Fort Foster - November 2022

by Laurie Pocher

The Maine Young Birders were happy to welcome two new members — Nyssa and Xavier — who joined one of our biggest outings in recent months. Sixteen of us set out to explore Fort Foster on a ridiculously warm November day. While it wasn’t the birdiest of days, it was a beautiful day to be outdoors!

Before we even started our walk, we were greeted by a Carolina Wren calling from the parking area. We didn’t get eyes on the bird, but there’s no mistaking that call! As we walked toward the pier, we encountered our first ‘mob’ of about 30 Black-Capped Chickadees… they were everywhere, and we counted about 160 in total over the course of our 4-hour / 1.6 mile walk.

As we headed towards the beach, we got great looks at a pair of Sharp-Shinned Hawks as they flew overhead. From the beach, we saw several Common Loons, Surf Scoters, and three species of gulls: Bonaparte’s, Herring, and Ring-Billed.

A Bald Eagle left its perch out on the rocks to pursue one of the gulls, but gave up after a short chase and landed on the lighthouse deck railing. A Gray Seal — often described as a ‘horsehead seal’ — appeared with a big splash when it was startled by a diving loon. We paused to take a group photo, and a small flock of Rock Pigeons escorted us off the pier.

We walked the trails along the shore, where we counted Double-Crested Cormorants and Great Black-Backed Gulls out on the rocks. On the marsh side of the path, we encountered several Northern Mockingbirds, as well as Purple and House Finches and American Goldfinches. Small pods of American Black Ducks and Mallards were foraging in the pond.

As the morning got warmer (over 70° by the time we left), we encountered several dragonflies and butterflies, including a Monarch, several American Lady butterflies, and a sulfur butterfly (potentially Clouded Sulfur) . A Yellow-Rumped Warbler was enjoying the late-season bumper crop of insects, while another mob of Black-Capped Chickadees worked the seed heads. We saw a single White-Winged Scoter offshore and looked (in vain) for a Black Scoter to complete the trio.

On a wooded path, we came upon a small group of Red-Breasted and White-Breasted Nuthatches and Brown Creepers digging into the bark and lichen. It was fun to watch the Nuthatches work their way across the branches and down the trunks, while the Brown Creepers work their way from the bottom up. We also saw both Golden-Crowned and Ruby-Crowned Kinglets flitting around nearby.

Our Woodpecker sightings throughout the morning included Downy, Red-Bellied, and Pileated, as well as a Northern Flicker. And we counted three species of Sparrows: Song, Swamp and White-Throated.

We stopped back at the beach on our way back to the cars, where we saw one of the Sharp-Shinned Hawks harassing a Merlin, who quickly decided to move along to a different hunting ground.

In addition to the species noted above, we also saw over a dozen Canada Geese, and several American Crows, Blue Jays and Dark-Eyed Juncos.

By the time we left around noon, we’d tallied 37 species and 375 individual birds. You can see our full checklist here: Fort Foster eBird Checklist 11-5-2022

Our next outing will be the Christmas Bird Count in December. Until then… happy birding!

A Bird in the Hand...

by Laurie Pocher

On Saturday October 8, the Maine Young Birders set out for Parker River Wildlife Refuge in Newburyport, MA to visit the Joppa Flats banding station and do a little fall birding at Hellcat Swamp.

The Joppa Flats Bird Banding Station was established in May 1998 to monitor migratory passerines (songbirds) during spring and fall migrations. Ben and his volunteer staff kept pretty busy during the few hours we were there, capturing and banding a variety of migrants including several Yellow-Rumped Warblers and White-Throated Sparrows, Blue-Headed Vireo, Black-Capped Chickadee, Grey Catbird, Common Yellowthroat, Golden-Crowned Kinglet, Dark-Eyed Junco, and an Ovenbird who enjoyed their hospitality so much that it flew back into the mist nets and was recaptured three times that morning!

The banding process includes several steps, including fitting the bird’s leg with a lightweight aluminum band and recording measurements including size, weight, wing and tail length, all of which may help to determine the bird’s gender. They will also evaluate the feathers to determine if the bird has completely or partially molted into its fall plumage.

The last step is to determine the bird’s age by ‘skulling’ — which sounds painful, but is really just the process of blowing the head feathers back so they can see how well-developed the birds skull bones are. Bird’s skin is mostly transparent, so parting the feathers on the head allows the banders to see through to the skull. Baby birds only have one layer of bone making up their skull, and a second layer grows underneath the first layer as they age. If the bander sees contrast between areas, it means the second layer is still growing, and the bird is a hatch year. If there’s no contrast, the second layer is complete and it’s a mature bird. A drop or two of water often helps to keep the head feathers parted during skulling, and explains some of the ‘bed head’ looks you can see in our photos.

We were fascinated to learn that different species tend to react differently to being handled. Some species like Yellow-Rumped Warblers seem nonplussed by the whole experience and tend to remain quiet and still throughout. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Northern Cardinals are drama queens, squawking and biting the handlers repeatedly. While most species aren’t bothered by the lightweight aluminum leg bands, Cardinals will peck at the band trying to remove it; they get special stainless steel bands so they can’t hurt themselves by denting or pinching the bands too tight on their legs. Most of the species we saw remained outwardly calm throughout the process… although we did get some Angry Bird vibes from a Golden-Crowned Kinglet!

Special thanks to Ben, Frank and the other volunteers for taking the time to explain the process and allowing the Maine Young Birders to release a couple of birds after they were banded. 

