Stratton Island Trip Report - July 9, 2022

by Laurie Pocher

Clear skies and calm seas were the order of the day as the Maine Young Birders cruised over to Stratton Island on Saturday. We spent a few hours with the Audubon team that lives on the island throughout the breeding season to monitor the tern and heron colonies on Stratton, Little Stratton, and Bluff Islands.

The staff was kind enough to set up some spotting scopes so we could check out the beach and nearby islands while we waited for the rest of our group to arrive. We were greeted by dozens of Common Terns chattering away and swooping down to say ‘hello’ — or maybe it was more like ‘get off my lawn!’ The presence of ‘tern sticks’ held in the air over our heads successfully prevented anxious birds from making contact with our scalps. Common Tern chicks blended in well with the rocks on the beach and could have been easily overlooked if the parents weren’t constantly bringing in fish to feed them. In addition to extremely close encounters with Common Terns, we were treated to a flyover by a single Black Tern.

When the second group arrived, we relocated to an interior pond, where we peeked through the reeds at Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Glossy Ibis, Gadwalls, Mallards with ducklings, Canada Geese with Goslings, and our first Spotted Sandpiper of the day. We were able to see several Great Egret nests in the trees across the pond, with juveniles waiting patiently for feeding time. Tree and Barn Swallows flew overhead while Red-Winged Blackbirds sang from the reeds.

After a quick visit to the base camp where we learned about some of the different types of fish that terns feed (or try to feed) their young, we checked out the East Coast of the island. We saw another Spotted Sandpiper, as well as several Black Guillemots, and Common Eiders with chicks. An American Oystercatcher laughed out loud as it noisily flew by, and we saw several more Tree Swallows and a couple of Yellow Warblers along the way.

We split up into pairs and spent the next 45 minutes in small blinds with views of nesting tern colonies at different locations along the island’s shoreline. Some birders were treated to views of Arctic, Least and Roseate Terns. We all got to see plenty of chicks of various ages, ranging from only a day or two old with just ‘nubbins’ where their wings should be, to several weeks old where they’re mostly able to fend for themselves but still rely on their parents for food. We also witnessed some courtship and mating, as well as a couple of terns sitting on eggs.

Other species we saw (or heard) throughout our journey to Stratton Island brought our total count to 30 for the day and included: Semipalmated Sandpiper, Short-Billed Dowitcher, Bonaparte’s Gull, Ring-Billed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-Backed Gull, Double-Crested Cormorant, Song Sparrow, and Chestnut-Sided Warbler. Click here to view our complete eBird checklist.

We’d like to extend a special thank you to Michael and the whole team on Stratton Island for being such great hosts, and for taking such good care of us and the birds! Click here to learn more about shorebird conservation efforts at Stratton Island.

Our next outing — the Audubon Sunset Puffin Cruise on July 22 — is already full and we’ve started a waitlist. If you’d like to add your name, please do so via this link: 2022 Sunset Puffin Cruise, New Harbor.

Click here for more information about how to join the Maine Young Birders Club.

As a nonprofit we rely on dues and donations to fund our club and make these outings possible. You can make a donation here.

Laudholm Farm Trip Report - June 11, 2022

by Laurie Pocher

There may have been only three of us, but we covered a lot of ground, traveled through several different habitats, and logged 54 species in four hours at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farm on Saturday, June 11, 2022.

Before we even left the parking area, a Great Egret flew overhead. We started off in the woods on the Saw-Whet Trail, where we were greeted by loud singing from several Red-Eyed Vireos, an Eastern Wood-Pewee and a Winter Wren. We were able to visually confirm all three birds, although a singing Pine Warbler, Black-Throated Green Warbler, White-Breasted Nuthatch, and Red-Bellied Woodpecker remained out of sight. A Brown Creeper landed right in front of us, a Hairy Woodpecker swooped through, and Black-Capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice and Chipping Sparrows flitted all around. As we left the woods, a Pileated Woodpecker and Northern Flicker flew past us.

