It wasn’t a very birding, nor a very pleasant, morning stroll at Hedgehog Mountain Park today. Light rain, and temperatures in the upper 30’s were less than ideal conditions. Yesterday however, Jeannette and I enjoyed a very productive, and very pleasant outing in Scarborough Marsh. Temperatures rose into the low 40’s (10+ degrees above normal), with mostly sunny skies, and very light winds through the early afternoon.

Even though this is not the most productive season in the marsh, it was an enjoyable day. We tallied 31 total Hooded Mergansers in three places (Jones Creek, Eastern Rd, and Dunstan Landing), a couple of large flocks of American Robins, a single immature Northern Shrike (my 17th of the season in Maine!) at Dunstan Landing, and a pair of adult Bald Eagles circling over Rte 1/9 on the north side of the marsh. Plus, Sasha got to run on the beach, and we got to skip the parkas, so it was a successful January outing.

We also saw a Barred Owl hunting at the Scarborough River Preserve. Unfortunately, our enthusiasm was tempered by the realization that an owl (most owls, that is), hunting during the day is not a good sign – it usually means that it is starving.

Speaking of owls – RANT ALERT! RANT ALERT! – I was sorry to read this morning that a Great Gray Owl that has been seen in Jackson, Maine, is now at a wildlife rehabilitation center. It was first suspected of being hit by a car, but the initial diagnosis was that it was severely emaciated. Anecdotal reports and opinions indicate that harassment from birders may have played a role in this bird’s trouble. This one was lucky, rehabbers were able to capture it, and give it a chance to survive. But, once again, the inability to exercise self-control on the part of some birders and photographers (and only some; most birders and photographers were perfectly well-behaved) put a bird at risk. I firmly believe that birders have killed Great Grays before, and the MAY have come close this time. Behavior by a few bad apples not only ruins it for everyone, but can severely impact the birds we’re all trying to enjoy. If this was an isolated incident, we can fairly easily ignore the significance of it. However, this is a pattern that has been repeated time and time again, especially with such charismatic megafauna as Great Gray Owls. There’s a reason I don’t go looking for birds like the Jackson Great Gray – I just don’t want to be part of the mayhem. And, this episode yet again reaffirms my commitment not to broadcast rare owls. It’s sad, really. Hopefully, for this one Great Gray, there will be a happy ending.

After a short - and nearly bird-free - walk this morning with Sasha at Florida Lake Park, I set out to check a few of the local shoreline nooks and crannies of Freeport and Yarmouth. Visits to the South Freeport Town Landing and Winslow Park failed to produce any Barrow’s Goldeneye – there’s still very little ice in the river, and the 20-30mph north wind was churning up some nice chop (not to mention blowing in my face, causing my eyes to tear-up and along with the 18-degree temperature, causing me to spend a few less moments at the tip of Winslow!). I did, however, see three Hooded Mergansers behind the Muddy Rudder restaurant, 4 Pine Grosbeaks along Rte 88 in Yarmouth, just south of Bayview St., and all three mergansers (Common, Hooded, and Red-breasted) were together in the Royal River off of the Lower Falls Landing.

But, I didn’t have too much time out and about this morning, as the pile of work here at the store still needs to be whittled down after my recent peregrinations. This blog, for example. So, without any further ado, here’s my Photojournal from my recent trip to New Mexico with WINGS (see the previous two entries).

1/19
Gavin and I arrived last night, and after picking up the van this morning, we began some scouting, beginning with the Chochiti Lake area, followed by the Rio Grande Nature Center.

A couple of large ponds here, easily viewed from blinds and from within the nature center building provide excellent views of a number of common local waterfowl . . .

. . . such as Wood Ducks . . .

. . . but also a rather rare Hooded Merganser.

While multiple well-stocked feeding stations hosted hundreds of White-crowned Sparrows of the gambelli subspecies.

