were many more juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers, but many fewer White-rumps, Leasts, and Short-billed Dowitchers. I would expect that the northwest winds that are on their way will result in a big exodus of our current suite of shorebirds.

Juvenile Western Sandpipers:

Look at those scapulars!

The Swallow-tailed Kite is most definitely one of, if not my absolute favorite bird. While Cedar Waxwings stand firm as my favorite of the “common” species, Swallow-tailed Kites are something special. Graceful, elegant, beautiful, rare – especially in these parts.

Although there’s only about 5 records of this bird for the state, its certainly a vagrant that I daydream about regularly – especially during strong southerly flows of early and late summer. Maybe an early one from the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch? Maybe a late summer bird over Scarborough Marsh or the Sanford Sewerage facility? Or, perhaps just dumb luck looking up while driving somewhere. North Yarmouth’s Old Townhouse Park, however, was not on the list.

But yet, there I was late Friday morning, scanning over Old Townhouse Park from the old Gillespie Farm building on Route 9, and there was a friggin’ Swallow-tailed Kite! Just as graceful, elegant, and beautiful as I remembered! Snagging dragonflies out of the air, munch on them while on the wing, and then diving down after the next. Forget the fact that this was a “state bird” for me – this is one of those times when lists REALLY don’t matter – this is just too cool of a bird, and I was really, really ecstatic. (Unfortunately, I had left my camera at the store.)

A short while earlier, Lysle Brinker had called the store. Arthur Stackhouse had spotted a Swallow-tailed Kite over the Toddy Brook Golf Course at about 10:30am while driving home. Arthur, cell phone-less for the day, raced home and called Lysle, who called the store and sent out an email, telling everyone to “look up!” A short while later, Lysle called again. Arthur had spotted it again at 11:15, again over the golf course. It was now a little after noon.

I was about to step out the door to get lunch, and decided that Toddy Brook could be considered the scenic route to the Old World Deli in Freeport. OK, that’s not only a stretch, but it’s in the complete opposite direction. Oh well, why not give it a try?

I enjoyed a great morning of birding in Scarborough Marsh today. Lots of shorebirds, a great raptor show, and a good concentration of waders. No major rarities, but some of the uncommon stuff that makes this season exciting. Plus, a few exciting (near) predation events.

Ed and I got an early start (6:00) at Eastern Rd, where we walked out into the salt pannes. With the incoming, and soon high, tide, shorebirds were a’ plenty. Over 900 Semipalmated Sandpipers led the way, with good numbers of other species. The 91 White-rumped Sandpipers was one of, if not the, highest total of this species that I have had in Maine. An adult Long-billed Dowitcher and two Stilt Sandpipers were also seen, and two Northern Shovelers flew overhead – all very uncommon to rare species. I also was able to tease out a Short-billed Dowitcher of the interior subspecies among the multitudes of “regular” (griseus) Shorties.

Roosting Semipalmated Sandpipers.

How many White-rumped Sandpipers can you find in this photo? (Use the comment field at the bottom of the page to enter your guess).

As great as this shorebird spectacle was, I do believe that the raptor performance stole the show today. A Merlin repeatedly buzzed the pannes, and at one point, was in hot pursuit of a Least Sandpiper that was separated from the flock. Ed and I watched it for a solid minute or so, occasionally coming very close to nabbing it. Then, all of the sudden, the Merlin pulled up and then proceeded to perform evasive maneuvers herself, as a Peregrine Falcon was right on her tail. That chase didn’t last long (the Peregrine didn’t seem to serious about it), but then the Peregrine had to deal with two mobbing Northern Harriers. The Merlin, Peregrine, and at least 3 different Harriers made occasional passes through the flocks – usually just about at the time that we would be close to completing a count of one shorebird species or another. Two Cooper’s Hawks along the trail were added to the mix as well. Not an easy day to be a tasty shorebird!

It was interesting to note that when the Merlin buzzed the pannes, only the peeps took flight. The Short-billed Dowitchers, for example, would go about their business as if nothing was going on. However, when the Peregrine made a pass, EVERYTHING took flight. At one point, an airborne flock of peeps and an airborne flock of Dowitchers and Lesser Yellowlegs, heading in opposite directions, met in a stunning whir of wings. We heard loud snapping sounds, presumably caused by the birds’ sudden change of direction and not mid-air collisions, as soon the two flocks were one cohesive, evasive cloud. All raptors went away hungry. (Complete totals below).

