Maine Outdoor Journal

I had some hopes of a fallout on Wednesday morning, as rain was approaching from the south. With slim hopes of such an occurrence, I donned the raingear and headed out with Sasha for a stroll around Hedgehog Mountain Park. With the exception of the falling raindrops, it was very, very quiet – very few birds were detected at all, and clearly, a fallout did not occur, at least not there!

Perhaps there simply weren’t all that many birds on the move last night, afterall. I did hear a decent total of 22 calls between 9:38 and 9:48pm, and the 10pm radar certainly suggests that there was a big flight. But, look at the velocity images. The movement detected on the radar was too slow for the bulk, or at least the majority, of the echoes to be from birds. I think. Anyway, here are the 10pm, 12am, 2am, and 4am radar images, and I’ve included the 10pm and 2am velocity images for example.










In retrospect, there may just not have been that many birds on the move last night to have “fallen out” as they hit the approaching rainfall. Furthermore, the rain began lightly, and with minimal winds, so perhaps birds were simply able to slowly come down and scatter themselves around in favorable locations. Birds can fly through light rain, and with just a hint of a southerly wind beginning to develop, there wasn’t enough of an abrupt change to cause a fallout – or at least, that’s second best guess.

I also checked Thornhurst Field on the way in this morning, recording only 211 Canada Geese, but 150+ Ring-billed Gulls and 5 Killdeer.

Birding on Tuesday was quite a bit more productive, however. Although there was not a large movement of birds overnight, and more birds departed than arrived, as evidenced by the 10pm and 2am radar images:




However, Jeannette and I did encounter good numbers of Yellow-rumped Warbler, Savannah, and Song Sparrows (in descending order of relative abundance) almost everywhere we went over the course of the day.

Our primary target for the day was a Bell’s Vireo that had been present at Odiorne State Park in New Hampshire for five days. I’ve actually never seen a Bell’s Vireo – never been in the right place at the right time to look for one - and Jeannette has been craving a visit to Loco Coco’s Taco in Kittery so the chase was on.

We didn’t arrive at Odiorne until 11:30, but another birder informed us that he had been present since 9:00am. No sign of the vireo, which had been frequenting one particular thicket. We departed at 12:45, still without a Bell’s Vireo on my life list. Our chase for tacos was more successful, however.

Prior to crossing the border, we birded Fort Foster and Seapoint Beach. A decent number of migrants at Fort Foster included my first Orange-crowned Warbler of the fall, and a lingering group of shorebirds at Seapoint featured 8 Semipalmated Plovers, 5 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 4 Least Sandpipers, and two Pectoral Sandpipers.

After lunch, we stopped at Legion Pond (1 Mute Swan, female Blue-winged Teal, 5 Wood Ducks, 4 American Black Ducks, 89 Mallards, and 2 Black Duck x Mallard hybrids.

Beach Plum Farm in Ogunquit was sparrow-rific as it often is this time of year, with 14+ Chipping Sparrows and 2 Field Sparrows among the more common species, and an adult male Peregrine Falcon passed overhead. Our final stop was Harbor Road (17 Lesser Yellowlegs, 2 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Black-bellied Plover) and Community Park in Wells (our first Dark-eyed Junco of the day and a whole bunch of Yellow-rumped Warblers) before heading home to get a little yard work done before we ran out of light.
And finally today, here’s a recent press release from the From the American Bird Conservancy:

House Hears Testimony on Need for Legislation to Conserve Rapidly Disappearing Migratory Birds.

(Washington, D.C. September 22, 2009) Legislation that reauthorizes the existing Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act (NMBCA) at significantly higher levels is the subject of a House hearing today. Sponsored by Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Jim Gerlach (R-PA), H.R. 2213, is required to meet the growing needs of migratory bird species.
“This legislation is urgently needed because hundreds of songbird species are now in decline or facing serious threats; effective conservation projects supported by the NMBCA can help us to start turning that around,” said Darin Schroeder, ABC’s Vice President of Conservation Advocacy, who is testifying in support of the legislation at today’s hearing. “NMBCA has a proven track record of bringing partners together and leveraging additional support; for each dollar the government spends, over four dollars have been contributed to the bird conservation projects by the partner groups.”
Schroeder’s testimony is available at http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/fishers_wildlife_oceans_testimony.pdf.

Nearly half of all migratory bird species in the U.S. are currently in decline or are being negatively impacted by serious threats including habitat loss, collisions with towers and buildings, predation by cats, and pesticide poisoning. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has already passed H.R. 2213’s Senate counterpart, S. 690, sponsored by Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Michael Crapo (R-ID). The bill is now awaiting debate in the full Senate.

Saving Migratory Birds for Future Generations: The Success of the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, a report by American Bird Conservancy, details the disturbing downward trend in the populations of many migratory species and its causes, and documents the effectiveness of NMBCA.

NMBCA supports partnership programs to conserve birds in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean, where approximately five billion birds of over 500 species, including some of the most endangered birds in North America, spend their winters. Projects include activities that benefit bird populations such as habitat restoration, research and monitoring, law enforcement, and outreach and education.
Between 2002 and 2007, the program supported 225 projects, coordinated by partners in 44 U.S. states/territories and 34 countries. Projects involving land conservation have affected about 3 million acres of bird habitat.

Staff of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service report receiving many more requests for high quality conservation projects than they can provide grants for. NMBCA currently provides a maximum authorization of $6.5 million for fiscal year 2010. Under the new law, that amount would increase to $20 million by 2015. Grants require matching funds from other non-federal sources. Thus far, more than $30 million from NMBCA grants has leveraged over $135 million in partner contributions. FWS lists 341 migratory bird species that can benefit from the program: http://www.fws.gov/birdhabitat/Grants/NMBCA/BirdList.shtm.