I returned home yesterday evening, and was greeted by a fresh coating of snow this morning to cover up the dirty, yucky (technical term) piles of brown snow and make everything look all pretty again. A flock of about 25 Pine Grosbeaks feeding in some crabapple trees in the Yarmouth butterfly garden- visible from our store’s window – was a nice “welcome back” as well.

New Mexico was a blast. We had lots of great birds – and great food, of course! This was my first tour with WINGS, and hopefully not my last. Gavin, my co-leader for this trip, will have a full trip report up on the WINGS website in the next couple of days, so I’ll leave it to him to summarize the trip. (I’ll post the link in my next blog entry).

We finished with 147 species or 148 species (depending on whether the turkeys at the Rio Grande Nature Center turn out to be “countable). In addition, I had one additional species – a Swamp Sparrow – that we could not refind with the group. Highlights included the aforementioned (see previous blog entry) Rufous-backed Robin and a Barnacle Goose that we successfully twitched at Maxwell National Wildlife Refuge (if accepted by the state’s records committee, this would be a First State Record. I also think it is safe to say that we are the first tour in history to record both Rufous-backed Robin (from Mexico) and Barnacle Goose (from Greenland) in the same trip!

Greetings from New Mexico! Socorro, to be exact . . .

As you know, I am down here to co-lead a WINGS tour with Gavin Bieber. We've been having a great time, with great birding, and great southwestern food!

I'll summarize our trip when I return to the Great White North, but I wanted to get out my photos of a most-unexpected treat yesterday, a Rufous-backed Robin (a friend of Gavin's believes that this may only be a 7th New Mexico record, and likely the first for Sierra County).

We were birding the Animas Valley, which is the only drainage east of the Continental Divide with Arizona Sycamores, and therefore this area hosts a few more-western species, including Acorn Woodpecker (we saw a pair), Red-naped Sapsucker (we had one), and especially, Bridled Titmouse (we encountered one foraging flock of 6). A single Inca Dove and a single Hairy Woodpecker were our only individuals of the trip so far, and a lone Green-tailed Towhee was another targeted bird (but we dipped on the vagrant Red-headed Woodpecker).

However, then things got exciting!

So, it seems winter has indeed returned to Maine! Well, while “all ya-all” were shoveling snow, Jeannette and I were watching a tropical hummingbird in 60-degree temperatures while bursting our belts with BBQ and soul food in Georgia. But, alas, we’ll pay the price – or first morning home will be (has been) spent clearing our driveway. Luckily, our snowblower has been repaired, and was dropped off at our house, but unfortunately, that snowblower is itself under a foot of snow (See addendum, however!) So, in addition to all of the usual mayhem involved with returning from a trip - albeit a brief one – such as rescuing Sasha from “camp” and catching up with voluminous quantities of emails, we’ll also be removing at least a foot of snow from our very steep, and long, driveway. Therefore, to ease the workload on Wednesday, I am writing this entry while flying home Tuesday night.

So, after two days of being stuck indoors at our annual trade show in Atlanta – and eating three meals in three days at the BBQ Kitchen (Day 1 dinner: pulled pork with collared greens, fried okra, rutabagas, and of course, cornbread. Day 2 breakfast: biscuits with sausage gravy and grits. Day 3 lunch: country fried steak with collared greens, cucumber salad, and a baked apple – with more cornbread, of course!) – we picked up our rental car and headed southeast to Dublin. Each year that we’ve traveled down here for BirdWatch America (look for some of our exciting finds to be arriving at the store in the coming weeks!), we’ve taken some time to do a little birding – a mini-vacation, if you will – somewhere in the state. This year, we only had a day and a half to “play,” since I leave for New Mexico on Friday morning, and I figured I should spend SOME time at home, and at the store, this month.

