From: "Linda Woodard" <lwoodard@MAINEAUDUBON.ORG>

To: <BIRDEAST@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>

Subject: [BIRDEAST] Maine Bird Alert 10-19

Date: Wednesday, August 27, 2003 2:02 PM

Name: Maine Audubon Bird Alert

Date: August 10-19, 2003

Area: State of Maine

Number: (207) 781-2332

Compilers: Steve Pollock and Kay Gammons

Transcriber: Maine Audubon (birdalert@maineaudubon.org)

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A GOLDEN EAGLE was reported from Wilton. Two SANDHILL CRANES are still

being seen in Leeds. A LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL was in Evergreen Cemetery in

Portland. A pair of FOSTER'S TERNS were at Ferry Beach in Scarborough.

York County

Six to 8 HUMMINGBIRDS were at 3 feeders in York. Also in York were

NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, OVENBIRD, and SHARP-SHINNED HAWK.

At Laudholm Farm in Wells, there were 7 PIPING PLOVERS, an AMERICAN

BITTERN, LEAST TERNS, WHITE-RUMPED, SEMIPALMATED and LEAST SANDPIPERS, 44

WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS, EASTERN TOWHEE, OSPREY, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, and

YELLOW, NASHVILLE and BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLERS.

On Kennebunk beach there were 3 WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS. Four RED-NECKED

GREBES in breeding plumage were seen off Parson's Beach. PURPLE MARTINS

and a WHIMBREL flew over the Webhannet Golf Course. At Goose Rocks there

were 3 AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS, and about 300 SHOREBIRDS, including

SEMIPALMATED and LEAST SANDPIPERS, PIPING PLOVERS, and SANDERLINGS.

At the Hills Beach section of Biddeford Pool there were 3 HUDSONIAN

GODWITS, RUDDY TURNSTONES, WHIMBRELS, BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS, ROSEATE and

COMMON TERNS, and a COOPER'S and a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK.

Scarborough Marsh Area

A LITTLE GULL along with BONAPARTE'S GULLS were at Pine Point. Highlights

among the +2,000 shorebirds in the pannes off Eastern Rd in Scarborough

included: STILT SANDPIPER, at least 40, prob. +42 (all adults, which is a

very high number in ME), 7 WHIMBREL fly-bys, WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS,

SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS, 1200+ SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, 4 PECTORAL

SANDPIPERS, 4 WESTERN SANDPIPERS, GREATER and LESSER YELLOWLEGS,

WILLETS, LEAST SANDPIPERS, 1 GOLDEN PLOVER, 140 SNOWY and 20 GREAT

EGRETS, 2 GLOSSY IBIS, 5 GREAT BLUE HERONS, and about 15 LITTLE BLUE

HERONS. A PEREGRINE FALCON kept birds in the air a fair bit, providing a

great show - most of the action was well out from the road. At Pine Point

there were 2 HUDSONIAN GODWITS, 3 AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS, 1 TRICOLORED, 6

LITTLE BLUE and 10 GREAT BLUE HERONS, 200 BONAPARTE'S GULLS, DUNLIN, and

WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS. On Pine Point Beach there were 300 SHOREBIRDS.

Greater Portland and western Maine

SHOREBIRDS at Back Cove in Portland included BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS,

SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, and YELLOWLEGS. Off Chebeague Island there were

BLACK GUILLEMOTS and WILSON'S STORM-PETRELS.

Central Maine

Seen in Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor were 1 SOLITARY SANDPIPER, MAGNOLIA,

NORTHERN PARULA, BLACK-THROATED GREEN, and YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS.

Two EAGLES, a NORTHERN HARRIER, and a COOPER'S HAWK were seen in Turner.

Midcoast region

In Phippsburg there were 2 LITTLE BLUE HERONS, 1 PEREGRINE FALCON,

SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS and SANDPIPERS, 4 PIPING PLOVERS, COMMON and ROSEATE

TERNS, and 1 NORTHERN HARRIER.

In the Liberty area there were YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER, AMERICAN

BITTERN,COMMON RAVEN, MERLIN, and several species of WARBLERS.

Six COMMON LOONS were on Megunticook lake.

Two pair of MERLIN'S have been reported nesting in the Rockland region.