Onto the next habitat — an open meadow. A female Wild Turkey tried to distract us from seeing her poults, but we did get quick peeks at two of them. A pair of Bobolinks, sounding like R2D2, posed for some photos, and we were treated to a show of Monarch Butterflies mating. A few Barn Swallows swooped around chasing insects.

Crossing back into the woods on the other side of the meadow, we saw several Eastern Towhees and a Brown Thrasher. Chestnut-Sided Warblers, Common Yellowthroats and Gray Catbirds followed us along the trail on either side as we walked toward the marsh. We heard Black-and-White Warblers calling, but weren’t able to spot them. A Veery popped out of the woods to sing us a brief song before being upstaged by a much louder Eastern Towhee.

At the marsh, we saw Red-Winged Blackbirds, Canada Geese, a pair of Willets and a single Mallard. We also saw quite a few Least Terns flying in the distance.

We stopped back at the cars for a quick water and snack break, and spotted a pair of House Finches with nesting materials, a few Eastern Bluebirds, and heard a House Wren calling from the shrubs across the parking lot. A couple of Brown-Headed Cowbirds were harassing a recently fledged American Robin until mom showed up and moved them along.

On our way to the beach, we saw a small flock of Cedar Waxwings. We also heard an Alder Flycatcher advertising ‘free beer’ while a Yellow Warbler bragged ‘sweet, sweet, I’m so sweet.’

When we arrived at the beach, we were immediately greeted by a female Piping Plover. As we walked along the high tide line, we saw several more adults, but no chicks. A bit further down, we found a nesting colony of Least Terns, with a mixed group of Bonaparte’s, Great Black-Backed and Herring Gulls nearby. A single Sanderling in breeding plumage foraged along the water’s edge, while Bank Swallows picked insects out of the air.

We also saw (or heard) Mourning Doves, Double-Crested Cormorants, Eastern Phoebes, Blue Jays, European Starlings, Northern Mockingbirds, House Sparrows, Song Sparrows, American Goldfinches, and Northern Cardinals. All in all, we tallied 54 species and upwards of 270 individual birds. Not bad for three people!

Let’s try to get those numbers up for our next outing… stay tuned for the trip announcement coming soon!

Evergreen Cemetery 2022--Day of the White-throated Sparrow

by Marion Sprague

It is hard to beat May in Maine—everything is greening up, the warming temperatures, and the BIRDS! MYBC headed to check out the warbler activity at Evergreen Cemetery. While not the most warblerey (I may have made that word up), we had a great walk all the same.

We started out at the Duck Ponds, with a pair of drake Wood Ducks sitting on the edge of the island. We all got great looks with lots of camera shutters clicking away. There were Mallards spread throughout all of the ponds. We noticed that the ducks were mostly males. It became more obvious why when a female Mallard flew in only to be pursued relentlessly by multiple drakes. We also picked up our first warbler of the day here—a Yellow Warbler! As we were getting ready to explore the trail along the backside of the large pond a Black-crowned Night Heron flew by. We were able to locate it again very well camouflaged in a tree. It was striking how well it was able to blend in!

We then moved down the road toward the brush piles and picked up our second warbler of the day, a Black-and-white creeping along one of the tree trunks. As we headed down the hill toward the power line cut, we hit a little pocket of activity and picked up 2 Eastern Phoebes and a Hermit Thrush. We saw our first few White-throated Sparrows here kicking around the leaf litter—little did we know the show they had in store for us!

We went a little off-trail following a trail that cuts through the powerline cut. Here we picked up a Ruby-crowed Kinglet that gave us nice looks foraging in the low bushes along the trail. We could hear several White-throated Sparrows calling in the woods to our left. As we continued down the trail we stopped to admire an Eastern Phoebe sitting low in a dead tree along the ground. We noted a few White-throated Sparrows…then a few more…and a few more…our count kept climbing—10, 20,30…40!!! We decided that we might not break our record for 70 species like we saw on our trip to Evergreen in 2021, but we just might see 70 of one species today!!!

