Kirk hired me for another day of private guiding (see www.yarmouthbirds.com for more info) on Friday. Kirk’s a bird photographer, so our goal was to add new species to his photo library – not unlike a birder seeking additions to our life lists. We decided to give the Kennebunk Plains a try, as a number of the breeding species here are rare and local elsewhere and the state, and a few of them would be new birds for Kirk.

Of course, the hardest part of guiding for a photographer is that I don’t just have to find the bird, I have to find it close enough to photograph (well). That was our challenge today, and although we saw 2 Grasshopper Sparrows and at least 6 Upland Sandpipers, they were not very close. Vesper Sparrows on the other hand, were more than cooperative today – in fact, extraordinarily so, as Kirk nearly filled a memory card on Vesper shots alone. The rest of the cast of characters (Field Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark, etc) were present and accounted for as well, but Prairie Warblers were conspicuously few and far between for us – and this is one of the species I thought we had the best chance to photograph well!

After a few hours in the Plains, we checked out the Sanford Sewerage facility for shorebirds. There were some – I had certainly hoped for more – but low water levels from our (continuing) lack of rain had spread those birds out more widely than the norm. A few individuals did cooperate for the camera today, however. My totals for the visit were: 34 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 28 Semipalmated Plovers, 6+ Least Sandpipers, 6 Spotted Sandpipers, 6+ Killdeer, 2 White-rumped Sandpipers, and 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, along with a pair of Ring-necked Ducks.

There were some birds on the move Thursday night into Friday, as exemplified by the 2:00am (Friday morning) radar . . .

. . . But the radar images from Friday night into Saturday proved that there are plenty of birds still working their way north. By the 2:00am radar image, it’s tough to tell what is bird and what is rain, but there were certainly a lot of birds on the move. Here are the 10:00pm, 12:00am, 2:00am, and 4:00am radar images:

I’ve been out of town and away from the store for the last few days, so I’m playing a bit of catch-up on all fronts. As for my birding over my past few days, it has been truly fantastic – as the last week of May often is.

Saturday, 5/24.
2:30pm: Left store.
3:15pm: Arrived at Morse Mountain in Phippsburg.
4:00pm: Walked over Morse Mountain to Seawall Beach (2 miles).Desperately searched for previously reported Curlew Sandpiper, but no shorebirds were present as tide was just beginning to recede (a few roosting shorebirds were visible on offshore rocks).
4:45pm: First few Black-bellied Plovers arrived on beach. Jeannette’s voice saying “This is why I don’t chase birds!” was ringing in my head.
5:02pm: CURLEW SANDPIPER arrives along with 1 Red Knot, 1 White-rumped Sandpiper, 7 Sanderlings, and 24 Semipalmated Sandpipers. Photographed. Phew, all was not in vain!
5:08pm: Curlew Sand flew about 300 yards, viewed at distance
5:20pm: Pointed it out to Jan, who just arrived. I left, walking quickly and jogging portions of the two miles back to the car (with scope).
5:50-ish: Left for Machias.
10:00pm-ish: Arrived, exhausted, in Machias for Downeast Birding Fest. Numerous passerine calls were heard overhead, but I could barely stand. Would have loved to listen and count carefully, but instead I went inside and passed out. Yes, this was even more tiring that it sounded, but hey, I got a state bird and I didn’t have to wake up ‘till 5:30am -- ugh.

And, for the record, Jeannette successfully twitched the ‘piper the next morning!

Sunday, 5/25.
Downeast Birding Festival trip to Machias Seal Island with Captain Andy Patterson.
Near dead calm, sunny, warm (I was on the island in a t-shirt!!). Amazing, more-than-perfect day.

I was nearly as excited about this visit for the landbird potential as I was for the seabirds, as almost anything can show up out here at this time of year. Here’s the landbird list for the visit:
Savannah Sparrow: 10+ (breeder).
Gray Catbird: 4-5
White-crowned Sparrow: 3
Barn Swallow: 2
Common Yellowthroat: 2
Alder Flycatcher (my first of the year): 1-2
Least Flycatcher: 1
Tree Swallow: 1
Cliff Swallow: 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch: 1 female (been present for about 10 days, flycatching from wire and foraging on side of the lighthouse and other buildings).
NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD: 1(arrived on 5/24, may only have been island’s second or third record).
Yellow Warbler: 1
American Redstart: 1
White-throated Sparrow: 1

3 Purple Sandpipers were lingering on Gull Rock, while the only seabird that we had in transit was a single Northern Gannet on the way back. As for the seabirds on the island, however, well, that was another story. The good news is that terns were back, and quite a bit of courtship feeding was observed – they had completely abandoned the island last year. We enjoyed over 200+ Arctic Terns on this day, with some Common Terns mixed in. As for the alcids, and our time in the blinds? Well, words really can’t describe this place – especially on gorgeous days like this - so I’m not even going to try. Therefore, I’ll just leave it to the pictures! (All photos taken by “digi-binning” – holding my digital point-and-shoot up to my binoculars).

