by Laurie Pocher
It started out like any other November morning at Fort Foster. Bright sunshine, a chill in the air, and a breeze off the water. While we're always hopeful that we'll spot a rare bird at the tail end of fall migration, our expectations were low due to the conditions. We were greeted by many of the usual suspects for this time of year: Black-Capped Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches, Carolina Wrens, American Goldfinch, and Eastern Bluebirds in the trees. Dark-Eyed Juncos and White-Throated Sparrows on the ground. A Red-Bellied Woodpecker here, a Brown Creeper there. Blue Jays calling.
We headed toward the pavilion, and paused for a photo shoot with some Golden-Crowned Kinglets. A Turkey Vulture flew overhead. We continued to the point overlooking Whaleback Light where we saw a couple of Surf Scoters, a Common Loon, and a Bald Eagle. A few seals were enjoying the sunshine, but then a cold wind drove us off the point in search of a more sheltered path.
That’s when things got exciting!
We hadn’t gone very far when Ariah spotted an owl perched on a branch on the side of the trail right at eye level: a Long-Eared Owl! We dropped down low and stayed as quiet as we could, hoping no one would come along from the other direction to spook it. After a few minutes, it flew off and we followed. Ariah was quick to find it again, and we spent the next 90 minutes in its presence. It wasn’t bothered by red and gray squirrels foraging nearby, and seemed to go completely unnoticed by the Chickadees, Goldfinches and Bluebirds in the area.
Because this is such a rare bird for this location — the first sighting at Fort Foster since the 1980s — we reached out to several York County and Maine Audubon folks to let them know what we’d seen. Soon, top birders from all over the state were racing to the park, eager to catch a glimpse of this unexpected visitor.
With sensitive species like owls, eBird and social media sites don’t share the location of a sighting so the birds don’t get mobbed with well-intentioned birders that can inadvertently stress the bird. It’s super helpful to have knowledgeable birders on hand to help people see it without disturbing it, to educate those who might not understand how close is too close, how loud is too loud, etc. We waited until reinforcements arrived who planned to stay and observe the owl for a while.
While we hoped that this LEOW would find Fort Foster to be a quiet, hospitable place to spend the winter, we found out later that it was more of a ‘one-day wonder’ and was not seen after 2pm the day we found it. We were so fortunate to be in the right place at the right time, with a fantastic group of sharp-eyed young birders!
We later heard from an eBird Reviewer who confirmed that there is only one previous record of a LEOW at Fort Foster, reported by Peter Vickery and Denny Abbott during the Christmas Bird Count on Dec 21, 1981. Interestingly, it was spotted “roosting on one of the metal supports projecting from one of the impoundments,” which is exactly where we saw our LEOW 43 years later!
According to Louis Bevier, “there are no other reports from Fort Foster specifically, although there are some birders who have not contributed their sightings either in past regional reports or to eBird. It seems to be to be a prime location to see a fall migrant and even a wintering bird. But disturbance is an issue, and not only from birders but dog walkers and other users of the park. Coastal locations with dense tangles and scattered juniper trees (aka cedars) would be the places to look. So, for example, Fort Foster, Two Lights, East Point Biddeford and the like.”
You can see our eBird checklist (which for the aforementioned reasons will not include the LEOW) here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S201891045.
Our next outing will be the Christmas Bird Count in December. Stay tuned for details about how to join us for this annual census. Until then… happy birding!