Our destination of Dublin was chosen due to one hummingbird feeder on the outskirts of town. This hummingbird feeder, ordinary by most standards, was being graced by a most extraordinary hummingbird – a Green-breasted Mango from Central (and South) America. The hummer has been frequenting these feeders for a couple of months now, and it was nice enough – and the weather temperate enough – to stick around until we got to town. Therefore, we decided to go look for the hummer, and then see what else Central Georgia had to offer – in terms of both birds and BBQ!

So, there we were – with another couple who owned a bird store (in Montreal), and were also chasing the bird after spending the weekend at the trade show. Soon, another two bird store-owners – from Florida this time – arrived, and the six of us stood there in the driveway of the hummingbird’s – and visiting birders’ – gracious host. We arrived at about 8:30 – after getting lost; I’m still not sure how it took a half hour to get somewhere that was only 8 miles from our motel! – but the bird had not yet been seen. Phew.

We enjoyed another rare hummingbird just across the street: an immature male Rufous Hummingbird that had been overshadowed in the hoopla associated with its neighbor, as well as other area feeder-birds, including lots of Chipping Sparrows and a Brown-headed Nuthatch. Then, shortly after our third party arrived, a large hummingbird zipped up to the feeder under the carport. A long, downcurved bill and a distinctive underparts pattern – three racing stripes ran down its white breast, two orange along the sides and one dark green down the middle. GREEN-BREASTED MANGO!

My Wednesday morning birding was limited to a visit to Portland’s Capisic Pond Park while out running errands. Good ol’ Capisic though – there’s always something to see here, and once again, it was quite (relatively speaking) birdy. While the only frugivores were a single American Robin and a group of 17 Cedar Waxwings, I was quite interested to watch American Goldfinches feeding on crabapples as well. At first, I thought maybe they were just digging for their seeds, but close inspection revealed that they were in fact eating the flesh. I don’t think that I have seen this before. They feasted away for a while, at least until a Northern Shrike – my 16th of the winter! – came zipping by!

During my stroll around Hedgehog Mountain Park on Thursday morning, I noticed a considerable increase in the territorial activity of woodpeckers. A Pileated was loudly announcing his intentions, combining drumming with bouts of calling, while Hairy Woodpeckers were also busy delineating their territories. Although the days are now only marginally longer (it is day length that triggers hormonal changes that trigger the various seasonal activities), the earliest breeding birds are already beginning to think about spring (and the warm weather doesn’t hurt).

Later in the day, a flock of about 25 Common Redpolls descended on our store’s feeders. Jeannette and I were combing through them, and one was definitely a bit bigger, and quite a bit whiter. Unfortunately, a close pass overhead by a Rock Pigeon cause the redpolls to panic and they took flight – not to be seen again. It COULD have been a Hoary, but I guess we’ll never know!

So, it does look like our January thaw is coming to an end, with temperatures predicted to return to normal by early next week. It certainly felt less spring-like as I wandered around in the sleet and cold rain at Florida Lake (with few birds to show for it!)

For us, we’ll continue to enjoy spring-like (in Maine) temperatures for a couple of more days, it seems, as in a few minutes we’ll be leaving for our trade show in Atlanta. After two days of bidness, we’ll take a day and half to do some birding. And, since the Green-breasted Mango and Smith’s Longspur are still around, we are very much looking forward to that outing!

There was little chance that Jeannette and I were not going to be taking full advantage of Tuesday’s spring-like weather on our day off. Temperatures in Portland reached 61F, setting a new record high, and nearly doubling the normal average high (31). A broad southerly flow – which increased in strength on Wednesday – and mostly sunny skies made for an unusually warm January Thaw day.

Jeannette and I covered the southern York County coastline, from Kittery to Moody Beach. We began in Kittery, with surprisingly few birds – even waterbirds – at Fort Foster, but nearby Seapoint Beach produced one Common Redpoll and an immature Northern Shrike.

The York Harbor Cliff Path was very productive, with a handful of Dark-eyed Juncos present, along with our second Northern Shrike of the morning (number 15 this year for me already!) and our best bird of the day – a “lingering” Gray Catbird! This hardy guy certainly welcomed the change in weather, but it is amazing that it has survived this long with our harsh weather to date. Of course, there is the potential of this bird being a freak mid-winter “reverse” migrant, especially given this strong southerly flow.