We decided to back track along the trail and head further down the road along the power line cut. A few young birders aw a peep flying pretty high along the tree line. We were never able to make it out, but agreed that it was one of the larger shorebirds. Sometimes you just have to accept that you won’t get the full id and move on to the next bird. We headed next along a trail through the woods that leads back toward the brush pile. Here we heard the unmistakable yet distant song of a Winter Wren.

As we worked our way back toward the ponds we kept our eyes peeled for “promising lumps” in the trees hoping to spy the Great-horned Owl or their nest. We never did. However, we heard our first Ovenbird of the day. It was doing a variation on the usual teacher-Teecher-TEECHER call so it took us a few minutes to really pick it out. We were rewarded with a very brief look as it popped out on log along the trail. Here we encountered our second large flock of White-throated Sparrows. Much like the first time, they just kept crossing the trail in front of us—10, 20,30…we hit 70 White-throated Sparrows!! To add to our excitement a Merlin flew overhead as we made our way back to the ponds!

Before we headed to the Junk Pond, we spent a little more time birding the pond edges. Good thing too because we got another warbler to our list when we heard and then spotted a few Northern Parulas. We also spotted a Swamp Sparrow flitting along the pond edge. The Junk Pond itself was pretty quiet, but we did get to see a Downy Woodpecker excavating a nest hole!

While not the number of warblers we had hoped to see, we had a great outing! Check out our full eBird checklist here: https://ebird.org/me/checklist/S109213350

Keep a lookout for our next trip announcement for June 11, destination TBD!

Florida Lake

By Laurie Pocher

Florida Lake in Freeport did not disappoint this weekend. There weren’t many Warbler species — it’s still a bit early in the season — but we did see plenty of Palm Warblers wagging their tails and Yellow-Rumped Warblers flitting about after insects. We heard both Red-Breasted and White-Breasted Nuthatches, but didn’t get to see either of them. Ruby-Crowned and Golden-Crowned Kinglets were also pretty vocal throughout the morning.

The Tree Swallows were also actively working to reduce the bug population, and many were investigating nesting options. Brown-Headed Cowbirds supervised from the tree tops around the lake, and a few pairs of Canada Geese got into a pretty heated territory dispute. Ring-Necked Ducks and Mallards were feeding on the lake, along with a lone Pied-Billed Grebe.

A couple of Broad-Winged Hawks, a Coopers Hawk and an Osprey soared overhead. We hiked through the woods to a ‘hidden pond’ where we spooked a male Wood Duck. We got to see some salamander eggs in a vernal pool along the trail, and had a wonderful encounter with a Garter Snake. On our way out, we heard the unmistakable sound of a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker drumming on a dead tree.

Click here to view our full eBird checklist for Florida Lake.

Photos by Laurie Pocher and Marion Sprague:

Woodcock Walk 2022

by Laurie Pocher

On Saturday, March 26, the MYBC set out on an early evening search for American Woodcocks. We met at the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust to walk some of the trails leading up to dusk when the woodcock flight displays typically begin. A beautiful Red-Tailed Hawk perched in a tree watching over the fields, and a Great Blue Heron flew overhead when we first arrived.  

We didn’t see many birds on the trails, but it was good opportunity to practice ‘birding by ear.’ Among the birds we heard but didn’t see were Wild Turkeys, White-Throated Sparrows, Tufted Titmice, American Crows, and Mourning Doves. We also heard the very distinctive ‘bark’ of a Common Raven, the rolling chattering call of a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, and the repeating nasal call of a White-Breasted Nuthatch.

We were treated to good looks at American Robins, Black-Capped Chickadees, House Finches and a Northern Cardinal. And during our brief dinner break, we watched as Wood Ducks, Herring Gulls, Canada Geese and Mallards all flew overhead.

