2019 MYBC CBC

by Marion Sprague

On Dec. 28th MYBC set out on our 2nd Annual Christmas Bird Count for the Biddeford/Kennebunk CBC!  Our crew consisted of 12 birders—7 young birders and 5 adults. We had mild sunny weather all day making for very comfortable birding. We had a great time and several young birders made the long-haul staying out birding from 7 am all the way to the final compilation which took place at 5 pm.  This was our second year with special guest Nathan Hall, one of the MYBC founders, leading the team We covered the same territory though included a few new locations in the Biddeford/Saco area.

Our first stop was in Saco at Oceanwood Camp for the sunrise over the marsh. We were greeted by a chorus of Canada Geese and Mallards, as well as a few Eastern Bluebirds and a lone Belted Kingfisher. 

We made a stop to walk the Middle Goosefare Trail to pick up Golden-crowned Kinglet, but got sidetracked a group of crows mobbing something—excited it could be a raptor or owl we took off in hot pursuit. We never did find out what the racket was all about. On our jaunt through the neighborhood we were serenaded by a Tufted Titmouse tuning up a rather unique song that caused a number of us to questions what we were hearing. Luckily the little signer posed and began to sing on an open branch, We also a small flock of Mallards, a mixed- flock of sparrows and finches and the call of a Red-bellied Woodpecker. Once we made it back to the trail, we did get our Golden-crowned Kinglets, a mixed flock of Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice (mices? mouses? meese?), nuthatches and a Downy Woodpecker.

Our next stop brought us to Old Orchard Beach to pick up some sea birds.  We were pretty successful, with highlights including a Red-throated Loon, grebes, scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, and 2 Greater Scaup.  The two highlights for the group were a 3 late-season Tree Swallows that flew right over our heads and a flock of 30+ Sandlerings! 

We broke for lunch and picked up a few more birders for the afternoon.  After we filled out bellies, we decided to hit up Old Orchard Blueberry Barrens. It was pretty quiet along the trail.  We encountered a total of 4 species—Morning Doves, American Crows, Black-Capped Chickadees and White-breasted Nuthatch. We entertained ourselves with discussion of the importance of places such as this barren to native wildlife and plants.

Our journey next brought us to Saco Heath.  While wonderful habitat, birding was incredibly slow. While we didn’t pick up any new species, the warm afternoon was perfect for a walk along the boardwalk. The heath has all the ingredients to be a great destination. This is our second year on the CBC with slow results. After some discussion, we may try to hit the heath earlier in the day next year to see if it is just a slow winter-afternoon spot.

Our final stop before heading to the compilation was a small apple orchard in Saco. Here we were greeted by a few Northern Cardinals. The light was starting to wain and we said goodbye to another great year participating in the Biddeford CBC.

Several young birders attended the compilation and were active participants in the count process—even stepping in to read the compilation list for a team that was not able to attend.   This was a special year for the Biddeford CBC as it celebrated its 60th year (the CBC celebrated its 120th anniversary this year). Dave Doubleday, who has participated in every one of the 60 CBC’s, gave a few remarks about the counts over the years.

In total (now that the official results are in) there were 84 different species seen on the count day. MYBC had a lot of fun and can’t wait to participate next year!

Stay-tuned for the January 2020 Trip Announcement coming soon!

See Full Checklists here:

Oceanwood Camp https://ebird.org/checklist/S62749793?share=true

Free Street, Old Orchard https://ebird.org/checklist/S62749796?share=true

Temple Ave, Old Orchard https://ebird.org/checklist/S62749787?share=true

Old Orchard Beach https://ebird.org/checklist/S62749779?share=true

Dirigo Road, Old Orchard https://ebird.org/checklist/S62749764?share=true

Middle Goosefare Trail https://ebird.org/checklist/S62749746?share=true

Old Orchard Blueberry Barrens https://ebird.org/checklist/S62749726?share=true

Saco Heath https://ebird.org/checklist/S62749708?share=true

 

Ft. Foster 2019!

by Seth Davis

MYBC went out on an adventure at Ft. Foster in S. Maine on 11/16 and we were (as always) pleasantly surprised! The trip started off fantastic with an excellent view of a late Black-throated Green Warbler going through trees. This seasonal rarity was joined by numerous Blue Jays, Common Grackles, and a few Eastern Bluebirds during its show.

