Maine Outdoor Journal

Despite fairly light, west-northwest winds overnight and clear skies Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, very, very few migrants were on the move. Here’s the 12:00am radar image, for example:


Therefore, it was not surprising that reorienting migrants were few and far between at Sandy Point come dawn, despite favorable WNW winds. Here’s the tally:

6:20-7:05am. Clear, lt WNW wind.
22 American Robins
15 Dark-eyed Juncos
5 Yellow-rumped Warblers
2 Snow Buntings
2 American Goldfinches
1 Common Loon
1 Common Grackle
1 House Finch (one of the few that I have ever seen crossing here)

Plus, the Red-bellied Woodpecker, which I heard for the first time this season here on Monday, was once again calling from the periphery of the parking lot.

So, with such good conditions, and with such a slight flight, I think this will conclude my dawn vigils at Sandy Point for the season. But, even on this cold and crisp, quiet morning, it was hard not to enjoy the sunrise and a few birds while sipping my tea.




While some light flights can occur during the next couple of weeks – if weather systems back birds up for a few days, for example – this will likely be my last morning flight count of the season. There’s still plenty of Dark-eyed Juncos to pass through, however, along with American Robins, but especially due to the dearth of finches, I don’t expect any more big flights with much diversity.

I probably should have tried the sunrise here yesterday, however, as the winds had not yet switched to the east by dawn – as was predicted to occur – and a decent late-season flight actually occurred overnight Monday into Tuesday. Here are the 10pm, 12am, 2am, and 4am radar images:








Barring an unforeseen large flight in the coming days and weeks, this will likely be my last radar “session” until the spring as well. Therefore, I am no officially in “Rarity Season” mode, and the wind maps are now what I want to be studying.

On Tuesday, Jeannette and I visited Reid State Park. No rarities here - and not much else really - as it was uncharacteristically quiet. Passerine migrants were limited to 5 Horned Larks, 4 Song Sparrows, and 1 Hermit Thrush, while shorebirds were limited to only 24 Black-bellied Plovers.

Waterbirds were much more prevelant, however, including a nice early-season tally of 77 Red-necked Grebes, along with building numbers of the common seaducks. A couple of Clouded Sulfur butterflies over the course of the morning were definitely on the late side.

Later in the day, we attended the Ian Newton lecture at USM, sponsored by Biodiversity Research Institute. Ian Newton is one of the world’s foremost ornithologists, so we were very excited to hear him speak for the first time. His presentation, on “Populations Limits in Migratory Birds,” was an excellent overview to the threats faced by bird populations on the wintering grounds, breeding grounds, and all points in between. Sobering, to say the least.

Anyway, on Wednesday morning, after my lack of migratory birds at Sandy Point, I checked a few spots in Yarmouth (Lower Falls Landing, Royal River Park, and the Sligo Road Property) with little to show for it, before doing the “goose loop” to check up on the flock. The only geese I encountered were 207 Canadas at Thornhurst Farm, along with a very spiffy adult male Northern Harrier hunting the lower fields. No geese along Greely Rd, either, although it was early in the morning (7:50 to 8:15 am), and I have noticed that sometime geese arrive later on cold mornings (perhaps to allow the frost to melt off of the grass?).

But, with northwesterly winds last night into today (becoming more northerly this morning), we have pretty good conditions for birds to start moving out. I did notice at least one high flock overhead later in Yarmouth, heading south, so at least some turnover is likely happening today. We’ll see if the Pink-footed Geese show up later today, and I’ll search for them again tomorrow.

A quick check of the Cousin’s Marsh produced only 2 Greater Yellowlegs and one Semipalmated Plover. Although the tide was not yet high, I wonder if the Long-billed Dowitcher and friends have now also moved on? I’ll have to confirm this later today or tomorrow.

OK, now I need to get to work preparing for our big Sibley book signing event this afternoon, but before I go, I’ll leave you with this link to an article on the Pink-footed Geese from today’s Portland Press Herald.