We came across an interesting animal track on a muddy stream bank, with four very deep claw marks. We had a couple of educated guesses as to what it might be, including coyote, fisher, fox or bear. Later that evening, when we were getting ready to leave, we heard the unmistakable cry of a fox coming from that area, confirming that at least one of the likely culprits was still in the area.

The Main Event. It was a pretty cloudy evening, and with only a sliver of a moon, darkness fell quickly after the sun set. We gathered under cover of some trees and waited quietly for the Timberdoodle show to start. We didn’t have to wait long before we heard the telltale ‘peent’ call of an American Woodcock at the edge of the field. Most of us held our breath waiting for him to call again… which he did. Each call sounded like it was getting closer and closer to us, but we couldn’t see him on the ground because of his fantastic camoflauge.

Finally, after several long minutes, the courtship display began and we were witness to several flights. He started out by flying in wide circles, gaining altitude and making smaller circles as he climbed. All we could hear during the circular climb was the flapping and whistling of his wings. While he was climbing, we ran as a group to the center of the field and all crouched down low together, hoping he would land nearby. When he reached the highest point, he made a high-pitched twittering call and then dove straight back down, landing across the field from where he started, less than 50 yards away from us! We all got great looks at the American Woodcock, where he stayed on the ground feeding and giving more ‘peent’ calls for a few minutes before launching into another aerial display.

Once again, we moved as a group while he was climbing, and were rewarded with even closer looks when he landed the second time. By this time it was getting pretty dark, so it wasn’t as easy to see him. But we could hear his ‘peents’ and watched his silhouette climb as he launched into his third courtship flight. This time he buzzed right over our heads as he dove, but landed out of sight behind some shrubs. We could still hear him, but couldn’t see him, so we spent about an hour owling and exploring the Emmons Preserve labyrinth.

All tolled, we got to see one American Woodcock perform three courtship displays, and heard at least three other woodcocks calling nearby. You can see our full eBird checklist here: https://ebird.org/me/checklist/S106625272

We just posted details about the April outing to Florida Lake Park. We hope you can join us. Until then, happy birding!

2021 Biddeford/Kennebunkport MYBC CBC

by Marion Sprague

On Jan 1st MYBC set out on our Annual Christmas Bird Count for the Biddeford/Kennebunk CBC!  Our crew consisted of 2 MYBC Teams and 1 additional team: MYBC Team 1 OOB- 6 birders—4 young birders and 2 adults; MYBC Team 2 Outlying Areas of Section 1— 2 young birders and 1 adult; and Team 3—MYBC founder Nathan Hall tackled on his own. They say there is no bad weather, just bad clothing. Team 1, since we were 100% on foot, opted not to test that old axiom too hard, and ended at 11AM before the rain really set in. The other 2 teams continued into the afternoon switching between car and on-foot.

MYBC Team 1 met up at the Old Orchard Beach Pier where we picked up a Northern Harrier. We got quick looks at it zoomed past, but enough to pick out it’s white rump patch and confirm our id. We then proceeded to bird along the beach. We picked up several Common Loons, 2 Red-throated Loons Long-tailed Ducks, and Black, and White-Winged scoters.

The highlight of the early part of the day was a flock of over 120 Sanderlings! We spotted them pretty far down the beach and managed to get them in our scope. As we proceeded down the beach they lifted off a few times, eventually landing on either side of our group within feet of us! We watched them play with the surf, running up and down the beach to avoid the wavs. It was a special moment being that close to a part of nature and we paused to soak it all in.

Our journey next brought us to the marsh at Goosefare Brook.  Were we expected to pick up Canada Geese, Mallards and American Black Ducks. We got the ducks, but there was nary a goose in sight—a first for this MYBC CBC count!

Our final stop as a group before disbanding for the day was Veteran’s Memorial Park. Here we took advantage of the gazebo to finish our tally before disbanding.

MYBC Team 2 covered Guild Park, Oceanwood Camp, and Dune Grass. They picked up Carolina Wren and Golden-crowned Kinglet!