Despite the cold, we made our way down toward the oceanside and were greeted by some Surf Scoters, Common Eiders, and a very impressive adult Bald Eagle! In making our way up the trail a very interesting raptor flew over. Despite it being a very brief glimpse, there was enough time to recognize it was for sure smaller than a Red-tailed Hawk, and had conspicuous “crescents” at the edge of the wings. This meant one thing (considering most Broad-winged Hawks have migrated) this was a Red-shouldered Hawk!!! The first time MYBC has reported one!

Moving on, we picked up a few regulars like Song Sparrow, Black-capped Chickadee etc. However, as we made our way back to the cars, we were greeted by an excellent view of a Golden-crowned Kinglet, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and at least two Brown Creepers! They were certainly not shy about getting their photos taken!

All in all, it was an awesome trip, as Ft. Foster tends to be this time of year! We picked up some rarities, and in general had a great time! We hope you will join us for our upcoming December event, where the young birders will show their might by tackling our own Christmas Bird Count!

Mt. Agamenticus Pt. III

by Marion Sprague

Eight of MYBC’s young birders ventured to Mt. Agamenticus on Saturday October 12th in an effort to do some hawk watching and catch some of the late fall migrants. The fog and rain made for less than stellar conditions for hawk watching so we took to the trails to see what we could find for fall migrants. We encountered a mixed flock of Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Song Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow and one White-Throated Sparrow. Many of us saw our first of the season Dark-eyed Juncos flitting among the bushes. The star of the show was a lone Blue-headed Vireo clinging to a sapling as it swayed in the winds. This was a lifter for a few of the birders!

We spent some time watching dozens of bumble bees as they clung to wet asters. The cold weather made them very lethargic. We talked about the importance of these late blooming flowers to pollinators such as migrating butterflies and bees.

The trails through the woods offered some shelter from the mist and rain. The birds were very quiet, but we encountered lots of other natural life as we walked. We entertained ourselves looking at the many other offerings of nature, such as mushrooms, insects and caterpillars.

We arrived back at the summit in time for a quick snack break before heading into the Learning Lodge. We spent some time pursuing the displays and learning a little more about the variety of wildlife living on Mt. A.

At the base, we made our yearly visit to Center for Wildlife to look at all the ambassador birds and wildlife there. It was exciting to get to see these birds up close and learn more about all the good that the center does for the animals in the area. We picked up a few additional “wild” species while there bribing our final species count to 15.

At the Center for Wildlife we watched as the volunteers cleaned our the enclosure for Bertram the non-releasable Raven ambassador. He was most displeased by the disruption to all of his hiding places and buried loot. We had a chance to talk to a few of the center’s staff about how what they do and how many of the animals have ended up at the center. We were surprised that the two most common reasons for being admitted to the center are 1) being raised by people as young and imprinting of humans and 2) run ins with cars. We talked about the importance of what to do if you find an injured or abandoned baby animal or bird and how getting them to a place like the center gives them their best chance or returning to the wild.

We had a blast, and can’t wait until next year to get to do it all over again! Our next trip will be in mid-November so be on the lookout for our trip announcement ~2 weeks prior to the event.

Mt. A Trip List Here: https://ebird.org/me/checklist/S60549552?share=true

So.ME Shorebirding!

By Seth Davis

On September 7th the Maine Young Birders Club sought out shore/seabirds during the beginning of Fall migration. During the previous two days some really interesting rarities were reported in the area including a Western and Buff-breasted Sandpipers. Many of us were fixated and extremely hopeful to see these birds, but long story short… we dipped. Turns out creatures that can fly don’t always like to stick around so a group of young birders can stare at them. The day was not lost however, we saw lots of interesting birds!