So, I was happily snapping photos of White-rumps amongts Semi-Sands, looking for good study shots. Note the excellent comparision here of the size and bulk of a White-rumped compared to the surrounding Semis.

While Ed and I had noted a number of exceptionally bright juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers today, it wasn't until I got back and looked at the pictures on the computer that I noticed just how bright this particular bird was. The cap and cheeks are extremely bright, and there is even some rufous (or at least bright orange-buff) on the tertials and primaries.

Blowing the photo up even more, I tried my darnedest to "make" this into something far rarer. I would like to have seen the bill, and the rest of the bird, in the field, but based on these photos, I am satisified that this is the bright extreme of a Semi-Sand. But boy, do I hope to be proven otherwise!

Also note the bright peep in the background...But if only this bird's tertials and primaries were a little darker! But, what do you all think? Comments are welcome.

Last Thursday, I compiled my final edition of the Southcoastal Maine Rare Bird Alert. This was not an easy decision, but time constraints forced me to make a choice on how best to spend my time. (Read the explanation of the decision here, on the Final Edition of the SCMRBA)

Instead of compiling this weekly report, which all too often was composed mostly of my own observations – especially in the so-called “off-seasons”, I am now an “eBirder!” Basically, I have decided to participate in the eBird project from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. eBird users submit their sightings – from anywhere in the country, from their backyard to the most popular migration hotspots – to a permanently archived database that is searchable, open and accessible to anyone, and it can be used for advanced analyses of bird populations and trends.

In other words, my sightings can now be used to help develop the “big picture.” Scientists can access the info for developing population trend analyses of a declining species, while birders visiting Maine for the first time can find out where to look for a specific species. Plus, eBird’s new “Rare Bird Google Gadget” provides instantaneous information – rare bird sightings are automatically sent to your desktop!

Furthermore, eBird automatically maintains and updates various lists for me, based on the data I submit, and I can even make maps and graphs of my data! A very cool tool indeed! And, now that my data are part of a massive database, anyone can view and explore all of the data, including sightings of a particular species and sightings from a particular location. In other words, my observations are not “just gathering dust in old notebooks,” as my friend Marshall – eBird’s newest Project Leader - likes to chide me about.

With all of this in mind, I have begun entering data nearly daily to eBird, including my observations of the past two days.

Yesterday, Lysle Brinker and I led the second 1/2-Day Portland Pelagic, sponsored by the Wild Bird Center of Yarmouth and See-Life Paulagics. We enjoyed cool, but fairly calm conditions with, very pleasant seas (1-2 swell at most, light chop. Ed Hess, Luke Seitz, and Bill Sheehan worked as spotters, while Dan Nickerson and Robbie Lambert did the dirty-work of chumming.

The weather was great, the guides were ready to go, and the participants were excited as we boarded the boat, dark and early, at Long Wharf in Portland. We enjoyed a wonderful sunrise over Outer Green Island, and then spent some time sorting through the Common Terns there, looking for Roseate. We then headed farther offshore, steaming southeast to Pollock Nubble, and then south to Boomerang Ledge. Unfortunately, unlike our July trip, birds were frightfully few and far between.

Sunrise over Outer Green Island and Junk of Pork.

Co-leader Lysle on the bow.

In fact, it seemed that the term "biological desert" could be applied most of the time, with the dullness interrupted now and again by a spurt of activity, or a single “good” bird. The tubenose total was particularly poor, although the quality of the looks at Manx Shearwater and one of the Greater Shearwaters made up for some of this. The apparent Parasitic Jaeger was very close, but as most subadult jaegers do, it generated a bit of discussion. Jaeger identification, especially of non-adults, can be very contentious, as much of what we use to sort out the species is rather subjective and/or subtle. This bird, however, was photographed, so the play was under review. This morning, I received photos of the bird from Kirk Rogers, and after further review, the play stands as called on the field.

I decided to check out a few migrant traps in Portland this morning, to see if anything has dropped in over the past couple of nights. I began at Back Cove, to check on shorebird numbers, and was promptly greeted by a Dickcissel calling overhead. This was my first of this rare, but regular, species for the fall.

I was a little too late in arriving at Back Cove this morning. The receding tide had already exposed a lot of mud. This is another shorebird spot with a narrow window of prime viewing opportunities. I did have a smattering of shorebirds, led by 56 Semipalmated Sandpipers, and a Peregrine Falcon flew overhead.

