Yellow-rumped Warblers have been inundating our feeding station in Durham this week, feasting on nut blocks, insect suet, mealworms, jelly, and just about everything else. Feeder-watching continues to be great, with lots of Pine Siskins, new arrivals, migrant White-throated Sparrows, and, at our home in Durham, up to a dozen Yellow-rumped Warblers daily – especially during the cool and often wet days we had this week. Meanwhile, Red Crossbills continue to be widespread in the area. There were no huge flights of migrants this week, but new arrivals were trickling in. My other observations of n ..read more

 Although it had moved further away by the time I arrived, I managed a few phone-scoped photos of the Loggerhead Shrike that graced Chandler Brook Preserve and nearby yards in North Yarmouth on 4/21. It was a great week of birding, with an impressive fallout on Saturday morning, a local mega rarity, and more new spring arrivals. My highlight of the week was catching an incredible early-season fallout at Florida Lake Park in Freeport on 4/20 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group). I eventually settled on a guestimate of 400 Palm Warblers and 125 Yellow-rumped Warblers. The full report can ..read more

The deceiving very Little Egret-like Little Egret x Snowy Egret hybrid is back for another season on the Portland-Falmouth waterfront. Jeannette and I saw it for the first time this year at Tidewater Farm Preserve in Falmouth on the 14th. Details below. My birding was limited during this period, unfortunately, especially considering a significant “overshooting” event from the most recent storm. Southern vagrants and some exceptionally early arrivals were detected. Unfortunately, we were out of town for the days in which most of the rarities were detected early this week. I did try to make up ..read more

 Luckily for this Great Egret – showing off it’s high-breeding condition lime green lores – last week’s snow didn’t last long in Scarborough Marsh. The massive “winter” storm of 4/3 through 4/5 produced heavy snow cover and drove a lot of birds to feeders, including those that are not usual feeder visitors. Numerous reports of American Robins eating offerings of dried mealworms, suet, and even some seed were received. At our home in Durham, I spent the snow day experimenting with getting Eastern Phoebes to eat dried mealworms, finally finding success by floating them in the slush at the ..read more

Presumably having wintered somewhat locally and recently set out in search of new food resources, this Gray Catbird was feasting on what was left of our Highbush Cranberry and Staghorn Sumac here at the store on 3/27. After the snowfall, and especially ice, over the weekend of the 23rd-24th, a resurgence in feeder activity was widespread. Fox Sparrows seemed to be everywhere (I saw more driving around on the morning of the 26th than I sometimes see in an entire spring!), American Robins were being reported at feeders, and Dark-eyed Juncos and Song Sparrows were in every feeder and patch of ba ..read more

The arrival of some early morning rain coupled with a decent overnight flight produced a “min-fallout” of Song Sparrows on our Durham property on the 17th. The first big movement of sparrows this spring was noticeable throughout the area this week. Newly returning migrants and personal “first of years” led the list of my observations of note over the past 10 days, despite rather limited birding, including: 28 Northern Pintails, 1 Green-winged Teal (FOY), 4 Ring-necked Ducks (FOS), etc, Mouth of the Abagadasset River, Bowdoinham, 3/11 (with Jeannette). 36 RUDDY DUCKS, 10 Lesser and 3 Greate ..read more

We birded Rhode Island for a couple of days this week, and found this Pink-footed Goose, about the 7th or 8th ever recorded in the state as we drove through Middletown! Despite 4 days of birding out of state during this period, I had a handful of observations of note here in Maine over the last nine days, including the vanguard of spring migrants. They included: The first significant influx of Red-winged Blackbird and Common Grackles arrived this week, and waterfowl are definitely on the move. Scattered Red Crossbills continue, including around our Durham property and around the store area t ..read more

I decided to pay another visit to the Spotted Towhee at Fort Foster on the 25th, 99 days after I first found it there on November 19th!  I had some good quality time with my buddy, but it could have showed itself better for me. I enjoyed a few good birds on several outings this week, making for a nice list of highlights for the season. Here are my observations of note over the last seven days: 1 immature male Lesser Scaup, Freeport Town Wharf, 2/24 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group). 1 continuing SPOTTED TOWHEE, 1 Winter Wren, 1 Hermit Thrush, 1 Merlin, etc, Fort Foster, Kittery ..read more

Barrow’s Goldeneyes will be departing soon, so I needed to get my fill while I still can. This pair (left) was with 17 Common Goldeneyes and a drake Hooded Merganser at Anniversary Park in Auburn on the 20th. A very busy couple of weeks precluded much birding away from our yard recently. Luckily, the feeder-watching was excellent, as were my few dedicated outings over the past ten days. 1 Red Crossbill, over our yard in Durham, 2/15. 1 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, over Richmond Island from Kettle Cove, Cape Elizabeth, 2/19 (with Paul Dorion, Kristen Lindquist, and Jeannette). 1 pair BARROW’S GOLDE ..read more

Using our Durham yard as a case study, I wanted to check to see if there were indeed fewer birds this winter than last year, as some (but no longer a majority) of folks have continued to mention to us at the store. Stuck at home last winter while recovering from shoulder surgery, our feeding station provided my primary source of entertainment. I occupied my time with mugs of tea and enjoying the activity, and occupied my mind with figuring our exact counts, keeping tallies, and watching behavior closely. I wrote about my counts and observations in a pair of blogs, the first one is here, and t ..read more