Our first stop was at Biddeford Pool Beach (aka Southpoint Sanctuary). This was our obvious first stop as it is where the two aforementioned birds were seen the day(s) before. Here we saw several Ruddy Turnstones and a LOT of Semipalmated Sandpipers and Plovers. When looking out on the ocean, Weston noted that there were a bunch of Northern Gannets gliding past. https://ebird.org/me/view/checklist/S60046633

Then we moved up to Hills Beach as this is a hotspot in the Fall. Right at the beginning we had an awesome experience where we saw a Cooper’s Hawk dive and try to attack a Whimbrel out in the marsh! It was very unexpected to A. see a Whimbrel and B. see a hawk go after a bird 2-3x its size! Out on the marsh we also saw a bunch of Black-bellied Plovers, Willets, and Short-billed Dowitchers, and out on the beach as we were headed back a single White-rumped Sandpiper, so our efforts to see a Fall migrant weren’t lost! https://ebird.org/me/view/checklist/S60046634

Lastly, we stopped by Timber Point, which surprisingly we haven’t taken MYBC to on a dedicated trip and we really ought to because it’s one of if not the author’s favorite birding spots in Maine! Plus they have sported and MYBC sign at the entrance for years! Sadly it was fairly quite at Timber Point despite the recent surge in Fall migrating warblers. We did get lucky and at the end of the trail picked up a Cape May Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, and a Northern Parula. We also spent some time eating rosehips and learning about some of the insect life that was very present there. https://ebird.org/me/view/checklist/S60046636

All in all, it was a successful trip, shore birding in Southern Maine is always fun, and we look forward to doing it again next year!

Sunset Puffin Cruise 2019

By Marion Sprague

Who doesn’t love puffins? On Saturday, July 13th nine of our young birders and their families embarked on the Maine Audubon Puffin Cruise into Muscongus Bay to Eastern Egg Rock.  It was a gorgeous evening to be on the water for this special trip. The Audubon Sunset Puffin Cruise goes out an hour and a half later than the traditional Hardy Boat Cruise, so we get to see the puffins as they are returning to the island for the night. It is rare to see rafts as large as 15 floating so close to the boat. On multiple occasions we had puffins fly directly overhead.

The island is home to the world's first restored seabird colony. The restoration of Eastern Egg Rock has been replicated worldwide to help endangered and threated seabirds.  On the ride out to the island, Captain Al gave a brief overview of the history of puffins and what makes this tiny, 7-acre island so important for in their continued breeding success.  Last year there were over 175 breeding pairs of Atlantic Puffins on the island. Eastern Egg Rock is known as the most easily-accessible Maine island for observing nesting Atlantic Puffins.  From mid-May to mid-August, 4-5 people live on the island to monitor the nesting colonies of the birds.

As we approached the island we were greeted by the powerful laughter of the Laughing Gulls. The group was treated to many spectacular sightings including Black Guillemots (the MYBC mascot!) showing off their red feet and Common Terns carrying small fish back to the island to feed young.  We saw a single Roseate Tern sitting on a rock. The most unusual bird was a lone BRANT that has been hanging around the island for a few weeks.

Check out the eBird checklists here:

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S58191922?share=true
https://ebird.org/atlasme/view/checklist/S58191924?share=true
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S58191923?share=true
https://ebird.org/atlasme/view/checklist/S58191925?share=true

While birds were our focus, we also took some time to appreciate sightings of Harbor Porpoises and Harbor Seals basking on the rocks! One Harbor Seal delighted us with what appeared to be a wave as we passed.  On the return trip Captain Al took the group by Franklin Light to view the 3rd oldest lighthouse in Maine.

MYBC wants to give a huge thank you to Maine Audubon for sponsoring this trip for the young birders and club coordinators.  Also thanks to Louis Bevier for sharing his expertise with the young birders and parents!  We appreciated his excellent leadership on this trip.

Kennebunk Plains Pt. II

By Seth Davis

Six young birders, including two new members joined us for our second trip to the Kennebunk Plains! Very reminiscent of last year, there was a strong threat of thunderstorms but luckily we didn’t get rained out. Nick Lund aka “The Birdist” joined us for part of our trip and it was awesome to have some more experience and fun knowledge to accompany us!

The day started off and remained awesome for the duration of our trip! Right off the bat, we picked up some less common sparrows including Vespers and Savannah Sparrows. Early on we also heard Eastern Meadowlarks, Cedar Waxwings, and Eastern Towhees all over the grasslands. We also picked up and got some great views of our target birds UPLAND SANDPIPER and GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS! These state-endangered birds can really only be found in this area, so it s always a welcome treat when we get some great views.