This puffin was excavating its burrow under the blind.

The Common Murres prefer lower ledges, near the water, as opposed to the rubble higher up where the puffins and Razorbills breed.

One of my goals for my visit was to improve my selection of Razorbill images. The bright sun on a black and white bird is tough, but I think I did pretty well.

Razorbill egg.

After begrudgingly returning to the mainland, I grabbed some lunch, and then decide that it was best to not return to my motel, otherwise there’s little doubt that I would not make it out for the banquet. Instead, I took a leisurely stroll to the water (3 miles roundtrip) via the Bold Coast trails, which included a great look at a Bay-breasted Warbler. I sat down at the bluff to enjoy the view. I woke up a half-hour later and had to really hustle to make dinner!

5/26. Quoddy Head State Park, Lubec, 6:00am.
I would have preferred to sleep later than 4:30am this morning, but there was no way I was going to miss leading this trip! Although we did not plan on making the entire 4-mile loop, we did – note: the cut-off trail that links the Coastal and Interior Trails, as shown on the park map, does not exist! – and were rewarded with some great birding. Two Great Cormorants were off the point, and an Eastern Bluebird was in the parking lot. We tallied 11 species of warblers, including a crippling view of a Blackburnian, and a great look at the breeding Palm Warbler in the bog. The local Lincoln’s Sparrow also cooperated, and after giving chase to a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and not seeing it, we had point-blank views of one (my first of the year) farther down the trail.

My next stop was the Lubec Flats on the incoming tide. I tallied 76 Black-bellied Plovers, 3 Short-billed Dowitchers, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Willet, and one Least Sandpiper. Then, I took a walk around the streets of Lubec. 50+ Cedar Waxwings were scattered about, feeding in blooming apple trees. I encountered a few migrant warblers, but the highlight – possibly the “best” bird of the festival weekend, was an immature male Orchard Oriole in an apple tree on Green Street. I’m guessing that there are not many records of this southerly species in Washington County.

Arrived home in Pownal at 7:30pm.

5/27. Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, 6:15am. With Jeannette. Hot! 85 degrees in Portland was a new record.
Light southwesterly winds overnight likely had birds on the move in volume, but there was nothing to concentrate them. Nonetheless, we had a very good morning. What was lacking in warbler diversity (8 species) was (nearly) made up in flycatcher species (7!). In fact, if we were able to locate a single Eastern Phoebe, we would have tied! Our first Willow Flycatcher(1) of the year, and my first local Alder (1-2) and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers (1), were treats, joining 5+ Least Flycatchers, 3+ Eastern Wood-Pewees, 2 Great-crested Flycatchers, and 2 Eastern Kingbirds. A fly-over Glossy Ibis was a good sighting as well.

Capisic Pond Park hosted a pair of Ring-necked Ducks (interesting; are they considering breeding here?) and the local pair of Orchard Orioles. Then, in the afternoon, we walked Sasha at the Merrymeeting Wildlife Management Area in Bowdoinham, which produced 4 Prairie Warblers and a Yellow-rumped Warbler singing along Brown’s Point Road was our 13th warbler species of the day, while an Eastern Phoebe – finally! - was our 8th flycatcher of the day (only Olive-sided eluded us), and a glistening Indigo Bunting was pleasing.

5/28.
Last night, my friend Chris - who lives in Georgia, but works in Florida, but is originally from New Jersey, but whom I met when I worked in Florida . . .oh, nevermind, but I haven’t seen him in 7 years – arrived to begin a week of birding Maine (he went to Unity College). This morning, we poked around some of my local patches. There was virtually no migration last night on a moderate northwesterly wind, so our birding was a bit slow, but the various local breeders were what we were more interested in anyway. We then worked our way down to Sprawlborough Marsh, where I was able to get Chris his lifer Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows. In fact, the looks we had were absolutely amazing, as we watched a battle between 4 birds that even involved some serious wrestling!