Eastern Maine

In spite of the foggy weather, whale watching trips out of Bar Harbor the

most commonly seen birds consisted of GREATER SHEARWATERS, SOOTY and a few

MANX SHEARWATERS. All three species have been seen close to boats but due

to restricted visibility detailed counts have not been possible. A few

NORTHERN FULMARS are being seen south of Schoodic Point. One or two are seen

on almost all trips. WILSON'S and LEACH'S STORM-PETRELS are being seen right

from the Egg Rock Light in Frenchman Bay to points as far as 30 miles

beyond Mt. Desert Rock. On 8/7-10 there were many more LEACH'S than

WILSON'S, an unusual occurrence. A CORY'S SHEARWATER was seen 10 miles east

of Mt. Desert Rock on 8/10. Both POMARINE and PARASITIC JAEGERS are being

seen daily. COMMON and ARCTIC TERNS are seen daily. Numbers of both adult

and immature BONAPARTE'S GULLS are being seen in the northern parts of

Frenchman Bay.

The numbers of PUFFINS on Petit Manan Island has dropped as the birds

leave the nesting area and trips past that island will soon be curtailed.

Young BLACK GUILLEMOTS are off the nest and feeding groups of up to 50 birds

are seen daily off the cliffs off Long Porcupine Island. One to two thousand

young and female Common Eiders are around Egg Rock (Frenchman Bay) but no

adult males have been seen for nearly two weeks. Two male BLACK SCOTERS

were at that location on 8/11. A very vocal female Mallard was in with the

eiders at Egg Rock on 8/12 and as it was being observed it was taken by an

adult PEREGRINE FALCON which dragged it to shore. On 8/12 two BALD EAGLES

were in the middle of the seal colony on Egg Rock when a third eagle flew in

carrying an immature Herring Gull. A GREAT EGRET was on the shore beside

busy Rte 3 in Hulls Cove on 8/10. Immature GREAT BLUE HERONS are dispersing

from the Turtle Island heronry and are being seen at many locations around

Frenchman Bay. A trip around Acadia National Park on 8/8 tallied 54

species of birds many of them immatures or fall plumaged birds. Of note

were a MOURNING WARBLER, Mockingbird, many Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and

several RED CROSSBILLS.

Two SNOWY EGRETS were feeding in a small marshy area north

of Eastport on 8/9.

Small feeding groups were seen along the St. Croix River in Calais on 8/9.

On West Grand Lake there was an immature RED-THROATED LOON, 12 BONAPARTE'S

GULLS.

In Machias Bay there were WHIMBREL, RUDDY TURNSTONES, and BLACK-BELLIED

PLOVERS.

In East Machias there were 200 DOWITCHERS and 50 migrating COMMON NIGHT

HAWKS.

At the LUBEC FLATS there were flocks of hundreds of COMMON EIDERS flying

in overhead. In the dune grass and plants around the South Lubec Sandbar

there were 7 NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROWS and 6 SAVANNAH SPARROWS.

SHOREBIRDS included SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER (dozens),

KILLDEER (~20), RUDDY TURNSTONE (dozens), RED KNOT (2), SANDERLING (~5),

SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER (several hundred) WESTERN SANDPIPER (dozens), LEAST

SANDPIPER (several hundred), WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER adults and juveniles by

the dozens, and SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER (~15).

At QUODDY HEAD STATE PARK (8/12 and 8/13) there were BOREAL CHICKADEE,

BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLERS feeding fledglings, BLACK-AND-WHITE

WARBLER,DARK-EYED JUNCOS, also feeding fledglings, COMMON RAVENS, SPOTTED

SANDPIPER (several), as well as numerous TERNS, BONAPARTE'S GULLS

(8 in breeding plumage) BLACK GUILLEMOT, BLACK SCOTER (1 female), and

RED-BREASTED MERGANSER (3).

Northern Maine

In Houlton there were: OVENBIRD, AMERICAN REDSTART, NORTHERN PARULA,

NASHVILLE and CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLERS, and NORTHERN FLICKERS.

In Fort Kent there were HUMMINGBIRDS and a BLUE-HEADED VIREO. Fifty COMMON

NIGHTHAWKS were migrating through Fort Kent. Also in Fort Kent were 2

MERLINS

Upcoming Maine Audubon Birding Trips

Please call 207-781-2330, ext. 215 or email lledoux@maineaudubon.org for

more information or to make reservations.

Fall Migration on Appledore Island

This weekend trip offers an unusual opportunity to explore the biological

diversity of a complex and unspoiled island that has attracted the

interest of scientists for decades. Lying six miles off the Maine and New

Hampshire coasts, 95-acre Appledore Island is the largest of the nine Isles

of Shoals. While towns have flourished at different times on the islands,

all permanent communities now have disappeared. The island is home to the

Shoal's Marine Laboratory, an undergraduate marine field station established

by faculty of Cornell University and the University of New Hampshire and

offering an extensive program of adult and family education programs. The

trip coincides with the fall songbird migration, particularly of flycatchers

and warblers, but at least 125 species of birds are known to have used the

island as a migratory resting spot. Extensive birding and bird banding

demonstrations are planned, and opportunities for photography are excellent.

