by Laurie Pocher
MYBC welcomed a special guest walk leader — Magill Weber — who led us through a fantastic morning of shorebirding in Biddeford.
We started in Biddeford Pool, where we saw a Great Egret, a Great Blue Heron, and a handful of peep. A Red-Tailed Hawk landed on a pole overlooking the water, and was immediately harassed by a Northern Mockingbird. The hawk stood its ground, and we moved on to our next stop.
A quick 15minute stop at Great Pond yielded 21 species. We saw immature Black-Crowned and Yellow-Crowned Night Herons, a Great Egret and a pair of Snowy Egrets. A large mixed flock of Mallards and American Black Ducks included about a dozen hybrids, which were very dark overall but had Mallard characteristics. A small flock of Semipalmated Sandpipers and one Least Sandpiper flew in, followed by a single Spotted Sandpiper. A few Barn Swallows mixed in with a larger flock of Tree Swallows and an Eastern Kingbird were all flycatching over our heads. A Brown-Headed Cowbird, Yellow Warbler, and Ruby-Throated Hummingbird also buzzed by.
On to South Point Sanctuary, where we spent an hour hanging out on the beach with hundreds of shorebirds foraging in the wrack along the high tide line. There were approximately 200 Sempalmated Sandpipers, 40 Semipalmated Plovers, 23 Ruddy Turnstones, 5 Sanderlings, 4 White-Rumped Sandpipers, 4 Least Sandpipers, a spotted Sandpiper and at least one Baird’s Sandpiper. It was great to have Magill pointing out the fieldmarks to differentiate between species, and encouraging us to sit quietly on the beach and let the birds come to us. A raft of about 25 Common Eider, 6 Ring-Billed Gulls, 2 Herring Gulls, 3 Eastern Kingbirds, 3 Black-Capped Chickadees, 43 Tree Swallows, 3 Gray Catbirds, a Northern Cardinal and an American Robin rounded out our observations at South Point.
Our last stop was Sky Harbor Drive. By this time it was approaching high tide, so many of the birds were quite a distance away. We saw a few Common Terns fishing, as well as Ring-Billed, Bonaparte’s, Great Black-Backed and Lesser Black-Backed Gulls. More Common Eiders, more Semipalmated Sandpipers and more Semipalmated Plovers. On our way out, we passed a Great Blue Heron and a handful of Cedar Waxwings.
All in all, we tallied 41 species across the four locations. You can view our trip report here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/267967.
Keep your eye out for our September trip announcement coming soon! Happy Birding!
