Monthly Archives: January 2020

Harlequin Duck at Nubble Light

Today’s expedition was to Nubble Light in York, Maine . . . a peninsula jutting into the ocean just short of a beautiful light house. The location attracts seabirds in great numbers and occasionally something really rare.   Today’s rarity was a couple King Eiders visible with a scope (one may have been a Common/King […]

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Razorbills but No King Eider

Yesterday a King Eider was reported at Fort Pemaquid . . . and naturally the local birders descended on the spot. The road into the fort was a muddy mess and I worried that I would get stuck but braved it anyway. I search for an hour and then ran into a couple other birders […]

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Snow Buntings but No Peregrine Falcon

For the second straight day I went looking for one bird and ended up getting another.   This morning I went over to the neighboring towns of Tophsam and Brunswick looking for a couple Peregrine Falcons that have been terrorizing the pigeon community.   I scanned the bridges, buildings and tree tops . . . […]

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Birding Hermit Island on a Slushy Day

Does a gray, slushy, mid-40s day in January sound like a Netflix kinda day?  Well for birders in Maine its a  . . . “lets get outside” kinda day.  Ingrid and I were up early and heading to Hermit Island, a campground on the end of ocean peninsula which reliably attracts birds . . . […]

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Warblers and Flycatchers on a Maine Winter Day

A January warm spell in Maine isn’t really all that warm . . . it means getting up into the 40s . . . but for Maine natives it feels glorious!!! So I was outside moving around the birding hotspots of Cape Elizabeth soaking in the sun and looking for avian species enjoying the weather […]

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Barrow’s Goldeneye

A Barrow’s Goldeneye is an infrequent visitor to Maine. Males can be differentiated from their Common Goldeneye cousin by the tear drop white path on the face (Commons have oval spot). Got the Barrow’s Drake at Scarborough Marsh today in 15 degree weather. Had to take off my glove to use the camera and after […]

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Northern Shrike

According to the field books, Northern Shrikes are not a particularly rare bird during a Maine winter . . . but you can’t prove that to Ingrid and me.  We’ve seen only three of them ever, one each in 2017, 2019 and 2020 . . . and not for lack of trying.  We are always […]

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Killdeer in January

I was surprised that to find this Killdeer today, seemingly continuing to thrive on a beach in the middle of a Maine winter. One of the first shorebirds to arrive back in Maine in the spring (March) . . . this guy seems determined to winter over. Also picked up an Eastern Bluebird in the […]

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Rockland Breakwater

Ingrid and I took a drive up to Rockland today and walked out the length of the Rockland Breakwater . . . two and a half mile round trip hike. There are days in a Maine winter, such a venture would have resulted in death or at the very least frostbite.  But unseasonable 40 degrees […]

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2020 Big Day

Ingrid and I try to spend each New Years Day birding from dusk to dawn and today was no exception. We spent three hours at home in Wiscasset watching our feeder birds. After that it was stops at a sewage treatment plan; the bird feeders at a bird feed store; lunch at a restaurant in […]

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