In total we counted 28 different species seen on the count day. MYBC had a lot of fun (despite the weather)and can’t wait to participate next year!

For the overall Biddeford/Kennebunkport CBC tallies: Total species 73, Total birds 10,346, Plus 3 CW species. This was the lowest number of species and second lowest number of birds found for the last 10 years. The rain and fog made the birding difficult. We did have a new species added this year, an Osprey found on River Rd in Biddeford, the north area of section 1. There were high counts again this year for Bald Eagle and Carolina Wren. We also had high counts for Sanderling and Ring-billed Gulls. We had only 3 Purple Sandpipers where we usually have 100+, sea bird counts were low, and we had a new low for American Tree Sparrow. There were no northern finches.

Stay-tuned for the February 2022 Trip Announcement coming soon!

See MYBC Team 1- OOB checklist here:

https://ebird.org/me/checklist/S99823636

See MYBC Team 2 checklists here:

Oceanwood: https://ebird.org/checklist/S99828413
Guild Park: https://ebird.org/checklist/S99839816
Guild Park (surrounding streets): https://ebird.org/checklist/S99842185
Dune Grass: https://ebird.org/checklist/S99862275

Quest for the Ash-throated Flycatcher

by Marion Sprague

In November, Maine birders keep their eyes peeled for reports of rarities. Such was the case for our November 13th outing. We had planned to visit Fort Foster, which is a great habitat for fall migrants, winter sea birds, and just a really nice place to walk and enjoy nature. When an Ash-throated Flycatcher (ATFL) was reported in Biddeford Pool, we pivoted our plans last minute to go on a quest to find this bird. After some last minute logistics, we met at the entrance to East Point Sanctuary and walked to St. Martins Lane where the bird had been seen last.

Ash-throated Flycatchers breed in the Western US generally and winter in Mexico or South America. Maine has a dozen or so state records (meaning it has been seen here) but this is not a bird you’d expect in Maine and a lifer for most (maybe all?) of our MYBC crew. They look quite similar to the commonly seen Great Crested Flycatcher (GCFL) that many of us are familiar with and does breed in Maine. ATFL have a duskier breast than the yellow of our native GCFL, as well as rufous outer tail feathers not seen on the GCFL.

We were a little anxious that maybe the bird had moved on ahead of the heavy rains that day before. We arrived shortly before 8:30AM and scanned the thicket behind the church. We sighted Northern Mockingbirds in a tall tree at the water’s edge. Then we had what we thought might be another mockingbird, but turned out to be a Northern Shrike. A single American Tree Sparrow posed in a nearby shrub. Then we heard what sounded like a flycatcher-esque call, but couldn’t be sure it wasn’t a mockingbird impersonation. As we were getting the shrike in the scope Ian sent out the call—the Ash-throated Flycatcher had been spotted!! Of course, we forgot all about the shrike (well not really) and made a bee-line to see our target bird.

It was foraging between the thicket and a house on the edge of the church property. We got great looks as it sat perched in a nearby tree. We lost sight when it moved behind a house on private property. At this same time a Copper’s Hawk swooped in to the same spot! We all held our breath for either the hawk to reappear with empty talons or to see the flycatcher again. Lucky for us, an all the birders who still had yet to see the flycatcher, the hawk did reappear with empty talons. While we did not see the ATFL was seen later by other birders. (phew!!)

We moved on from the church to scan East Point Sanctuary for sea birds and any early Snowy Owls. Alas, no owls had arrived yet, but we did see a few large flocks of Double-crested Cormorants, Long-tailed Ducks, 12 Common and 5 Red-throated Loons, Surf , White-winged and Black Scoters, and Common Eiders. On our way out we saw a Red-winged Blackbird enjoying a snack at a feeder in a nearby yard.

We tried South Point Sanctuary for the Golden Plover that had been reported there earlier in that morning, but did not spot it. We did see a flock of Sanderlings with a few Semipalmated Plovers mixed into the flock.

