Maine Outdoor Journal

As you might imagine, things have been fairly busy in the last week since returning from the southwest. Sorting photos (see last blog) was one of quite a few things on the agenda. Therefore, not unexpectedly, we didn’t get out for too much local birding, despite the rather mild temperatures for the better part of the week, at least. I’ll try and play some catch-up here and summarize my last seven days of birding.

On Tuesday, Jeannette and I checked out South Freeport (the town landing and Winslow Park) to check in on the Barrow’s Goldeneyes: 6 drakes total. There’s quite a bit less ice than when I left, so waterfowl are less concentrated – for now, anyway. Unfortunately, our outing came to an end when Sasha got into a scuffle and had a 1-inch tear ripped through her ear. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the vet’s, or anxiously awaiting for her to be discharged. A few stitches were all it took, and she’s back in the game.

A Wednesday afternoon outing at Pratt’s Brook Park in Yarmouth yielded a couple of Pine Siskins, and a single Purple Finch. A couple of American Robins were present as well. Then, on Thursday, rain was falling behind a warm front as I moseyed around Hedgehog Mountain Park. A cold front overnight ushered in colder temperatures on northwesterly winds, as a strong and broad low pressure system finally pulled away.

Jeannette and I ventured farther afield on Friday, heading east to the Camden area. The first stop was a home in South Hope that has been hosting a Black-headed Grosbeak (perhaps an immature male) for three to four weeks now. We had an appointment for a mid-morning visit, hopefully timing our visit with the bird’s routine.

We arrived at 9:30, and our gracious host opened up his barn door for us to stay huddled inside to avoid the biting wind of the morning, and yet have a good, clear view of the feeding station. The wind was whipping around, but the feeder activity remained steady, led by Black-capped Chickadees, Pine Siskins, and American Goldfinches.

Dana mentioned that the bird is often seen with cardinals, so we anxiously awaited a redbird’s arrival. At 10:15, a male Northern Cardinal arrived, and began to snack on black oil sunflower seeds below the feeder. A mere thirty or so seconds later, the Black-headed Grosbeak, my 325th species in Maine, appeared from the same direction, in the same flight line, and joined the cardinal. In another thirty seconds or so, a female cardinal joined the party, and Jeannette and I enjoyed the grosbeak for about 4 minutes, including snapping some digi-scoped shots before the threesome moved on.











Afterwards, Jeannette and I went for a snowshoe on the nearby Georges Highland Path, but the fairly young, second growth deciduous woods were expectedly rather quiet on a cold, windy day at this time of year. The crunching of snowshoes on ice-crusted snow didn’t exactly allow us to sneak up on anything, however.

As for Saturday, I was in Portland in the morning to lead a birdwalk for the Friends of the Eastern Promenade, the fourth in our series of seasonal birdwalks for the group. A summary of the outing is on our website.

Next, on Sunday, I headed south to Massachusetts to join my friends in their annual New Jersey Audubon weekend trip. I’ve been joining Scott and Pete and their group for a day as they toured the birding hotspots of Eastern Mass. This day, however, we decided to take advantage of the goodies here in Maine, and therefore after enjoying up-close-and-personal White-winged Crossbills and a Snowy Owl (in flight, perhaps after being flushed by the photographer who we saw running down the beach after it?) at Salisbury State Park in Mass, we headed north.

The first (non-bathroom) stop was Bristol for the continuing Northern Hawk-Owl. After the 2 ½ hour drive to the site, we rolled up only to find the bird’s favorite snag empty. A knot rapidly formed in my stomach - all that driving, and it’s not here? It’s ALWAYS here! Luckily, the day was saved when the bird returned to its promontory, on cue, as we were just about to move out (but with plans to return shortly).










Nearby Pemaquid Point produced good looks at Black Guillemots and the other usual rocky shoreline waterbirds, along with a spiffy dark-morph adult male Rough-legged Hawk soaring high overhead, being harassed by a pair of Common Ravens.

After another long drive, we pulled up to the Sacarrappa Falls on the Presumpscot River in Westbrook, and found the Tufted Duck resting comfortably on the ice – it’s not often one gets the opportunity to look DOWN on a Tufted Duck, who was busy preening. My digiscoping session with the bird today was entitled “A study in punk-rock.”












Our next stop, which turned out to be our final stop of the day, was in Saco for the continuing two Varied Thrushes. Unfortunately, our good luck had been used up, as an hour and a half of standing around in the cold (especially cold for those southerners!) failed to produce our final quarry. Feeder activity – which included my first two Red-winged Blackbirds of the year; no doubt birds that had arrived on last week’s southerly flow – was pretty consistent for the first half-hour or so of our visit, but then birds scattered and most never returned. Most likely, a Cooper’s Hawk which has been frequenting the area had arrived on the scene – unseen to us, but not to the feeder visitors – and that put a kibosh on the day’s feeder activity.

Every fly-by American Robin, backlight silhouette, or otherwise any medium-sized bird in any tree would cause momentary excitement until its true identity was determined. Unfortunately, a thrush-shaped bird in the shadows behind the feeders that was never identified was the closest we got to seeing a Varied Thrush this day.

Nevertheless, our van and a half of visitors from New Jersey (and two from Virginia) enjoyed some great birds in our fair state, and I enjoyed spending the time with them and my good friends Scott, Pete, and Linda (the leaders of this excursion) showing off a little of the Pine Tree State (and having them contribute at least a few dollars to our economy - especially when we overran Hanley’s deli in Bristol!) instead of hitting the “usual” spots of Eastern Mass.

Then, on Monday, Jeannette and I spent a couple of morning hours in Sprawlborough Marsh. Three or four Bald Eagles, a total of 15 Hooded Mergansers, and scattered American Robins (led by 30+ in the Scarborough River Wildlife Sanctuary) were noteworthy, as were the 7 Lapland Longspurs along Seavy’s Landing Road. Actually, what was most noteworthy were not the 7 longspurs, but the fact that they were in a tree!

When Jeannette and I first spotted the group in flight, and we thought they were longspurs/Snow Buntings, but that hypothesis had a wrench thrown into it when the birds landed in a tree in a yard. Neither species spends much time in trees, especially longspurs, so we were quite surprised when we deployed the scope to confirm their identity.

OK, finally, I’m back to the present . . . I’ll try to get back on schedule now . . . and, I'll try and figure out why my wireless card was failing today at two different coffee shops and therefore was not able to upload the photos that I was alluding to in the post.