Although we were not really following the right tide schedule for the maximum shorebird activity at the various locations we visited, we still had some very good totals. 7 White-rumped Sandpipers and a Pectoral Sandpiper were in the salt pannes off the Eastern Road Trail, but most of the other shorebirds had departed for the tidal flats by the time we had arrived. And, by the time we hit said tidal flats, the flats were almost fully exposed, and many of the shorebirds were far. Nonetheless, our count was very good. 5 Red Knots and 100+ Dunlin (my first of the year, and maybe my highest spring count in the state?) led the way, along with 150+ Semipalmated Sandpipers, 125+ Black-bellied Plovers, 40+ Ruddy Turnstones, 30+ Semipalmated Plovers, and 20+ Short-billed Dowitchers. About 50 Bonaparte’s Gulls were also present, and a lone Brant was a bit late, and rather out of place sitting on a sandbar. The swallow show (4 species) behind the Pelreco building was quite impressive, and overall it was a great outing with a nice mix of birds, and some great conversation as we had quite a bit of catching up to do!

Now, my plan was to return to the store, sort the photos, and post my blog, but when I did return to the store, I of course, found plenty of work after being gone for 3 ½ days. Therefore, this catch-up summary continues with . . .

5/29.
Chris got an early start on his trip north and east, so I simply enjoyed a leisurely walk with Sasha at Hedgehog Mountain Park. The highlights were a migrant Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, and a female Scarlet Tanager gathering nesting material on the “summit”, walking to within 3 feet of both me and the dog.

5/30???
Sleeping you ask? Uh, maybe next week!

On Friday, Dan and I spent the morning birding around Biddeford Pool. I expected few birds to be on the move overnight, thanks to west to northwest winds overnight. This was later confirmed on the radar, but nonetheless, we encountered quite a few migrants (granted, many may have been here for a couple of days), and ended up with a decent total of 15 species of warblers.

My first 6 Roseate Terns of the year were off East Point, as were five lingering Purple Sandpipers. But, it was a long and winding walk through the neighborhood that bore the most fruit this morning. After the locally breeding Yellow Warblers and Common Yellowthroats, Magnolia Warblers were the most common warbler encountered (at least 12), with our tally also including my first Blackpoll Warbler of the spring, 5 Black-throated Blue Warblers, and one Canada Warbler. After recording 13 species of warblers in the neighborhood, an Ovenbird along Old Pool Road and a Pine Warbler in Hill’s Beach gave us our total of 15 for the day.

Meanwhile, the growing numbers of shorebirds were a real treat. First, we checked out Hill’s Beach, which hosted 59 Black-bellied and 37 Semipalmated Plovers, my first 6 Short-billed Dowitchers of the year, two Willets, and one Greater Yellowlegs. It was the excellent count of 84 Ruddy Turnstones, however, that stole the show. After a while here, we headed back over the The Pool, to enjoy the shorebirds there. It’s more than likely that at least some of the shorebirds from Hill’s Beach had now dropped into the Pool as the tide crept in, but our totals were still quite good. My very crude estimations were as follows: 100+ Black-bellied Plovers, 75+ Ruddy Turnstones, 50+ Semipalmated Sandpipers (my first of the year), 10+ Willets, 5 Short-billed Dowitchers, and three Red Knots – also my first of the year. Enjoy them while we still can, as Dan said. A pair of American Wigeon flying around was a bit of a surprise here, and the flock of at least 50 Least Terns flying about provided an entertaining show.

Very little moved again, on west-northwest to northwest winds Friday night into Saturday morning, but our birdwalk outing to Bayview Preserve still featured nine species of warblers – and a Porcupine. Later this afternoon, I’ll be heading Downeast to lead a couple of trips for the Downeast Birding Festival I’m leading a trip to Machias Seal on Sunday, and a walk at Quoddy Head on Monday. I’ve got a wee bit of driving ahead of me, but I’ll take any excuse to bird Downeast! Now, can I justify a little swing down to Phippsburg to see if the Curlew Sandpiper that was found yesterday on Seawall Beach is still present? Hmmmm.

So, while I’m traveling up, err, down (?) Route 1, I’ll leave you with some food for thought for some of our store’s exciting summer birding opportunities. In addition to our free Saturday morning birdwalks that continue all summer, a fundraiser for the Libby Hill Forest in Gray, and our quarterly birdwalk along the Eastern Promenade, we are pleased to announce the following events:

MAINE TRIPS AND TOURS, 2008
Travel with DEREK LOVITCH and the WILD BIRD CENTER OF YARMOUTH

More information on these, and other events, can be found at: www.yarmouthbirds.com

1) Terns of Casco Bay
Saturday, June 21: 7:00 to 10:00am.

Join us aboard the Lucky Catch for a 3-hour cruise to view breeding seabirds and other Portland Harbor denizens. Our tour will take us past historic forts and lighthouses en route to Outer Green Island where we will observe a large, active colony of over 700 pairs of Common Terns. We’ll also look for the endangered Roseate Terns that breed among them. We’re likely to encounter Common Eiders, Black Guillemots, and others that breed around the island, as well as on the journey to and fro. If tide and time permit, we will check Casco Bay for Bald Eagles, Osprey, and hauled-out Harbor Seals. Last summer, our trip enjoyed a Lesser Black-backed Gull and a nest of Peregrine Falcons. In 2006, a Bridled Tern was observed!