When we got toward the back part of the area, we decided to try to get out of the rain and try to find some forrest-dwelling birds. Among the few warblers, and thrushes we cam across, we also stumbled upon a hen Wild Turkey who was sitting on her clutch of newborn turklets? turklings? gobble-pops? Regardless of what they’re called they were super cute. We made sure that on our way back we tried not to disturb the birds to make as little impact as possible.

Among other birds, we saw a Cooper’s Hawk, Prairie Wablers, and… ticks… As Marion said, “even the ticks had ticks”… Luckily they all seemed like American Dog Ticks, but still gross…

All in all it was a very successful and fun day! It was great to interact with some new members and we hope to continue to meet new people and learn more about Maine’s birds and natural environment!

Our full checklists for the trip can be seen here: https://ebird.org/me/view/checklist/S58036771

and here: https://ebird.org/me/view/checklist/S58036770

L.L. Bean Birding Festival Walk at Pettengill Farm

By Marion Sprague

On Saturday May 25th MYBC joined the L.L. Bean Birding Festival walk at Pettengill Farm in Freeport. The event was open to the public, so there were many familiar and many new faces to greet us. Doug Hitchcox, staff naturalist from Maine Audubon, welcomed the group and gave some quick safety and overview information. The group split into two smaller groups. One stayed with Doug and the other followed Laura Erikson for a walk around the property.

The MYBC had the pleasure of  joining Laura Erikson, scientist, teacher, writer, wildlife rehabilitator, professional blogger, public speaker, photographer, former science editor at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and contributing editor of BirdWatching magazine. She is the author of fourteen books on birds and a producer for the long-running “For the Birds” radio program and podcast.

Those that went with Laura observed many species including more Indigo Buntings (surprise!), a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a female Scarlet Tanager, and three Snowy Egrets down by the water, among other species. It was a great experience to get to meet some of the other young birders in the area!

The rest of the group stayed behind with Doug to learn about some of the bird mounts from Maine Audubon and delight in a very cooperative male Indigo Bunting singing his “Fire, Fire. Where, Where?  Here, Here.  See it, See it?” song from the nearby crabapple trees.

After the walk with Laura wrapped up the MYBC group continued our morning with a walk down the road to the parking area. We heard Ovenbirds singing “Teacher! Teacher! Teacher!” and Black-throated Green Warblers merrily singing “Zee zee zee zoo zee”. We had a male Hairy Woodpecker foraging for insects in a dead tree along the road. He put on a good show jumping from tree to tree.

We wrapped up the walk with a sighting of a lone Blackburnian Warbler high in the newly budding trees next to the gate entrance.

There were lots of activities to participate in throughout the rest of the day and weekend. MYBC was invited to have a booth at the L. L. Bean flagship store. We had lots of visitors come by to take information and ask about out club.

Thank you to Maine Audubon and L.L. Bean for inviting us to participate! Check out the trip list here:

Our June trip is going to be announced shortly so stay tuned.

Maine Spring Live

by Seth Davis

On Saturday the 27th, MYBC was lucky to be offered to represent our club at the Maine Spring LIVE event at Gilsland Farm in Falmouth. Marion spent a lot of time and effort to set up our booth which turned out really great! We had a lot of interested people stop by to see what the club has to offer and we were happy to be given this opportunity to promote MYBC. The young birders had a lot of opportunities to go on bird walks, see live animal shows, and interact with other nature-focused organizations around Maine.

As much as we would love to talk about club promotion, the more important question is, how were the birds!?! Right off the bat we were given the pleasure of seeing a Pileated Woodpecker working a tree not too far from our booth! It was a very patient bird that let a lot of us get within great photo distance (see below). Right then we knew it was going to be a good day. Admittedly, it was difficult to keep track of birds because the club was pretty split up throughout the day, with members going on bird walks or to the shows, however our booth was right next to a set of feeders which provided some excellent opportunities to see who was coming in! From our nice comfy chair we had a lot of the regular visitors, Black-capped Chickadee, Chipping Sparrows, Downy/Hairy Woodpeckers etc. We also got some great views of a Pine Warbler and Brown-headed Cowbird that would stop by pretty regularly. Out on the walks we saw a lot of great birds like an American Kestrel, extremely close views of Wild Turkey and multiple Song Sparrows. The cherry on the ice cream was definitely a great view of a LITTLE EGRET!!! This is an exceptionally rare bird for the U.S. but Maine has been lucky enough to host it (quite possibly a pair) for the past 4-5 years with it always returning to Gilsland Farm! This eurasian visitor was ID’ed for the first time this year on Saturday and it was awesome that we got to see it!

