By Seth Davis
Special guest guide John Berry led four young birders around the Cathance River Preserve on Saturday, August 18th. Good thing young birders are hardy because it was a difficult 5-hour outing with extreme humidity and some rain. MYBC persevered despite the conditions and some cases of improperly fitting boots. We managed to tally 24 different species which is surprisingly good for mid-August when birds are still hunkering after the breeding season.
Some of the highlights included a very curious Common Yellowthroat that was "pished" out of the underbrush, an amazing midday Osprey flyover that Ilsa spotted, and a curious study of some Broad-winged Hawks that were heard but not seen, thus beginning a debate if it could have been one of the numerous Blue Jays that may have been imitating it (we concluded it was too good of a BWHA call to be an imitation).
Though difficult to see with all the new growth that has come in this year, we did catch a small flurry of warbler activity, noting a Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, and a Pine Warbler among the mixed flock. Any day becomes a good day with warblers!
You can see our full eBird checklist here.
We want to give a special thank you to John Berry who took a large chunk of time off on Saturday to lead us around and show us this fantastic birding location.
Our next outing will be in mid-September and the plan is to catch some of the shorebirds migrating around Hills Beach and Biddeford Pool. Keep an eye out for our trip announcement approximately 2 weeks prior to the event!