2) Portland 1/2-Day Pelagic
Saturday, July 12: 5:30am to 11:30am.

Join the Wild Bird Center and See Life Paulagics as we team up to offer a repeat of our successful half-day pelagic excursion from Portland this summer! Spend a half-day aboard the Odyssey whale watch boat with expert guiding as we explore the waters off of Southern Maine. Some of our target species will include Common, Arctic, and Roseate Terns; Manx, Sooty, and Greater Shearwaters; and much more. The 2007 trip produced non-stop activity and an Atlantic Puffin. For reservations, contact See Life Paulagics at info@paulagics.com, or by calling 215-234-6805.

3) Surf & Turf: Terns and Sparrows of Southcoastal Maine.
Sunday, July 13: 6:00am to 12:00pm.

This is of the “turf” based half of our Surf and Turf Weekend, and we’ll begin by “cleaning up” species that may have been missed on the ½ day pelagic: Common, Arctic, and Roseate Terns. Plus, we should also expect Least Terns and Piping Plovers. Our other targets for the day will be Saltmarsh and Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrows in Scarborough Marsh, the core zone of overlap between these two species. Depending on our success with terns and the sparrows, we will then be flexible in our plans, possibly visiting other locations for feeding terns, migrant and breeding shorebirds, additional marshes for the sparrows, chasing rarities, or perhaps visiting one of the area’s other unique locations, such as the Kennebunk Plains (Grasshopper Sparrow, Upland Sandpiper, etc).

4) Portland Full-Day (12 hour!) Pelagic
Saturday, September 13, 2008: 6:00am to 6:00pm.

Join the Wild Bird Center and See Life Paulagics as we team up to a full, 12-hour day aboard the Odyssey whale watch boat with expert guiding as we explore the waters off of Southern Maine. Some of our targets for this trip include: Manx, Cory’s, Sooty, and Greater Shearwaters; jaegers; phalaropes; Northern Fulmar; and hopefully skuas! For reservations, contact See Life Paulagics at info@paulagics.com, or by calling 215-234-6805.

5) Monhegan Island Migration
Saturday, September 26th to Tuesday, September 29th.
Cost - $25 per person, per day.

Join Derek on Monhegan during the height of migration for 1-3 days searching the island for regular visitors, rarities, and vagrants. This is a casual outing, with boat and hotel reservations, as well as meals, on your own. Although we are likely to eat meals together, we'll have more flexibility on rooming and eating arrangements this way. Also, you can come and go as you please, based on whatever boat and departure times and locations suit you best.

Last year’s trip was highlighted by Yellow-billed Cuckoos, a Summer Tanager and a Lark Sparrow, a fantastic raptor show, and the largest quantity of White-crowned Sparrows any of us had ever seen in Maine. Last year’s trip was highlighted by Yellow-billed Cuckoos, a Summer Tanager and a Lark Sparrow, a fantastic raptor show, and the largest quantity of White-crowned Sparrows any of us had ever seen in Maine. Read about least year’s fantastic trip here.

You can easily tell when I have a big project to start work on. I procrastinate. I find excuses not to sit down and get to work. I currently have three writing assignments. One, already to my editor, is my latest product review for Birding Magazine on the new 50mm spotting scopes from Nikon and Minox. Done; only the edits to go. I’ve just sent in my book review, also for Birding Magazine, on the new Birding Maine book (short answer – maybe the worst birding guide that I have ever read, and it will NEVER see the light of day on our store’s shelves. Need I really say more? Or, do you want to know how I REALLY feel about it?). OK, that’s off to the respective editor as well now. So, it’s time to begin the third project.

I was asked to write an article on backyard bird feeding – encompassing all topics from seed to feeders to baths to houses to . . . – for New Jersey Audubon’s magazine. I was quite honored to be asked to do this, so of course I jumped at the assignment. The only problem that I have is that with major writing tasks, I need to just really sit down and get into the zone, and begin to write, err, type. But, it’s May, and it’s birdy out there!

So, even when I am not out birding, I have been doing an excellent of not starting this article (like writing this blog instead, for example!). One source of countless “wasted” time has been spent sitting in front of the window at the store. Our feeders have just been hopping, and I can’t get enough – especially when enough would entail getting to work in front of the computer! We have at least 3, maybe 4 Baltimore Orioles coming to the grape jelly. Two pairs of Gray Catbirds, plus a single interloper, are visiting both the jelly and the suet feeders, and their constant squabbling has been quite entertaining. Ya know, if they spent less time chasing each other, they wouldn’t have to eat as much jelly!

