On July 12, 2005 a strange bird was sighted off the cold ocean waters of Deer Isle, Maine . . . a Red-billed Tropicbird. This bird should have been nesting on the Galapagos Islands or moving through the warm waters of the Virgin Islands or Panama. For the next 15 this same Red-billed Tropicbird would […]
Yesterday morning a friend took me out into Casco Bay for a little deep water birding off the Maine Coast. With Covid-19 cancelling many of the usual pelagic trips, I’ve had to fill my year list with different approaches to off shore birds. In years past Great and Manx Shearwaters are regular visitors to Casco […]
The comical American Oystercatcher is a common sight all year long along the eastern seaboard from New Jersey to Mexico. During the summer they even nest along Long Island Sound. To the best of my knowledge, American Oystercatchers only breed in Maine on Stratton Island a few miles off Old Orchard Beach. During the summer […]
This is an American Avocet, a bird that should be nesting on the Great Plains right now . . . but this particular one recently showed up in Wells, Maine. This afternoon I skipped out of work a little early (actually a lot early) to try and find him. The problem with chasing a rare […]
A few days ago a Chuck-Will’s-Widow was heard on a nature preserve road in Orland, Maine . . . a rural town south of Bar Harbor. The Chuck-Will’s Widow is a Nightjar, similar to the the Eastern Whip-Poor-Will, a nocturnal bird that is rarely seen and generally only heard at night. In the case of […]
Yesterday morning at an empty Popham Beach (5:15 am) I counted 24 Piping Plovers of various ages scurrying around on the sand. Just a few decades ago, such counts would have been unimaginable. This was a real thrill to see this once endangered bird thriving so well. Sadly I returned home and Ingrid told me […]
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