Maine birding summary

[erh36]

I just got back from a trip with friend Theresa Clark to visit her family in Maine (August 5-13, 2012). This was only my 3rd time traveling to the eastern U.S. (the previous two trips were when I was very young). I managed to score 7 lifers on the trip: EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE, BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER, COMMON TERN, GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL, COMMON EIDER, BLACK GUILLEMOT, and BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER. The last two days of the trip I ran into some nice mixed flocks with several warbler species, but overall I was surprised to not find more species, perhaps due to the breeding season being over for some of them or maybe me not being in the right habitat mix. However, fledglings being fed by parents was observed for Black-throated Green, Magnolia, and Yellow-rumped Warblers, Red-eyed Vireos, Golden-crowned Kinglets, and Scarlet Tanagers. Another reason for fewer birds earlier on may have been the drizzling rain we had off and on for most of the trip. It was also interesting that the warblers seen in the mixed flocks appeared to all be females (the male warblers seen on the trip were all singly except for those helping to feed fledglings).

By far the coolest experience of the trip was getting to see breeding plumage COMMON LOONS and hear their beautifully haunting vocalizations at Embden Pond where Theresa's family has a couple of cottages. The one night that we didn't have rain we were sitting at on her family's dock watching the moon rise across the lake when we began hearing two of them calling back and forth across the lake! The lake and air was so still that their sounds echoed. In addition, behind us in the woods we heard a few BARRED OWLS calling along with the loons throughout the night. An unforgettable experience to say the least!

Areas visited throughout the trip were in the southern half of Maine and included Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, the towns of Kennebunk/Kennebunkport, Kennebunk Beach, Embden Pond, Acadia National Park, Quietside Campground (on Mt. Desert Island adjacent to Acadia), Smalls Falls Rest Area, and the town of Rangely. Above Embden Pond I also birded some overgrown snowmobile trails through the forest. Besides the birds, we also saw a ton of mosses, liverworts, ferns, and club-mosses, in addition to some really cool carnivorous plants at a Sphagnum peat bog including pitcher plants and sun-dews. On the coastal rocky tide pools we found sea stars, snails, barnacles, and a dead eel. Here is the full list of confirmed bird species I saw in Maine on this trip (will post photos later after I sift through the 2,000+ photos I took during the trip!):

Common Loon
Canada Goose
Mallard
*Common Eider
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Glossy Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Red-tailed Hawk
Merlin
Ruffed Grouse
Killdeer
Semipalmated Plover
Spotted Sandpiper
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
*Great Black-backed Gull
*Common Tern
*Black Guillemot
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Barred Owl
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Hairy Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
*Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Barn Swallow
Tufted Titmouse
Black-capped Chickadee
Brown Creeper
White-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Gray Catbird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Eastern Bluebird
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Parula
Nashville Warbler
*Black-throated Green Warbler
*Blackburnian Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat
Scarlet Tanager
Chipping Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
[crossbill sp.-immature]
House Finch
Purple Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow


Good birding!

Eric Hough
thebirdwhisperer22@yahoo.com