Meanwhile, a subadult male Rose-breasted Grosbeak has taken a fancy to our awesome new EZ Feeder with a WildBird Feast block. A single White-crowned Sparrow is still here, joining up to 4 Chipping and one pair of Song Sparrows under the feeders; I believe that this is the same pair that has been here since last year, having successfully overwintered at the feeders, although of course, I cannot be sure. A handful of Red-winged Blackbirds – one of the most beautiful birds around, in my opinion – come and go from the marsh across the street while our pair of Hairy Woodpeckers are busy flying off with large chunks of suet for hungry nestlings. And, of course, there’s the rest of our usual cast of characters. In fact, we’ve been seeing 26-28 species of birds at our feeding station each day over the past couple of weeks. Each week, we post a summary of our feeder birds on our website (the entry from the past week is here) This is a great way to see what’s in the area, and to find out what to be expecting in your yard as well. It also goes to show you how a wide variety of feeders and foodstuffs (from seed to mealworms to jelly to sugar water, etc), combined with some decent cover and some native plantings can really draw birds in – even when your garden is sandwiched between two parking lots!

Anyway, light winds, mostly west and southwest, overnight allowed for another decent push of migrants, although more birds departed than arrived, it seems. However, I was greeted by my first Eastern Wood-Pewee out the window this morning as I awoke. Here are the 10:00pm, 1:00am, and 4:00am radar images:

Cool and unsettled weather continues, with some showers – albeit light ones – finally hitting our yard in Pownal early Wednesday morning, although it also failed to dampen anything other than the soil's surface. Meanwhile, a series of weak disturbances continues to rotate around an upper-level low, producing these rounds of widely scattered showers (less scattered and slightly heavier in the mountains and north). It looks like this pattern will continue through Friday.

Very little moved overnight Monday into Tuesday, thanks to a westerly wind. Here’s the 1:00am radar image, for example.

But, it was a Tuesday, and it was our first day off since the end of the Hawkwatch. Therefore, we took advantage of our day of freedom to bird the southwest coast of Maine. As usual, Jeannette and I began at Fort Foster, which was quite productive today. Our first Black-billed Cuckoo, Scarlet Tanager (2), and Bay-breasted Warbler of the spring were highlights, along with 14 Yellow Warblers, a Black-crowned Night Heron and two male Indigo Buntings.

Overall, we did find things to be rather slow, passerine-migrant-wise, throughout the day, but we still crawled our way to 11 species of warblers, with some other pretty good birds along the way. Seapoint Beach was very slow, but we did hear a Red-bellied Woodpecker near Legion Pond. However, Legion Pond was hosting only two Mallards. Where are the Mute Swans? Unless they have been hidden somewhere on my last three visits here, they do not seem to have returned this year. This is a very good thing! Mute Swans are incredibly destructive invasive species, and we really don’t need these aggressive birds – no matter how beautiful they are – to colonize the state.

A few stops between Kittery and York produced a bird or two, but our next batch of migrants was on Cape Neddick. One small patch of scrub hosted four species of warblers: single Black-throated Blue, Wilson’s, Magnolia, and Common Yellowthroat. Two Least Terns flew overhead, and we saw a few Common Grackles carrying food for young – a sign of the rapidly changing season. However, the most interesting bird of the day was this exceptionally pale immature Double-crested Cormorant that was roosting on the Nubble. It’s almost as white below as an immie Great Cormorant, but alas, I can’t make it into anything else. The overall size, structure of the head and bill, and shape and color of the orange facial skin put this into the Double-crested camp.

On Monday, I spent the morning with a client in Sprawlborough Marsh. Chuck was here from Maui visiting friends and family. He wanted to take advantage of the trip to fill in a hole on his list: Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow.

When we talked a month or so ago, I informed him that is early for both Nelson's and Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows. However, I have seen both species as early as May 20th. Therefore, we decided to get together on the last full day of his stay in the region, to hedge the bet as much as possible.

Now, I did pause at the thought of taking this assignment because I have never missed these birds with a client. I didn't want to break my streak! But, I took the gig as a challenge, and we set out to find the first Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow. We arrived at the marsh at about 7:00. A fairly stiff breeze was not instilling any additional confidence however. But, at 7:30, we were looking at a Nelson's in the grass about 30 feet away, even getting views of it through the scope. Mission accomplished. Now, what would we have to do for the next 6 years. . . err, sorry, wrong "mission accomplished," what I meant was what would we do for the next few hours?

