by Laurie Pocher
The Maine Young Birders cruised over to Stratton Island on Saturday. We spent the morning 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. It was a humid overcast day, but happily the rain held off.
We started birding before we even left the dock in Scarborough, where we saw a couple dozen Rock Pigeons and European Starlings, a few Herring, Ring-Billed and Great Black-Backed Gulls, a couple of Double-Crested Cormorants, and a very cooperative Common Murre swimming among the fishing boats close to the shore (note: there was quite a bit of discussion on various listservs about whether this was a Thick-Billed or a Common Murre). En route to the island, we saw a small flock of Glossy Ibis, a few Great Egrets, and a single Common Loon. Gray and Harbor Seals popped up out of the water to welcome us to Stratton Island.
We split up into smaller groups and explored different parts of the island. While terns were our constant companions, we also saw a lot of other bird life. Glossy Ibis, Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets roost in big colonies around an interior pond, which is also home to Mallards, American Black Ducks, and Canada Geese. We also saw a few Gadwall, Red-Breasted Mergansers, a Green-Winged Teal and a Red-Necked Phalarope on the pond.
The eastern side of the island is home to lots of Common Tern nests… watching your step is critical as there are eggs and chicks everywhere! Get too close to a nest, and the adults will swoop in and dive-bomb intruders, sometimes making contact with our heads. Roseate and Arctic Terns also nest among the Common Terns on the east side, and we took turns visiting a small observation tower for close encounters with some chicks.
Other species on the eastern side included a small flock of Short-Billed Dowitchers, more Common Eiders, a few Black Guillemots, a couple of Spotted Sandpipers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, a Least Sandpiper, and a pair of American Oystercatchers. In the cove, large pods of Harbor and Gray Seals started moving out to open water as though someone had rung the dinner bell.
We spent some time in the visitors’ blind with views of nesting terns, watching adult terns bring in fish to feed their chicks, and ended the morning on the beach watching the small colony of Least Terns. It’s been a rough breeding season, with a lot of chicks lost to exposure and predation. The Least Terns were particularly hard hit, but we did manage to spot one LETE chick hiding out in the grass.
Other species we saw (or heard) on Stratton Island brought our total species count to 36 for the day, including Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Long-Tailed Duck, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Gray Catbird, Common Grackle, and Great Blue Heron. Click here to view our complete eBird checklist.
We’d like to extend a special thank you to Ben and the whole team on Stratton Island — Kay, Peyton, Silas and Coco — 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.
Stay tuned for the trip announcement about our next outing. As always, you can 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.