After the walks and as the event began to die out, Seth and River got the opportunity to go down to the “vaults” of Maine Audubon to look at specimens and try to learn a little more about how Maine Audubon operates. It was a fun experience! All-in-all this event was really fun and we look forward to being a part of it next year!

Sketching, Pizza and Woodcock Walk

by Marion Sprague

On Saturday, March 30, six young birders joined MYBC in the search for returning American Woodcocks. We headed to the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust at dusk.   As we were getting our gear out of the cars an American Woodcock buzzed over us just above our heads. We could the distinctive nasal “peent” coming from multiple woodcocks nearby. We were very fortunate to have Bud Danis, who heads the KCT Trail Steward Program, join us for the walk and guide us to a prime viewing spot.

Within minutes, we heard one take off nearby.  The field at Kennebunkport Conservation Trust is situated ideally facing the western sky. This is great for watching woodcocks in flights as the light of the setting sun gives perfect backlighting to watch their elaborate sky dance.  We were able to watch the first few flights in their entirety from takeoff through ascent to landing. We strained our eyes to keep up with the long circular ascent of the woodcock and listened for the twittering high above our heads as the woodcock reached its apex and descended.  While he danced high above, we took this chance to approach his display turf by quickly jogging our way closer.  Standing still just behind a cluster of apple trees, we held our breaths in the hope that he would land back on his favorite patch of field again.

The woodcock did not disappoint.  He descended, loudly chirping, and landed about 20 feet in front of us!  We spotlighted him, and everyone got great looks through the scope and binoculars at the plump, peenting bird.  A few even managed to get photos of the well camouflaged bird.  We were very fortunate that he landed close enough that we could hear the little hiccup woodcocks make just after he peented.  

Prior to our woodcock outing, we enjoyed a pizza dinner and a wonderful sketching workshop taught by Michael Boardman of Coyote Graphics.  Michael started the workshop with a quick demonstration of how to capture gesture and field marks when sketching a bird quickly in the wild. Luckily, our models were staying put. Michael brought in three bird mounts for us to practice sketching—a Bufflehead, a Black-bellied Plover and of course our target bird the American Woodcock. Michael also gave a brief demo on watercolor and how to mix three basic colors to get almost any color you need to paint wildlife.  We had a lot of fun and discovered many of the group had artistic abilities!

Perhaps the highlight of the evening came at the very end as we were walking to meet everyone’s parents. Ian thought he heard the twittering of a woodcock in flight and called for everyone to stop. Sure enough, a lone American Woodcock had landed 10 feet in front of us at the base of a large tree on the UNE Campus.  Nice spotting, Ian!

We will post details about the April outing shortly. Stay tuned. Until then, happy birding!

Owling

by Seth Davis

“We saw every owl…” is what we wanted to say after our long early-morning outing. Unfortunately, it turns out that these elusive raptors are in fact, very elusive. We were a trio for this trip (not unexpected for our early morning adventures) and we traveled all over Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough to some known owling hotspots. Our hope was that we would at the very least hear some owls as February is the beginning of their breeding season, but no such luck. Some in the party were pretty convinced they heard a Great Horned Owl near Ram Island, however it was considered a “Dirty Bird” (a term meaning that only some of a birding party saw/ID’d a bird and not everyone) thus we didn’t count it.

All was not lost however! We did see some great birds as it started to get light out. Most notably we saw 3 Red-tailed Hawks and 1 Rough-legged Hawk near the Spurwink River Crossing. There were also hundreds of Mallards, American Black Ducks, and Canada Geese among others.

The lack of sleep did not alter our determination, we will continue to seek out these amazing birds! Our next trip will be in late March so keep your eyes open for the announcement!