With the pressure of finding the target bird off my shoulders, we just enjoyed a few hours of leisurely birding in the marsh. Highlights included a White-rumped Sandpiper, my first of the spring, darting around the Eastern Road Trail salt pannes. One Least Tern over Eastern Rd and another over Jones Creek were also a "FOY." Small numbers of Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, and Least Sandpipers were here and there, along with the usual marsh denizens. 6 species of warblers were in the woods near the Pelreco building, two American Oystercatchers were off of Pine Point, and a Merlin zipped by near Jones Creek. There, we also heard a distant singing Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow and enjoyed a crippling view of a Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow, nice both for comparison sake, and for keeping my streak alive!

These sparrows (plus 1-2 other unidentified sharp-tailed sparrows) have literally just arrived, so we were lucky indeed to see both so well. In fact, it is distinctly possible that they came in last night. Afterall, there was a very good flight of birds overnight as shown by the 10:00pm, 1:00am, and 4:00am radars.

Yet another strong storm passed to our south on Friday, leaving most of our gardens once again dry. As darkness fell on Friday night, birds took to the skies on a light southerly wind, but with the storm blocking things from moving into the area from the south, the radar indicated a rather significant exodus of birds, but almost nothing arriving. Here are the 10pm, 1am, and 4am radar images, for example:

While there were very few migrants around at Florida Lake Park, as expected from the radar analysis, our Saturday morning birdwalk group had a great outing, tallying 55 species (7 species of warblers), including 2 Canada Warblers, a Lincoln’s Sparrow – my first of the year, and all 5 species of swallows: 1 Cliff and 1 Northern Rough-winged, 2 Bank, 6 Barn, and 20+ Trees! Plus, we were lucky enough to observe two River Otters.

Our second pair of Gray Catbirds has now returned to our store’s feeding station and garden, and Jeannette and I have been thoroughly entertained by their constant battles outside our window. And, our grape jelly and suet offerings are dwindling even more quickly now! Meanwhile, early Saturday morning, 5 Pine Siskins visited our yard in Pownal, the first that we have had since late December. There seems to be a good push of Pine Siskins back into the area in the past week, as I have observed quite a few here and there, had some passing by the hawkwatch, and reports from others have increased dramatically. Welcome back!

Clear, and mostly calm, conditions overnight allowed for an excellent flight Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

Here’s the 10:00pm, 1:00am, and 4:00am radar images, for example:

Birds were still on the move as dawn approached, especially over the Mid-Coast peninsulas. My guess is that it was a good morning at places like Hermit Island and Reid State Park. Elsewhere, I’m sure most birders would have noticed quite a few birds, some good turnover, but otherwise limited concentrations, as birds were able to land when and where they wanted (to really oversimplify things!).

My visit to Florida Lake Park was rewarding, with 13 species of warblers, including two Canadas, 6 Magnolias, and 13 Ovenbirds. The beaver dam has been removed again, so all of the trails were again accessible, and I took full advantage and walked the loop around the lake. Two Solitary Sandpipers in the creek were my first for this park.

Yet another storm passed to our south, failing to produce any rainfall for us, and our gardens. With the storm moving offshore overnight, and a light northerly wind for us, only a light migration occurred Monday night into Tuesday.

Jeannette and I spent the early morning hours checking three local parks: Hedgehog Mountain, Florida Lake, and Hidden Pond. We finished with 13 species of warblers, including our first Canada Warbler of the year at Florida Lake. A Wood Thrush at The Hog was also an “FOY,” but the highlight for me was a Solitary Sandpiper in a small puddle in the playing fields, my 125th species for this patch! An adult Northern Goshawk at Florida Lake was another treat, as were two Wilson’s Snipe and a great look at an American Bittern at Hidden Pond.

So, the day started out great – with some good birds, and a good mix of migrants. Wish I could say the same for the Hawkwatch! I “counted” from 9 to 1, and Jeannette from 1 to 5. We finished with a whopping 7 birds, thanks to the continuing stiff northeasterly breeze. Hey, at least it beat the goose egg of Monday! Very few non-raptors were deemed migrating as well, but my ½-day list of 39 species seen and/or heard from the summit did include 8 species of warblers.

Mostly calm winds, at least at the lower levels, allowed for the passage of a few more birds overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. A couple of hours at Hedgehog Mountain Park produced 10 species of warblers, led by 22 Ovenbirds and 15 Black-throated Green Warblers. But, for the first morning in almost two weeks, I did not record a “first-of-year.”

With the deep offshore low finally beginning to pull away, and high pressure now building in, lighter winds, clear skies, and calm nights should allow for a couple of good days – and especially nights – of migration.

Oh yeah, by the way, I just learned that the White-faced Ibis was actually only the 4th or 5th record for the state!!!!

I’ll get right to the good stuff. This morning (Monday, May 12), I discovered a White-faced Ibis in Scarborough Marsh. The bird was foraging with 3 Glossy Ibis behind the Pelreco building off of Pine Point Road.

