Monthly Archives: November 2019

Birding The Salton Sea

With the arrival of European Settlers and modern agriculture, the Colorado River was harnessed via levies and canals and the lake bed became dry with some winter melt runoff. Then in 1905 an irrigation canal broke and the Colorado River poured into the lake bed for two years creating the “Salton Sea”.   In the […]

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Dickcissel in Maine

The Dickcissel is a bird typically found during the summer in Mid-Western States like Missouri and Nebraska before heading to the tropics in the Fall. Over the last month there have been a number of Dickcissel sightings in various locations in Maine.  I have chased them but had not luck.   This week one has […]

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American Pipit

This weekend has been beautiful, if unseasonably cold.  With Ingrid busy doing class work I did some pretty heavy birding.  With the winter birds arriving and some late migrators hanging around . . . I had fun. Late on Sunday after a couple hours at Reid State Park I was getting in the car when […]

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Winter Sea Birds Have Arrived

Winter in Maine is long, cold and dark and for a birder spring migration seems a long way away. But along the coast there are a lot of winter sea birds to keep us company. Yesterday I saw my first Harlequin Ducks of the season (dozens and dozens of them). My first Long-tailed Duck. And […]

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American Tree Sparrows Arrive

In Maine, you know that winter can’t be far away when the American Tree Sparrows begin to appear. Their reddish cap and two white wing bars set them apart from our other cold weather sparrows.They breed in the Arctic.

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