We will stay in the field station's simple but comfortable two-person

dormitory rooms and eat in the lab's cafeteria-style dining hall. Cost of

the trip includes accommodations, boat transportation to Appledore Island,

leadership and all meals (Friday lunch and dinner; Saturday breakfast, lunch

and dinner; and Sunday brunch).

From Portsmouth, N.H.

Friday, September 5 at 11 a.m. to Sunday, September 7 at 1 p.m.

Led by Lysle Brinker

$275/member, $300/nonmember

Limited to 12 participants

Hawk Migration Clinic and Trip

Identifying hawks as they soar overhead is one of the great challenges for

beginning birders. This combined clinic and field trip program will get

you off to a great start in mastering the skills to tell these

often-confusing birds apart. The evening clinic will begin with a video to

prime us for a discussion of how to key in on comparative outlines, shapes

and sizes. The field trip will put those newly learned skills into practice

at a local hawk-watching site.

Wilton Clinic: Monday, September 8 at 7 p.m. or Thursday, September 11 at 7

p.m Field trip: Saturday, September 20 or Sunday, September 21 (at

discretion of leader)

9 a.m.-noon

Led by J Dwight

$25/member, $35/nonmember

Limited to 12 participants

Bald Eagles of Merrymeeting Bay

Merrymeeting Bay, at the confluence of the Androscoggin and Kennebec

rivers, is a gathering spot for one of the largest concentrations of bald

eagle in Maine. Attracted by the rafts of migrating waterfowl that stop to

forage in this inland tidal bay each fall, the eagles are readily seen from

a boat. When Maine Audubon first began running this trip in the mid 1970s,

sighting one or two eagles was all that could be expected. Since then,

however, the bald eagle population has rebounded from the devastating

effects of pesticide poisoning, and recent trips have seen as many as 36

eagles! Our boat leaves from Boothbay Harbor, crosses Sheepscot Bay to the

Sasanoa River and then travels up the Kennebec to Merrymeeting Bay. If

weather and tide permit, we will return to Boothbay via the mouth of the

Kennebec. These sheltered tidal waters of mid-coast Maine offer some of the

most pleasant and scenic cruising to be found anywhere-plus excellent

wildlife watching.

From Boothbay Harbor

Saturday, September 13 (weather date September 14)

9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Led by Dick Anderson, Bob Bittenbender $40/member, $50/nonmember

Limited to 125 participants

Hawks Over Agamenticus

Standing alone above Maine's southern coastal plain, Mt. Agamenticus is

ideally suited both to migrating hawks in search of updrafts and to

hawk-watchers in search of large numbers of birds. Osprey, bald eagle,

sharp-shinned hawk, American kestrel and turkey vulture are other

possible species to look for and identify. Mt. Agamenticus is an

interesting place to explore. In autumn, the views of the Atlantic Ocean

on one side and of the Berwick Valley and New Hampshire mountains on the

other present a splendid panorama. The area surrounding the mountain

comprises the most extensive wildland remaining in York County. More

than 1,000 acres of the mountain are publicly owned conservation land and

there are some animals and plants here that cannot be found anywhere else in

Maine.

York

Saturday, September 20

9 a.m.-noon

Led by Scott Cronenweth

$8/member, $10/nonmember

Limited to 15 participants

Pelagic Birding

The cold, nutrient-rich waters of the Gulf of Maine support a vast array

of marine life. In the past these waters have been accessible to birders

only incidentally via the Bluenose ferry, but Maine Audubon's cruise in a

111-foot power catamaran (ensuring a smooth and stable ride) opens

exciting new possibilities for pelagic birding. From Bar Harbor we'll cruise

by Schoodic Point and Petit Manan before heading some thirty to forty miles

offshore. We can expect to see northern gannet, several species of

shearwater, red phalarope, black-legged kittiwake, jaegers, alcids and

possibly great skua. We may also see finback, humpback and minke whales.

The cruise will loop back in toward the waters of Mt. Desert Rock, and we

should have spectacular views of the mountains of Acadia. This is an

exciting opportunity to fill in some of those empty blanks on your life

lists in the unique birding habitat of the Gulf of Maine.

From Bar Harbor

Saturday, October 4 (weather date October 5)

6 a.m.-1 p.m.

Led by Jan Pierson, Lysle Brinker

$70/member, $80/nonmember, $35/student Limited to 125 participants

For Birdeast archives, and to join, leave, or change address, see:

http://listserv.arizona.edu/archives/birdeast.html