When I first found them – at 9:10am - they were only about 30 yards from the edge of the muddy parking area of Pelreco. Soon, they flew a short distance to the right, directly behind the building itself. You needed to walk about 10-15 feet into the marsh, then look to the right, in order to see them. The 4 birds slowly worked out into the marsh, before the White-face took off at 9:45. It flew to the far side of the Pelreco marsh, and landed in the phragmites, joining about a dozen Glossies. Although out of sight, the bird was still present in that area through at least 10:00. I returned at 10:45, and the bird was still not visible, but the occasional ibis head and/or back would poke out of the phrags in the same general area.

Despite a fairly stiff wind and resultant scope-shake, my digiscoping attempts were fairly successful.

A moderate northwesterly wind overnight Thursday into Friday minimized the flow of nocturnal migrants. A few birds seemed to be on the move, with marginally more birds departing than arriving, no doubt thanks to inclement weather to our south.

On Friday morning, with a limited amount of time, I decided to take a walk at Old Town house Park in North Yarmouth. There was decent diversity here today, but once again, I found a very low quantity of migrants. This park just really does not seem to reel in many migrants in the spring. But, I need more data – I especially need to check things out on a really big flight day. Most of the birds today seemed to be just-arriving breeding birds here, such as the 7 territorial Bobolinks and my first 2 Warbling Vireos of the spring. I also added a Solitary Sandpiper – a bona fide migrant, a Northern Mockingbird, and a Brown Thrasher to my fledgling patch list for this park. And, the one pocket of migrants that I did encounter in the woods included my first Magnolia Warbler of the year.

Then, on Friday night, there was a big exodus of birds - I think. Take a look at the 10:00pm radar. . .

But, looking at the velocity radar, this does not show the south to north pattern associated with migrant birds.

As darkness fell last night, partly cloudy skies and light, southerly winds opened the migratory floodgates once again. And, for the second night in row, rain developed in the early morning hours. Fallout!?

Here’s the 10pm radar. Lots of birds on the move!

The rain is approaching from the west by midnight.

Then, things get interesting. The 2am and 4am radars follow. Rain is now upon us in the Greater Portland area. But, it seems that birds may still be in the air. It’s tough to tell, and the velocity image didn’t help as both the rain, and the birds, were moving SW to NE. But, the concentration of echoes (greens) along the coast, especially south of Portland seems consistent throughout the night. Tough to tell though, as it could also be low level fog, drizzle, etc.

Since the winds were still southerly – it was a warm front that passed through and produced our rain – and the rain was not too heavy, my guess is that most birds were able to keep going, and while a classic “fallout” or “grounding” was not in the offerings today, there was little doubt that it would be good morning.

The occluded front and an offshore low pressure system pulled away on Sunday, but low level clouds and developing fog with a light north to northwest wind precluded many migrants from arriving, or departing, the area overnight. The radar image confirmed this. In fact, what echoes were on the radar did not seem to be birds (moving too slow, to not moving at all, in very light winds and therefore more likely to have been something like dust and/or pollen).

Nevertheless, I actually had a few new arrivals this morning, and some decent activity here and there. First, I spent about 10 minutes on the back porch, listening and looking for birds passing overhead. Then, I made two laps around the edge of the recreation fields at Hedgehog Mountain Park. The next stop was Florida Lake Park. Then, I returned home, took a spin through the yard, and sat back on the porch to have a snack and sip some tea. By now, the fog had lifted, and clear blue skies were overhead, just in time for me to head up to the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch. Since I expected a big flight Monday night into Tuesday, I did the same exact routine on Tuesday morning in order to compare the two days.

Here’s the comparison:
Monday, 5/5:
Back Porch:
1 flyover Yellow-rumped Warbler

The Hog:
~40 Yellow-rumped Warblers, mostly in one wave through the trees.
2 Chipping Sparrows
1 Hermit Thrush
1 Black-throated Green Warbler
1 White-throated Sparrow

Florida Lake Park:
1 male CAPE MAY WARBLER. First of spring, and rather early. A gorgeous bird foraging low (don’t see the back of Cape May’s very often!) at lake edge with Western Palm Warblers.
75+ Yellow-rumped Warblers
12 “Western” Palm Warblers
7 White-throated Sparrows
6 Blue Jays (one migrant flock)
2 Northern Rough-winged Swallows
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
2 Black-and-white Warblers
2 Black-throated Green Warblers
2 Swamp Sparrows
1 Blue-headed Vireo
1 “Yellow” Palm Warbler
1 Savannah Sparrow
1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak, First of year.

