If one goes to any Bird Field Guide . . . it’s clear that Clay-colored Sparrows don’t belong in Maine. As a matter of fact, they are rarely seen south or east of Niagara Falls. But each some a handful of them end up in a grass land preserve in Brunswick. They have a distinctive […]
Our Spring has been so cold and wet . . . plants and trees have been late to flower . . . and thus the caterpillars that warblers rely on for food have been late to emerge. A couple weeks ago we had dozens of Yellow-rumped Warblers on our suet feeders as they were stressed […]
Most days when I head out birding, I’m on a mission to find one specific bird. It may be a rarity that another birder had seen recently or a seasonal visitor that I’d found at particular location in previous years. Today I was looking for a Black-billed Cuckoo at Green Point Preserve in Dresden, Maine. […]
Two or three times a year rare birds show up on backyard feeders in Maine. The protocol is to contact the owner and ask if you can visit, stand in their backyard and hope the bird arrives. But that was before COVID-19. The last few days a Summer Tanager has been visiting the feeders at […]
Late yesterday evening Ingrid and I began seeing reports of a Golden-winged Warbler being seen at a park in Portland. A GWW is not unheard of in Maine, but is unusual and would be a lifer. So I set my alarm for 4:00 am and headed south bright and early. I was the first birder […]
May is the best month of the year to Bird and Ingrid and I try to get out as often as possible. May mornings can be cold and windy and we’re both working full time so one never gets out as much as one would like. Its also tough to find time to keep up […]
The Marsh Wren can often being be heard gurgling in the reeds but rarely does one get more than a fleeting glimpse of one. At 6:00 this morning I was walking by a marshy pond photographing a Canada Goose family when Mr. Marsh Wren popped up, moving through the cattails looking at me. Also saw […]
When Ingrid and I retire we plan to do a Big Year, but until that day its bird before or after work. And in May and June I can bird before AND after work. Now that is really great. Got five first of the year birds: Baltimore Oriole, Yellow Warbler, Warbling Vireo, Least […]
Each Maine spring, the warblers seem to come in waves. The first wave is the the Palm, Pine and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Wave two is the Common Yellowthroats, Black-and-White and Yellow Warblers The next wave (#3) are the really fun birds: Cape May, Blackburnian, Canada Magnolia and Wilsons And finally when you start seeing Blackpoll Warblers […]
On Saturday, Ingrid and I were desperate to see a new bird. April had been cold (and depressing due to COV-19) and very few birds had been migrating north. Thus we got up early, drove north for an hour, made an hour climb up a “mountain” just to get an Eastern Towhee. Sunday we worked […]
This evening after a long week of work I drove to a nearby nature preserve and went for a 3 mile jog. Upon returning to the car I ordered some takeout and looked up in a tree . . . my first Broad-winged Hawk of the year.
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