Quite surprising was the Tennessee Warbler that I encountered at Capisic Pond Park. This is another warbler (like my Bay-breasted at Dragon Field on Sunday) that doesn’t breed anywhere near here. This bird was also still in breeding plumage, so again, I guess this was another case of “molt migration.” Other migrants at Capisic this morning included a Northern Waterthrush, a Least Flycatcher, and a couple of fly-over Bobolinks.

Evergreen Cemetery didn’t yield much, except for a juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron and a lone Spotted Sandpiper, but with some time to kill, I made a quick check at Dragon Field which produced a Least Flycatcher, a “Traill’s” Flycatcher, one other unidentified Empid, and at least 10 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.

Speaking of hummingbirds, we've been watching our birds had home (at least 4 now, maybe as many as 6 in our yard). The activity around our feeders has been amazing of late - lots of battles from this highly territorial, pugnacious species. We've been noticing that it's not just more birds, but also each bird is spending a lot more time tanking up. There's little doubt that they are working on those fat reserves to fuel that dumbfounding trans-Gulf of Mexico migration! Yup, summer's winding down!

This morning, I led a walk for residents of Prout’s Neck in Scarborough. The scheduling of this outing was fortuitous – a Marbled Godwit was found here on Tuesday, and I haven’t seen one in Maine before. One or two shows up in Maine every year or so, but I had not caught up to one yet.

I began my day however, just before dawn, at Sandy Point Beach on Cousin’s Island in Yarmouth. A cold front came through last night, but it didn’t produce much wind, so the “morning flight” was not in effect this morning. I’ll be spending a lot of time here in the coming months, so I’ll explain more in detail later on, but today there was little to write about. In fact, the only migrant I encountered was a single Yellow Warbler. A Carolina Wren was singing from across the river, however.

Then, I headed down to Scarborough Marsh. I had a little time before we met, so I stopped in at Ferry Beach for a spell. After enjoying the usual shorebirds, I took one last scan across the flats, and there, out towards the mouth of the Nonesuch River was a big, tall, brown shorebird.

Light, warm brown throughout. Very long legs and large size. Very long, upturned, bicolored bill. Yup, no mistaking this one – Marbled Godwit, my 308th species in Maine. After enjoying this stately beauty, I scooted over to meet the group.

We promptly carpooled right back over to Ferry Beach for the godwit, which most of us got to see before it flew up the Nonsuch River. We also spotted 2 American Oystercatchers commuting back to Stratton Island (I had one heading upstream earlier), and 7 Piping Plovers among numbers of the more common shorebirds. 6 of these Piping Plovers were juveniles – likely all six of the birds that had fledged from the two nests on Western Beach this summer. This is truly remarkable, as the 3 fledglings per nest is better than 3 times the state average. And, with only 35 pairs of this Endangered Species in the entire state, this exceptional productivity was a great boost to the population. Stepped up enforcement of leash laws on this beach during the breeding season is quite likely the major reason for this success. Good news indeed.

Traveling farther afield, I should mention that there is still room on this Sunday’s ½ Day Pelagic boat trip out of Portland. The weather looks good, and some boat trips farther south have been producing some goodies. Take a look at www.yarmouthbirds.com/travels.asp for more information.

How is it that I feel that I have been “playing catch-up” all summer long? Not just with the blog, but with life in general. It has been a busy couple of months for us indeed. Well, you know what they say about idle minds! Anyway, here’s some more catching-up from the past four days.

On Saturday, our store’s regular birdwalk hit Portland’s Dragon Field. As always, a summary of our Saturday morning outings are on our website, www.yarmouthbirds.com. However, the excitement for me – that is worth mentioning again – was finally tallying my 149th Dragon Field Bird, a single juvenile Lesser Yellowlegs foraging in a the large puddle/small pond at the base of the quarry. This is just the type of luck needed when patch listing.

On Sunday, we offered a bonus free birdwalk as part of our store’s Third Anniversary Celebration. With a light showing, and no “repeat customers,” we decided to head back to Dragon Field to pursue more of the excellent views of Indigo Buntings that we had on Saturday. While we did see more Buntings, we didn’t see them as well, but we did get a good look at an adult male Bay-breasted Warbler. This was a particularly intriguing sighting, as Bay-breasted Warblers do not normally migrate this early, and breeds no closer than the western mountains. And, this bird had not yet molted – but looked like it was just starting to. Bay-breasted and most other warblers molt BEFORE migrating. So, just what was this bird doing in Portland on August 12th? Well, it is possible that it had oversummered locally, but more likely, this individual has staged a short-distance “molt-migration,” where it moved a (relatively) short distance to find a good food source in order to fuel its molt (the growth of a complete set of new feathers is very energy-intensive).