Yard/Porch
4 Yellow-rumped Warblers
1 Common Loon
1 Blue-headed Vireo
1 Black-throated Green Warbler

Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch, 9:00am to 1:15pm:
1 SANDHILL CRANE, high over summit, our 2nd of the year!
89 Double-crested Cormorants
24 Purple Finches
23 Tree Swallows
10 Barn Swallows
6 Yellow-rumped Warblers
6 Red-winged Blackbirds
4 Unidentified passerines.
3 Common Loons
3 Chimney Swifts (First of year for me).
3 Blue Jays
3 American Goldfinches
1 Black-throated Green Warbler
1 Black-and-white Warbler
1 Pine Warbler (6th warbler species of the day).

Although our Saturday morning birdwalk was not very birdy, it was very instructive. After seeing surprisingly few birds, we sat down at the computer when we returned to the store and tested our hypothesis by viewing the overnight radar images. My suspicions were confirmed – some birds departed, but almost nothing arrived overnight. The highlight was an Eastern Towhee at the Sligo Rd Property in Yarmouth, as we spent the morning exploring a couple of “new” locations.

Meanwhile, light rain and drizzle continued throughout the day (so much for the prediction of partly sunny skies and rain not developing until nightfall). Dane survived 6 damp hours, with limited visibility at the Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch before calling it quits, without a single migrant raptor tallied. Sunday was a complete washout. The good news, however, is that the next two days (Monday and Tuesday) look fantastic for a good hawk flight, and since the birds have been backed up for 2 days, I expect some fun and excitement. We’re still 39 birds away from the 3,000 milestone, and the weather this weekend will allow me to be present for #3,000, which should pass sometime late Monday morning, me thinks.

But, as for Sunday morning, well, it wasn’t very nice out! Periods of rain, heavy at times, precluded the movement of any migrants overnight, and drizzle, fog, and a raw easterly wind (with temperatures only in the mid-40’s) greeted our first seasonal, Sunday morning Eastern Promenade Birdwalk, with the Friends of the Eastern Promenade.

I must say, I was very impressed by the hardiness of the 22 (and ½!) folks who turned out for the outing despite the conditions. While only 11 “survived” to the end, the group should be congratulated for their dedication.

Despite these aforementioned conditions, we spotted 24 species, included 8 Laughing Gulls – my first of the spring in the Casco Bay area – roosting on the train bridge. Today was not about a big list, however, but simply getting to know the birds and habitat of the Prom, so scope views of copulating Ospreys, courtship-begging by Northern Mockingbirds, and singing Song Sparrows were just as important.

Virtually no migration occurred overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, as the day’s storm was slow to clear and northwest winds followed. Hedgehog Mountain Park was exceptionally quiet, with the only migrants being single Purple Finch and Pine Siskin, and 5 Blue Jays, overhead. The Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch was another story. After being backed up for 3 days, birds were on the move early. 29 raptors in the first hour included 26 Broad-winged Hawks, many of which had lifted off from the surrounding woodlands. 25 more raptors, including 18 Broad-wings, had already been tallied when I had to leave at 11:00am. (By day’s end, a very good 128 birds were tallied).

Earlier in the week, the extended weather forecast was calling for the low pressure system that passed through to stall, and usher in a period of unsettled weather. Happily, that has not been the case. The low pulled away on Wednesday, and high pressure has built in that should last into the weekend.

I had expected the clear skies overnight Wednesday into Thursday to produce a good flight of songbirds, but a light westerly – becoming northwesterly – component was just enough to keep migration to a minimum. At Florida Lake, Dan and I had about 60 Yellow-rumped Warblers and about 35 “Yellow” Palm Warblers, and one Black-throated Green Warbler. Afterwards, I checked out Hidden Pond, which hosted 2 drake Ring-necked Ducks and 13 Cedar Waxwings.

While the morning’s songbird-ing was a bit slower than expected, the hawkwatching atop the Brad was once again rockin’. When I left at 11:00, we had already tallied 44 Broad-winged Hawks, 12 Sharp-shinned Hawks, and 7 Osprey, plus 94 Double-crested Cormorants, three Common Loons, and a calling Barred Owl. Not a bad way to start the day once again! (And the 191 tallied by day’s end was fantastic!)

A light to moderate flight finally occurred overnight Thursday into Friday, with significantly more birds arriving than departing. I spent the first half of the morning in the New Gloucester marsh, which yielded three “first of years” for me: 2 Eastern Meadowlarks, 1 Nashville Warbler, and one heard-only Sora. A trickle of Yellow-rumped Warblers were passing overhead and a total of 21 singing Swamp Sparrows were tallied. I heard two whinnying Wilson’s Snipe, and I also spotted a pair of Blue-winged Teal. 8 Greater and 4 Lesser Yellowlegs were foraging in a flooded farm field nearby as well.