Maine Outdoor Journal

High pressure remains in control through with temperatures running about 10 degrees below normal continuing. The “growing season” here along the south coast officially came to a close on Thursday morning as temperatures dipped below freezing; our bird baths had their first thin coating of ice this morning. Diminishing northwesterly winds became light out of the west after midnight, and clear skies overnight led to those freezing temperatures, but also produced another excellent nigh for migration. The radar was busy early on, but activity diminished as the night went on, signifying many more birds departed than arrived. Here are the 10pm, 12am, 2am, and 4am radar images:








That “exodus” flight corresponded well to my observations at Sandy Point this morning. Despite excellent conditions through the night, the flight this dawn was actually relatively light. Here’s the tally:

6:53 am to 7:48am: Partly cloudy, light W. Cold.

American Robin: 79
Yellow-rumped Warbler: 68
Dark-eyed Junco: 20
Unidentified: 16
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: 14
Golden-crowned Kinglet: 8
Palm Warbler: 7
Blue-headed Vireo: 3
Swamp Sparrow: 3
Eastern Phoebe: 2
Tufted Titmouse: 2 (still had not crossed after 5 false starts)
Unidentified kinglet: 2
Chipping Sparrow: 2
White-crowned Sparrow: 2
Blue Jay: 1
Brown Creeper: 1
Hermit Thrush: 1
Nashville Warbler: 1
Savannah Sparrow: 1
Song Sparrow: 1
Common Grackle: 1
Total = 241.

It was then over to Old Town House Park in North Yarmouth. I have continued to be dumbfounded by the overall lack of birds here in the fall, with very few days producing much in the way of migrants. Today, however, there was a decent smattering of migrants around. There was a good number of American Robins both overhead and in the riparian trees, 25 total Common Grackles heading south overhead, as were 4 Rusty Blackbirds, and newly-arrived waterfowl included one Hooded Merganser in the river and a hen Green-winged Teal in a swale. A total of 4 Purple Finches passes for a decent total so far this fall; they have been incredibly sparse! It was also one of the better days of sparrow-age in the fall that I have had here, with tallies of 47 White-throated, 23 Swamp, 8 Song, and 2 White-crowned Sparrows.

It was then on to Thornhurst Farm where I was hoping to improve upon my Pink-footed Geese photos from yesterday. Stella had just texted that the Cackling Goose – found yesterday evening by Luke – was present, but the Pink-foots were not. All of the geese were off of Prince Well Road this morning, but a quick scan did not produce the vagrants. However, only a few minutes after I arrived, a small flock of geese landed, which included the three Pink-feet.

I am not sure where they came from, but I later learned that Chris James had the Pink-foots in the pasture near the barn at about 8:30. The taller grass here could easily obscure these small geese, and presumably that’s where they dropped into the “air strip field” from. Cloud cover and minimal winds made for slightly improved digiscoping conditions, further helped by the considerably closer proximity of the geese.










I also then relocated the Cackling Goose, which was definitely not the “runt” Canada that I reported yesterday. Furthermore, after scanning the flock, I found that “runt” again, so clearly the Cackler was a new arrival over the course of the day yesterday. My tally of 704 Canadas also suggested more birds had arrived as yesterday’s northwesterly wind continued. Although a bit anti-climatic perhaps, Cackling Goose is still a rarity in Maine – at least away from Thornhurst Farm where they have now appeared for three straight years!