More typical winter-in-Maine birds were to be found at the Nubble – including 11 Harlequin Ducks, and Ogunquit’s Marginal Way produced another 24 of these festive birds. While the flock of 15 or so Cedar Waxwings perched in a crabapple tree was far from unusual, the fact that these birds were not feeding on apples at the time, but were flycatching a hatch of small midges was most unusual for the date (that, and I was observing this while in a t-shirt!).

Our birding day really heated up when we arrived at the Cliff House. 14 more Harlequin Ducks were present. A Pacific Loon was discovered here on Sunday, and it was one of the very few verified, documented reports of this species, so we hoped to get a look. It wasn’t long before we THOUGHT we had found it. A smaller, dark-backed loon, with a more smoothly rounded head, smaller bill, and a “maned” neck appearance. It was a bit far, and it just seemed too big to us – and especially to wide – more along the lines of a small Common Loon, but the head and neck shape fit Pacific, as did the relative proportions of the bill to the head. Unfortunately, it was the only loon around, so we had nothing to compare it to.

I have just returned from a super trip to Toronto. Friends and fun, the International Bowl, and some great birding made for a perfect little vacation. As usual, I combined my trip to cheer for my alma mater, Rutgers, with some local birding.

After numerous delays, I arrived in Toronto on Wednesday night, and met up with Hugh Currie (a friend of a friend of a friend), and after picking up Andrew Don, I began my first day of birding in the Greater Toronto area. Hugh had graciously offered to pick me up at my hotel, which was adjacent to the CN Tower . . .

Yet another snow storm slammed us with up to 10” Sunday night into Monday morning. Therefore, yet another morning was spent clearing the driveway – about 9 inches fell on us in Pownal, and the warm temperatures of the last few days provided enough melting to form a nice solid sheet of ice underneath the snow. That was nice. Jeannette had the day off (since I got the day off on Sunday to play with Ed and Doug on the Freeport-Brunswick CBC; see Monday’s post), so my birding was limited to feeder-watching at the store (plus 6 Pine Grosbeaks passing over Pownal Rd on my way to work) - which included the continuing flock of Cedar Waxwings (about 75), now with at least 5 Bohemians mixed in. The feeders themselves continued to be very active, as well, with much better diversity (19-20 species a day) than we usually have in mid-winter.

On Tuesday, I spent the better part of the day sitting in my recliner watching bowl games and the outdoor NHL Winter Classic (which was a lot of fun to watch an exciting game in the snow of Buffalo). Believe it or not, however, this was not by choice! Originally, we were planning to head to Cape Ann to look for the Slaty-backed Gull (which, of course, was indeed refound this day, along with a bunch of white-winged Gulls, and a Thayer’s Gull) and some of the other fun stuff in the area. But, the approaching snowstorm – and our disinterest in driving north through it at night, or trying to race north Thursday morning to catch my plane in Portland – squashed that idea.

Local birding and some cross-country skiing would have been just fine, however, but an awkward attempt at opening a garage door that turned out to be frozen Monday morning rendered me almost completely useless on Tuesday, thanks to a surprisingly painful muscle injury in my lower back. (Although I have to admit, I have been pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of those disposable heat-wraps.) Nevertheless, I didn’t do a whole lot on Tuesday except watch hockey and football, except for a trip into Freeport to pick up said heat wraps, and to have the bindings mounted on my new skiis – which I really wanted to get out and try in the falling afternoon snow! This trip did produce a few good birds, however, with 25 or so Pine Grosbeaks in the crabapples in front of the Pine Tree Academy on Pownal Road, 6 Pine Grosbeaks perched in a tree along Main St. near the LL Bean headquarters, but no Barrow’s Goldeneye were visible from the South Freeport Town Landing.