Birding Gallery Added
July 23, 2006
I have added a photo gallery to Birding In Maine. To access it, simply click on “Birding Gallery” on the left side of the page under “Pages“.
At this point, only a few pictures are in the birding gallery, but I have many pictures and as time permits, I will upload them on a daily basis.
I have comments enabled for the each picture in the gallery, so be sure to let me know what you think about them!
Don’t forget that once you are at the medium-sized image, click on it for full size. I have resized the full-sized images so that they load fairly quickly, most are less than 1mb.
Sphere: Related ContentGreat Egret vs. Snake
July 22, 2006
Going birdwatching on a day so foggy that you can barely see 50 feet, usually is not very productive, but this morning had a surprise in store for us not more than 20 feet away!
While enjoying our Saturday morning coffee and birdwatching ritual at the Rachael Carson National Wildlife Refuge near Biddeford Pool, Maine, my wife and I were about to call it quits because visibility was terrible at best.
Fog had set in overnight, and it was being stubborn and not burning off. Visibility was less than fifty feet at best. Binoculars were useless in the thick pea soup.
Just as I was beginning to back out of a spot I had parked in, my wife saw a Great Egret step over a small rise in the marsh not more than 20 feet in front of us.
The Egret was stabbing its long bill into something, not in the water, but in the grass.
Suddenly, the Egret rose with a snake in its mouth! I could not identify the type of snake because of fog, but I can assure you it was at least 3 feet long! 
These pictures are proof… NEVER leave home without your camera! Although these images are fuzzy at best because of fog, I still was able to capture images that you just don’t see too often in life.
The battle between Egret and snake lasted approx 5 minutes. At times, the snake tried to escape by wrapping itself around the head and bill of the egret. The snake would then fall to the ground, but the Egret was quicker!
I don’t want to spare any details, so if you are squeamish, skip this paragraph! As the Egret tried to swallow the snake, the snake would crawl back out, fall to the ground, only to be picked up again and again.
But as all good things must end, the Egret finally swallowed the snake whole! You could see the bulge in the Egrets throat as it struggle to swallow 3 feet of snake!
In this picture, you can see the bulge in its neck! This was after the Great Egret took a drink of water to wash it down.
Nature at work! We love seeing things as they are meant to be. Who knows, maybe the next time the snake will win.
Those who know me can relate to this, I still thought there was more I should have done… like why didn’t I have the camcorder in the car!
I can guarantee you this, video will be forthcoming of things like this in the future. Just like the popular commercial says, “Don’t leave home without it!”
Be safe and happy birding folks!
Sphere: Related ContentGold Finch Closeup
July 16, 2006
My wife and I were early risers this morning, venturing out to a marsh in the Rachael Carson Wildlife Preserve in Biddeford, Maine with our morning coffee. (This marsh is our so-called quiet spot.)
The rising sun and a light breeze off the sea made a perfect morning for bird watching, and a cool respite from the impending heat forecasted later this afternoon.
We heard a gold finch call in the distance and my wife called back to it. (She does superb gold finch calls!) A few seconds later, a male gold finch landed directly in front of us, not more than 10 feet away on a spray of wild millet.
I commenced to take photos of this beautiful bird like there was no tomorrow! As you can see in this photo, the gold finch has landed on a fence post and is nibbling on a piece of millet looking as if he is standing “at ease” military style!
The gold finch hung around for approx. 3 minutes and then was gone, bringing a smile to our faces and waking us up more than the coffee could ever do! It just goes to show that if you practice your birding calls, you never know what suprise will come so close to you, that you can practically reach out and touch it.
Sphere: Related Content
Birding Hoyt Neck, Maine
July 11, 2006
The late afternoon of the July 4th holiday featured many fledglings in the Rachael Carson National Wildlife Refuge on Hoyt Neck, Maine. Cedar Waxwings were everywhere it seemed, feeding their young and chasing off other birds who got too close.
These lovely birds allowed many photographs to be taken as long as the waning light of the sun allowed.
The beautiful Cedar Waxwing can be seen in most of the U.S. and southern Canada. It stands about 7” high. They sport a black mask, have a brown crest and shoulders, and a bright yellow-tipped tail and pale yellow belly. Adult birds have a small red spot on their wings.
Another bird seen frequently on our trips to the marsh is the Eastern Kingbird.