Then, on Monday, Jeannette and I headed south to attend a trade show in Massachusetts. On the way down, we took a stroll around the Kennebunk Plains. Although we were at least a week too early for the full glory of the blooming Northern Blazing Star, there was still a showy display. Birding wasn’t great, as typical of this time of year, but I’m sure we would have seen more if we had spent less time bent over munching on blueberries!

I met Marshall early this morning at Biddeford Pool Beach. On the incoming tide, shorebirds were rapidly building in from the Pool and Hill’s Beach as those locations were being flooded. We’ll get to the shorebirds in a moment, but even besides the throngs of shorebirds, there was just a lot of activity this morning.

Small groups of Barn Swallows maneuvered overhead, Common Terns were busy commuting, 3 Common Loons loafed offshore, a pair of Black Scoters were still around, Northern Gannets were passing by, and Marshall spotted a fly-by Manx Shearwater – always a treat to see from land. A family group of 4 Green Herons were vociferous and busy flying around for no apparent reason, a Merlin briefly landed on the beach before continuing her hunting, and a few early-migrant warblers were buzzing overhead (at least one of which was a Yellow).

The shorebird numbers weren’t too bad either:
200+ Semipalmated Plovers (a nice count indeed)
~ 500 Semipalmated Sandpipers (another nice tally)
50 Sanderling
2 Ruddy Turnstones (with about 10 more on the rocks nearby)
1 juvenile Piping Plover (always good to see)

We then dropped into East Point Sanctuary for a spell. A Northern Waterthrush along the path was definitely a migrant – they don’t breed nearby - so along with the Yellow Warblers in flight earlier, it is clear that passerine migration is underway. Five Spotted Sandpipers worked the rocky shoreline, but larger numbers of shorebirds were on the rocks off of Ocean Avenue, so we soon headed over there.

Mike arrived, and we tallied the plethora of shorebirds settling in for a high-tide snooze:
570 Semipalmated Sandpipers
110 Semipalmated Plovers
15+ Ruddy Turnstones
10+ Sanderling
2 Willets
2 Spotted Sandpipers
1 American Oystercatcher (a good bird for the day list, and a state bird for Mike)

On Tuesday, Jeannette and I decided to do a bit of exploring in Lisbon. Our primary destination was Beaver Park. But first, we had to check out breakfast at the Railroad Diner in Lisbon Falls, which turned out not only to be very good, but also large quantities for very little money! The first stop was a success.

On our way to Beaver Park, I noticed Miller Park and the Papermill Road Trail. We don’t drive this stretch of 196 very often, and we hadn’t noticed this new park before. It’s a 0.8 mile paved multipurpose trail along the Sabattus River. The scrubby riparian understory and mixed woods look like they would be very good in migration, especially for early migrants in April. A weedy field at the north end looked good for sparrows in the fall, where and Indigo Bunting was singing today. We were already planning to add this site to the list when we happened upon an active feeding flock that contained a pair of American Redstarts with two fledglings, 3-4 basic plumaged Chestnut-sided Warbers, 2 Red-eyed Vireos, and a female Canada Warbler among a group of Black-capped Chickadees and Tufted Titmice. Yup, this park is added to the list.

We didn’t have as much success when we finally reached Beaver Park (off of Cotton Rd, not far from Lisbon center). However, the mixed woods dominated by White Pine, Red Oak, and Red Maple, interspersed with patched of White (?) Spruce, Eastern Hemlock, Red Pine, etc looks like it will be worth another visit when breeding birds are more actively singing, such as in June. Not much today thought, but a Canada Warbler was still singing. Mostly though, we heard the buzzing of deer flies – no shortage of these guys here, much to Sasha’s chagrin.

We needed more of these guys . . . Robber Flies. Here one enjoying its Deer Fly lunch.

So, this weekend is a big one at the store – it’s our 3-YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

To celebrate this milestone, we’ve lined up a bunch of fun stuff:
All Weekend:
Free, fresh popcorn (I take any excuse I can to rent a popcorn machine!)
Free, iced shade-grown (bird-friendly)organic coffee, and other beverages!
Special Markdowns around the store.