We ended the trip with a stop back at the church to try for another look at the flycatcher (no luck). But some of us noticed a small bird zip past us and were able to get on a Palm-Warbler. We’ll celebrate any warbler in November!

All in all everyone felt very happy with our last minute change of plans. You can see the full checklist here: https://ebird.org/me/checklist/S97977123

Keep your eye our for our Dec trip announcement and mark your calendars for the Biddeford Christmas Bird Count on January 1, 2022. MYBC will cover the Old Orchard Beach section again this year.

Happy Birding!

Gilsland Farm 2021

by Marion Sprague

We had a wonderful time exploring Gilsland Farm on Sept 18th with 5 of the MYBC young birders. Gilsland Farm is 65-acre sanctuary in with more than two miles of trails winding along a pond and through forest, meadow, orchard, and salt marsh situated along the Presumpscot River estuary in Falmouth.

We met at the parking lot near the Audubon Nature Store and birded around the nature center working our way toward the pond. At the top of the hill we hit a good pocket of fall migrants including an American Redstart, an Eastern Phoebe, a Blackpoll Warbler, and a Black-and-White Warbler. We also had a Red-bellied Woodpecker calling.

At the pond we were surprised by a Belted Kingfisher that flushed as we approached. We also added a few frogs to our non-avian species list before continuing our way to the top of the hill toward the Community Garden. This is where the morning got interesting. While looking for Dickcissels in a flock of House Sparrows we noticed a lighter colored bird, hoping it was something interesting we spent some time watching the flock. Alas, it turned out to be a very pale female House Sparrow—possibly with some sort of color aberration in her feathers.

Not a group to have our hopes easily dashed that we would find something fun, we continued our trip to the garden where we spotted a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW feeding with a flock of American Goldfinches. We took our time with this bird and were rewarded when it popped up out in the open on a patch of tansy only 10 feet from us. The camera shutters went wild! Then a MERLIN landed in the tree tops! But the excitement didn’t stop there…

The North Meadow was also full of activity. Weston heard what he thought was a Marsh Wren, but it turned out to be 4 MARSH WRENS!! We all got great looks at these often hard to see birds. While we were paused to enjoy the wrens we had a flyover of a Norther Harrier. What a day!

We also faced a more somber but very important lesson for nature enthusiasts—getting out into nature means you may encounter a creature in distress at some point. It can be very hard to witness. Our group encountered a groundhog behaving oddly, having trouble keeping its balance and unafraid of humans. We talked about how in those instances it is best not to approach sick wildlife, but that knowing the right people to contact is an important tool for all nature enthusiasts. Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife has a great webpage that lists the wildlife rehabilitators across the state. Because wildlife requires special care it is best to leave caring for injured or sick wildlife to professionals. We reported the groundhog to Maine Audubon. It turned out they had been aware of this individual and the biologist studying the groundhogs on the farm had some working theories on the cause. As hard as it was to move on, we did our part to ensure both the safety of our group and the groundhog.

We wrapped up the adventure will a stroll through the woods and marsh overlooks, where we picked up a Swainson’s Thrush. We capped off an very interesting outing with a visit to a spectacular flush of Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) mushrooms on a fallen hardwood tree. While not a bird it is named after a bird.

All-in-all it was a great outing. We saw 43 species throughout the morning. Check out the full checklist of what we saw here: https://ebird.org/me/checklist/S95597751

See you at the October Mt. A and Center for Wildlife outing! Happy Birding.

Sunset Puffin Cruise 2021

by Marion Sprague

On Saturday, July 10th some of our young birders and their families embarked on the Maine Audubon Puffin Cruise into Muscongus Bay to Eastern Egg Rock. All eyes were on tropical storm Elsa leading up to this year’s Sunset Puffin Cruise. Lucky for us the storm cleared and left us with gentle seas and plenty of sunshine for our outing.

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 180 breeding pairs of Atlantic Puffins on the island.