The Eastern Kingbird commonly perches on fences and on telephone wires, where, in typical flycatcher fashion, it placidly awaits the passing of an insect, which, with superb deftness, it captures on the wing. Many kinds of birds have white outer tail feathers, but the Eastern Kingbird is almost unique among passerines in having a broad white band across the end of the tail. Otherwise it is blackish above and white below, with a concealed orange crown patch that is not seen except when the bird is in hand.
As luck would have it, we came across a Willet with four chicks. It is comical to watch the chicks stumble around looking for food. The mother Willet keeps an eye out from a distance, ready to strike at any predator that gets close.
Willets are very territorial and will aggressively defend their nesting and feeding territory. The willet is a very noisy bird and will call out with a pill-will-willet pill-will-willet when disturbed. It will fly overhead and and continue calling out until the threat goes away. It often perches on bushes, trees, fenceposts, or rocks.
There is much more to report, but that will come later, as we are about to embark on yet another birding trip.
What makes it all worth while is the beauty and complexity of nature herself, as seen in this photo of sunset over the marsh.
Birding Scarborough Marsh
July 5, 2006
The early morning of Saturday, July 1st was beautiful on the Scarborough Marsh. Temps were cool, skies clear and bright blue and just enough of a breeze to keep the bugs away.
Walking along the Eastern Road, we were alone this morning. Other birders, joggers, bikers and the like didn’t begin showing up until 45 minutes after we arrived.
Approx 1/2 way between the bridge and the woods, we encountered fledgling tree swallows. The parents were keeping a watchful eye, and reminded us to stay clear by swooping right at us! Even though we could in no way approach the fledglings unless we climbed the tree they were in, we made a wide arc around the tree as far as the edge of the trail would allow us. I did manage to get off some good shots with my camera. We watched as the adult swallows brought food and fed the fledglings. It was indeed a sight to behold!
Not far from the swallow family, we spied several bobolinks. After a going through our lives never seeing these birds, we now see them regularly since moving to Maine.
The Bobolink is noted for one of the longest migrations in the western hemisphere, a round trip of approximately 12,400 miles. After a nine week nesting season, Bobolinks typically congregate in marshes where they will undergo their post-nuptial molt before heading southward in late August. It is thought that most of the Bobolinks that breed in the western U. S. and Canada head eastward to the Atlantic coast before turning southward.
Migration proceeds down through Florida and across the Caribbean, with stopovers in Cuba and Jamaica. Some Bobolinks have been sighted over Bermuda on what appears to be a non-stop flight from the Atlantic coast between Nova Scotia and Virginia to South America. Upon reaching South America in October, the majority of Bobolinks will spend the next two months making their way to southwestern Brazil, Paraguay and northern Argentina.
Many sparrows were seen and heard, including this song sparrow singing from a bush along the trail. Sharp-tailed sparrows were numerous, but none stood still long enough to get a good picture. Neither did the lark sparrow, lincolns sparrow and a chipping sparrow.
I am still refining my sparrow identification techniques, as there are many different types of sparrows. I cannot begin to tell you how many sparrows I have seen that I could not identify!. Sometimes they are too far away to be sure, other times, their songs just don’t sound the way they are supposed to even though the identifying features say otherwise.
This song sparrow had a cricket in its mouth when it landed on a tree along the trail, perhaps on its way to feed its fledglings.
There is some debate going on about dogs using the trails at the Scarborough Marsh. I saw the new sign asking dog owners to keep their dogs leashed and on the trail.
For the most part, everyone who brought their dogs to the Eastern Road on Saturday complied. Although there were two dog owners who did not.
Before I go any further, let it be on the record that I have nothing against dogs. I was, and probably will be again in the future, a dog owner.
With that said, I got upset when I noticed a dog owner bring two bird dogs onto the trail without leashes. And once again, I witnessed dogs romping through the marsh, out of control! Why anyone would bring bird dogs unleashed to the Scarborough Marsh during nesting season is beyond me.
I kindly stated to the dog owner that there is a sign at the beginning of the trail which states that dogs should be kept leashed and out of the marsh during nesting season. My words were met with total silence, I was ignored!>
Another dog owner brought in a dog who decided to take a swim and then took off after a seagull. The seagull got away. This is a blatant disregard for the health and welfare of nesting birds in the marsh. Let alone for the sign posted at the entrance of the trail. I guess I was naive to think the sign would do some good with the dog problems.
It was a very good day on the Scarborough Marsh. The following is a list of species seen on Saturday, July 1st, 2006.
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