And these FREE EVENTS:
8:00am – 10:30am – Free Bird Walk, as usual! Meet at the store to carpool to a local park. Bring binoculars.
11:00am – 12:00pm – “Scales and Tails”: a program given by the Chewonki Foundation featuring LIVE REPTILES!
12:30pm – 12:45pm – Children’s Book Reading. Local author and illustrator Sunshine Young of Pownal will read from her new book Mother Earth’s ABC.
1:00pm – 2:00pm – “Birds of Prey”: also by the Chewonki Foundation, featuring LIVE RAPTORS!

On Sunday, August 12th, join us for a bonus free birdwalk (meet at the store at 8:00am).

Door Prizes to be given out every hour, plus one Grand Prize compliments of Photographer Kirk Rogers!

Hope to see you this weekend!

August means shorebirds, and most of my birding this month is centered around this great group of birds.

On Sunday, I spent half of the day birding around Biddeford. I did my usual routine: park at East Point, bird there, and then check the rocks along Ocean Avenue. Walk Biddeford Pool Beach, check the pond near the parking lot there, and then cross over to the Pool behind Hatties.

Nothing too exciting was to be found today, but a pair of Black Scoters off of the beach was unseasonable. The tide was a bit lower than I would have preferred by the time I arrived at Hattie’s, but there was a good amount of birds in the Pool (the low tide, however, means that they are more widely spread out across the whole area, however). Nevertheless, I tallied:
112 Semipalmated Sandpipers
56 Semipalmated Plovers
28 Black-bellied Plovers
17 Willets
13 Short-billed Dowitchers
8 Ruddy Turnstones
4 Lesser Yellowlegs
4+ Least Sandpipers
3 Whimbrels
1 Greater Yellowlegs

Then, I completed my circuit by checking Vine’s Landing, Great Pond, and a few of the remnant woodlots in the neighborhood before returning to my car and heading over to Hill’s Beach. I arrived at dead low tide, just when I prefer to start my visit here. And today, Hill’s Beach did not disappoint.

On Saturday evening, we conducted out second “Casco Bay Terns aboard the Lucky Catch” trip out of Portland to view the tern colony at Outer Green Island. (By the way, the young lady holding the crab in the picture on their homepage is Anna, our summer employee - small world!)

We left the dock at 4:00pm. Captain Tom and I were a bit concerned. The cold front had yet to come through, and the south winds were still going strong. Therefore, so was the swell – which we would have to deal with in order to reach Outer Green, about 2 miles beyond the shelter of Casco Bay. But, the Bridled Tern has been reported again a week or so ago, so we just had to give it a try!

As we were leaving the harbor, Pat and I spotted a 1st Cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull at the mouth of the Fore River/Portland Harbor. A good bird for mid-summer, and a good start to our trip. Our only chance for a comfortable – and safe! - ride was to first head north in the bay, sticking to the shelter of Peak’s Island. As we rounded Peak’s, passing Pumpkin Knob (after stopping to photograph an Osprey nest with at least one chick), we made out turn towards Outer Green.

It was a bit rough. Tom and Dave (the First Mate) looked at me with a “We’re not sure if we’ll be able to do this,” glance and surveyed the participants – OK, good, no chumming yet. But, we were in a low 37-foot lobster boat, and the waves were getting bigger. It wasn’t looking good. About half-way there (with the island shimmering in the sunlight; so close, yet so far!), Tom didn’t seem too enthused. Safety (with comfort a distant second) has to come before the twitch, so he instructed Dave to make one last-ditch effort. We tacked north to get ourselves in a better line for handling the swell (running straight into it, rather than being rolled side-to-side as we were angled into each wave), and by-golly, it worked like a charm! It wasn’t exactly smooth, but it was manageable, and safe. Helluva job, boys!

As we approached Outer Green, terns were flying every which way. Birds were coming to the island with fish, some were foraging, and many juveniles were flying about. We were able to spot a few Roseates among the plethora of Commons. In the lee of the island, we just moseyed back and forth, enjoying the activity, the sounds, and searching for a certain larger tern with a black back and wings, which unfortunately, did not appear to be present. A few Northern Gannets were passing by, Common Eiders and Black Guillemots were in the water, Double-crested Cormorants were sunning on the rocks, a Spotted Sandpiper was foraging at the water’s edge, and at least 100 Ruddy Turnstones were catching some z’s. A few Semipalmated Sandpipers, along with a few small flocks of unidentified peeps presumably also Semi-Sands, were also encountered to and fro.

Every now and then, a gull would make a pass over the island, causing the majority if the tern colony to take flight and either flee (the youngsters who could fly) or pursue the intruder (the aggressive adults). It made for an impressive show, but the gull certainly wasn’t doing this for our benefit – it was looking for dinner. In fact, we did see one adult Herring Gull grab something – presumably a tern chick – from within the grass.