After leaving the banding station, we walked the boardwalk trails at Hellcat Swamp looking for migrating warblers and other songbirds. We saw (or heard) a Blackpoll Warbler, two Eastern Towhees, White-Breasted and Red-Breasted Nuthatches, Black-Capped Chickadees, a Northern Flicker, several Blue Jays and American Crows, a dozen Turkey Vultures, and a few Gray Catbirds, Song Sparrows and American Robins.

We also saw a Mute Swan, 18 Greater Yellowlegs, four Herring Gulls, two Double-Crested Cormorants, six Great Egrets and a Swamp Sparrow in the marshes and ponds along the Refuge Road on our way into and out of the refuge.

Click here to view the complete eBird Checklist for our trip to Parker River.

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

Shorebirding 2022

by Laurie Pocher

The Maine Young Birders welcomed two new members on our September outing: Luke M. and Kaliste R. It was great to have them both along as we explored beach, estuary, and saltmarsh habitats in search of shorebirds.

 

MYBC was on the move this month, shorebirding from Kennebunk to Biddeford with three stops along the way: Parsons Beach, Fortunes Rocks Beach, and Timber Point.

While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, a Clay-Colored Sparrow popped out of the brush to welcome us to Parsons Beach. We were also treated to flyovers by a Merlin, a few Great Egrets, and a very acrobatic Great Blue Heron. All the while a Belted Kingfisher perched overlooking a group of Double-Crested Cormorants. Not a bad showing for the first 15 min in the parking area!

Other highlights from Parsons Beach include a single Black-Bellied Plover and several Semipalmated Plovers on the beach, and two Greater Yellowlegs, four Killdeer, and four Snowy Egrets on the marsh.

On our way to Biddeford, we stopped for a Wild Turkey crossing, where a single turkey had traffic stopped in both directions while the rest of the flock tried to decide which side of Rt 9 they wanted to be on.

On to Fortunes Rocks Beach, where we stepped out of the car to witness a cloud of 50+ Tree Swallows swirling over the pond. A Northern Mockingbird monitored the parking area as beachgoers and surfers arrived to take advantage of the late summer sunshine and high surf. On the beach, we were treated to side-by-side comparisons of Semipalmated Sandpipers and Least Sandpipers foraging along the wrack line. A few Sanderlings kept to themselves on the rocks along the water’s edge.

The tide was coming in fast, so we relocated to Timber Point. A beautiful mature Red-Tailed Hawk was surveying the marsh when we arrived. We quickly realized that while September 6 may have been World Shorebird Day, here in Southern Maine September 10 should be declared Semipalmated Sandpiper Day! Well over 100 of them, accompanied by several Semipalmated Plovers and one Least Sandpiper, were working the wrack line. We set off on Timber Point Trail, where we saw a dozen Red-Eyed Vireos, eight Eastern Bluebirds, four Gray Catbirds, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, an Eastern Phoebe, and a Northern Flicker.

Aside from the species already mentioned above, we saw 60 Double-Crested Cormorants, 43 Common Eiders, 26 Herring Gulls, 20 Canada Geese, 12 European Starlings, 6 Great Black-Backed Gulls, 6 Black-Capped Chickadees, 4 House Sparrows, 4 Blue Jays, 3 American Black Ducks, 2 American Goldfinch, one Tufted Titmouse, and one Yellow-Rumped Warbler.

You can view our trip report including counts for all 35 species here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/74815

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

Sunset Puffin Cruise 2022

by Laurie Pocher

On Friday, July 22th some of our young birders and their families embarked on the Maine Audubon Sunset Puffin Cruise into Muscongus Bay to Eastern Egg Rock, where hundreds of Atlantic Puffins, Common Terns, Laughing Gulls and Black Guillemots nest every summer.

In 1973, Project Puffin endeavored to re-introduce nesting Puffins to Eastern Egg Rock. The methods used were so successful that they’ve since been adopted in many other locations worldwide to help endangered and threatened seabirds.  As of last count, Eastern Egg Rock is home to over 200 pairs of Atlantic Puffins.

Doug Hitchcox from Maine Audubon provided a running narrative of the history of Eastern Egg Rock and Project Puffin, and pointed out Common Terns, Laughing Gulls, Black Guillemots and Roseate Terns as they flew by. After about a 30min trip, we approached the island and saw our first Atlantic Puffins bobbing in the waves.

We don’t know yet how many pufflings will ultimately fledge this summer, but the sheer numbers of adults we saw flying back towards the burrows with fish in their beaks is a good sign that they’re having a successful nesting season. Warming waters over the last few years have impacted the food supply, in some cases resulting in a nest failure rate of almost 90%. We’re hopeful that this season will have a significantly higher success rate.

While the Puffins were undoubtedly the star of the show, we were also treated to a pretty spectacular sunset as we left Eastern Egg Rock. We made a short detour to see Franklin Light (the 3rd oldest lighthouse in Maine) and a large group harbor seals hauled out some rocks, before heading back to New Harbor.

Special thanks to Doug Hitchcox and Maine Audubon for sponsoring this trip for the MYBC and coordinators. 

Click here to learn more about Project Puffin and learn more about how Puffins were re-introduced to Eastern Egg Rock.

We’ll be taking the month of August off (after two wonderful July trips!). Keep your eye out for our September trip announcement coming soon! Happy Birding.

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