We headed out at low tide, which gave us an opportunity to see waves breaking off the the New Harbor Sunken ledges. As we passed the ledges, Ian called out a Wilson’s Storm Petrel. Doug Hitchcox explained that storm systems such as Elsa sometimes drive storm petrels in closer to land. We had a spectacular show of them dancing across the water’s surface.

As we approached the island we were greeted by the sounds of terns and Laughing Gulls. We saw about 40 of our target bird, the Atlantic Puffin, throughout the evening—even a few carry fish in their brightly colored bills. The group was treated to many spectacular sightings including Black Guillemots (the MYBC mascot!) showing off their red feet. We saw 2 species of terns:  Common and Roseate and a lone Razorbill in a small raft of puffins.

We ended the evening with the story of Franklin Light (the 3rd oldest lighthouse in Maine!) and a few good looks at harbor seals before we headed back to New Harbor.

 Check out the eBird checklists here:

https://ebird.org/atlasme/checklist/S92831844

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 Doug Hitchcox for sharing his expertise with the young birders and parents!  We appreciated his excellent leadership on this trip.

Keep your eye out for our August trip announcement coming soon! Happy Birding.

The Road to 70 Species

by Seth Davis

The date was May 15th 2021. The place; Evergreen Cemetery. The group; Maine Young Birders Club. We arrived in the crisp morning with one goal, to log 70 species in the 5 hours we were birding. It was peak warbler migration and we had a few easy checks, but it would be a challenge. Could MYBC do it? Would we reach our goal? Spoiler: YES (but barely).

We started out at the Duck Ponds, and we started ticking off birds right away. Mallards (obviously) and numerous warblers to start including Northern Parula, Chestnut-sided, and a brief glimpse at a Magnolia Warbler (not-so-subtly the author’s favorite bird!). There were also several interesting species spotted out or over the pond such as Solitary Sandpipers and Eastern Kingbird. By the time we were done at the Duck Ponds we had ~30 species. A great start, but the more you check, the harder those checks are to come by…

We then moved down the road toward the brush piles and picked up many exciting species. Wood Thrush, Great-crested Flycatcher, and Prairie Warbler among others. We also spent a good 10-15 mins getting fleeting glimpses of a Blackburnian Warbler! After a misdirected jaunt to the outer edge of Evergreen Cemetery, we were at ~45-50 species.

MYBC made our way to the Junk Pond. This is a great place to find Black-crowned Night Herons, but we unfortunately were not lucky on that front, but we did spot a Green Heron so that made the trip worth it. Plus we had time to kill.

On our route back to the Duck Pond, Marion spotted some rowdy Blue Jays, stopped dead in her tracks, and speechlessly flailed her arms. Come to find that there was a Barred Owl sitting motionlessly on a branch. We all got some great looks at it before it flew away! At this point we were at ~59 species. We had a guaranteed check, but starting to feel like our goal will not be reached…

Our secret, guaranteed check were nesting Great-horned Owls! It has been consistent and we decided to save that for the end of the trip A. because we knew it would be there all day and B. gave us a test of patience. It was certainly going to be a highlight so we didn’t want to spoil it. Sure enough they were there, the owlets were super cute and it gave us a chance to rest in the shade of their tree. The trip was almost done and we were at 66 species…

Whilst trodding back to our pickup location, thanks to the keen eyes and ears of the young birders we managed to spot Red-tailed and Broad-winged hawks, Cape May (spotted earlier but not confirmed) AND a Nashville Warbler (literally at the last minute which turned that last minute into the last 15 minuets). So if our calculations are correct… (hmm add this here, carry the 2, divide by Pi…) we hit 70 species on the dot!!!

We made our goal and had a great time doing so! Check out our full eBird checklist here: https://ebird.org/me/checklist/S88181253

Keep a lookout for our next trip announcement where we’re headed to Kennebunk Plains to see Upland Sandpipers, Grasshopper Sparrows and ticks… So many ticks….