With the tide now heading out, and the wind decreasing, we enjoyed a relaxing, smoother ride back into town. No Bridled Tern, but a successful and enjoyable trip nonetheless!

Sticking close to home again this morning, a stroll at Freeport’s Florida Lake Park produced a very agitated Marsh Wren (breeding here?), an American Bittern (always a treat to see), and two male Canada Warblers (one singing, one seen).

The other day, I was tagged by the “8 Random Facts Meme” from my friend David LaPuma and his Woodcreeper.com blog.

Apparently, it’s like bad blog karma or something to not partake in these shenanigans, so I guess I have no choice.

The rules are as follows:
· Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
· People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
· At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
· Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
OK. Whatever. Anything for good blog karma; don’t want to upset the balance of the blogosphere, afterall.

So, here are my 8 Random Facts:
1) My favorite birds are, in no particular order, Cedar Waxwing, Swallow-tailed Kite, Merlin, and Black-throated Blue Warbler.
2) In college, I once ate 100 buffalo wings in 100 minutes. I didn’t feel so great afterwards.
3) In junior high, I won the “Best Defensive Player” award at baseball camp. That week, I had one hit. I was the prototypical late inning defensive replacement and pinch runner. My baseball “career” was short lived.
4) My five favorite restaurants, in no particular order, is the Great Lost Bear, Mac’s Grill, The Mediterranean Grill, Saeng Thai, and Asmara.
5) Since Dave’s 8 Random Facts brought up sense of smell, or lackthereof, I thought I would share the fact that I have a poor sense of smell after having sleep apnea corrective surgery when I was in college. Hey, at least I don’t snore anymore! (Does that count as another fact?)
6) I find simple things like writing down 8 simple facts to be unreasonably difficult.
7) My first internship was studying the effects of pesticides on birds in orchards of Eastern West Virginia. We had to band, and take blood samples from, birds while wearing Tyvek suits and rubber gloves. That was hot.
8) I like candy.

And the 8 Blogs that I am now tagging.
1) Dan Nickerson’s Raven Watcher natural history blog.
2) The art world of my very talented cousin Greg Siff.
3) Jeff Bouton’s Leica Birding Blog.
4) Mike Greenfelder’s "Sunset Chasing" blog, documenting his Big Year Competition.
5) Drew Fulton’s “Of Emus and Fairy Wrens” following his bird photography travels across Australia.
6) Jeff Wells’ Boreal Bird blog at the Boreal Songbird Initiative.
7) Bill Schmoker’s BRDPICS blog.
8) David’s Woodcreeper.com, just because he sent this blasted Meme to me and I can’t think of any more blog to tag myself.

After being away for a week, much of the past few days has been spent catching up. Therefore, my morning birding has been rather limited. Nonetheless, I managed so squeeze in at least an hour or three each morning. With increased activity with so many birds fledging, shorebird migration in full swing and the beginnings of passerine migration - along with post-breeding dispersal now underway, which is a great way for rarities to find their way here - August birding can be a lot of fun.

On Monday, with a few errands to run in the big city, I checked out Portland’s Dragon Field and the Eastern Promenade. There was quite a bit of activity at Dragon Field, including at least 15 Bobolinks, a Green Heron, and two busy pairs of Indigo Buntings. One pair already had two fledglings out of the nest, the second pair was collecting food, presumably for nestlings. Both males occasionally interrupted their foraging for a few moments of singing. Then, at the Eastern Promenade, a smattering of shorebirds included 11 Semipalmated Plovers, 5 Spotted Sandpipers, 3 Greater Yellowlegs, and 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers. Tree Swallows (40+) were on the move, heading south, overhead.

On Tuesday, Jeannette and I visited the New Gloucester Marsh, where we enjoyed 9 singing Alder Flycatchers and 2 Wood Ducks. We also scouted out the sod farms on Mayhall Rd, one of my favorite late August and early September shorebird locations (great for American Golden-Plover and the occasional Buff-breasted Sandpiper, for example). But, as I expected, there’s no longer a sod farm along Mayhall Rd – it’s all veggies this year. Well, one birding locale off the list, but hey, better than condos!

On Wednesday morning, a visit to Hedgehog Mountain Park yielded more “breeding confirmation” of the local residents, with more fledglings out and about. The same was true this morning at Bradbury Mountain State Park, where I also heard a calling Black-billed Cuckoo, my first for this location, I believe.