Maine Outdoor Journal

Light northwesterly winds and mostly clear skies as darkness fell on Thursday allowed migrants to take to the air en masse. The overnight radar images show an absolutely huge flight was underway.

I checked the radar at about 9:30, and was surprised by just how big the flight was. I was even more surprised when a listening session on the back porch produced few calls. Checking the velocity image, I wondered if there wasn’t “something else” going on up there, in addition to birds. I just thought the velocity image looked a bit too irregular for that significant of a density of birds.

And, by morning, the velocity image looked even weirder, and I am not quite sure what to make of it (discounting the echoes from the rain showers crossing the upper portion of the image). Here are the 10pm, 12am, 2am, and 4am radar images, along with the 10pm and 4am velocity images for sake of discussion.












Meanwhile, although winds were very light out of the west at dawn at Sandy Point, the winds were indeed calm for most of the night, so there was little to speak of needing to reorient inland come sunrise (which was obscured by the increasing cloud deck). Here’s the tally:

6:49-7:37am: Cloudy, lt WSW a few sprinkles.
41 Yellow-rumped Warblers
16 American Robins
15 Unidentified
12 Cedar Waxwings
10 Golden-crowned Kinglets
9 White-throated Sparrows
7 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
7 Swamp Sparrows
6 Song Sparrows
4 Blue Jays
2 Northern Parulas
2 White-crowned Sparrows
2 Dark-eyed Juncos
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
1 Savannah Sparrow
1 Rusty Blackbird

Looking back at the 4:00am image, however, shows what looks like a lot of birds offshore, which in theory, would need to work there way inland as the sun came up. This was clearly not the case, so I wonder once again whether or not last night’s radar image was misleading.

My other thought is that the vast majority of last night’s movement was made up of sparrows – most species of which do not take part in the morning reorientation flight. I wonder if the islands of Casco Bay were simply crawling with sparrows this morning? There were certainly decent numbers around here and there as I traveled around the Mackworth Flats, Eastern Promenade, and Back Cove areas conducting my last shorebird survey of the season, but nothing overwhelming. The Prom was busy though – with lots of Song Sparrows in particular – which is a good sign for Sunday’s Friends of the Eastern Promenade birdwalk.

Shorebird-wise, however, numbers were expectedly low: none on the Mackworth Flats, 2 Semipalmated Plovers along the Eastern Promenade, and 11 Greater Yellowlegs and 11 Black-bellied Plovers in Back Cove. American Black Duck numbers were up considerably in Back Cove, and the waters off of Mackworth hosted one Red-necked and two Horned Grebes, and 15 Surf Scoters among the usual cast of characters

Rain overnight Friday into Saturday morning precluded much, if any, migration, but we enjoyed a very productive Birdwalk outing to Portland’s Dragon Field, highlighted by a Dickcissel, a late American Redstart, and a good number of sparrows led by 80+ Swamps.

The cold front passed through late in the morning, and with it, a change to northwesterly winds. Unfortunately, that changed occurred just in time for our seventh, and final, Poor Man’s Pelagic aboard the Odyssey in Portland. 4 birders joined me, after an equal number cancelled no doubt after reading the marine forecast. And, there’s no way to sugar-coat it: it was rough! 5-foot sees and lots of white-caps offshore made for difficult viewing and difficult standing. It was a tough day to see whales, birds, or much of anything else. Here’s the scorecard:

1:10 to 5:05pm.
Mostly cloudy, increasing NW wind 15-20mph, seas 5ft. 63F upon our departure, 53F when we returned.

126 Northern Gannets
22 CORY’S SHEARWATER (the remarkable Cory’s show continues!)
5 Common Loons
4 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES
3 Surf Scoters
3 Laughing Gulls
2 Black-legged Kittiwakes (personal first-of-fall)
1 Unidentified shearwater

Lots of Double-crested Cormorants and Common Eiders inshore of course, and plenty of Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls. 4 Great Blue Herons were roosting on House Island as we returned to port.

1 massive Bluefin Tuna
# Harbor Seals
0 whales of any kind

Although this is the last “PMP” of the season, don’t forget about our dedicated 6-hr Pelagic (complete with chumming and spotters) on Saturday, October 24th. Hopefully, the seas will be a little more benign! Visit www.freeportwildbirsupply.com/birdingtoursinMaine.asp for more information and contact info for the Odyssey for reservations. And, think Great Skua!