A quiet weekend

 It was a quiet weekend birding in and around Biddeford Pool. Bitter cold temperatures and high winds made the wind chill unbearable for man and beast. A light covering of snow completed the ensemble.

 Curtis Cove held a lone Common Loon, which has been in the cove for several weeks now. New Barn Cove featured no fewer than 5 Surf Scoters and several Golden Eyes. The Little River was at low tide and only a few Black-Backed Gulls fed near the sand bar opposite the boat launch. The pannes in the marsh were frozen over, denying any duck that planned on feeding in them.

 Where we stop , when we bird the Biddeford Pool area, is outlined on the map below.

1. Little River at the end of Granite Point Road
2. Curtis Cove
3. New Barn Cove
4. Pannes within the Rachel Carson NWR
5. Etherington Pond opposite Fortunes Rocks Beach
6. Lord’s Pond
7. View point of Biddeford Pool
8. View point of Biddeford Pool
9. The Gut at Vines Landing
10. East Point Sanctuary
11. View point at Ocean Avenue and Bay Street
12. Great Pond

 After leaving Granite Point, we drove to the Fortunes Rocks area. On Etherington Pond, a deer lay on the ice covered pond wounded and bleeding. One bystander said it looked like it was attacked by a coyote. We drove to the gas station on Route 9 near UNE and called the police. They assured me that the Game Warden was on his way.

 We went back to the pond and waited for over an hour, but left before the wardens came. We really did not want to see what was surely to come when the wardens did arrive.

 While we waited, two red fox were out on the ice, trying to work their way to wards the injured deer. One sat down and looked as if he were working out a way to get around to the deer. Bystanders on the opposite shores of the pond eventually scared the foxes away.

 We stopped at the Gut at Vine’s landing, but waterfowl was scarce there too. Three Bufflehead’s flew out of the Pool and through the Gut, and a handful of Common Eider fed near the point on the opposite shore.

 Eastern Point was not much better, seeing a dozen Old Squaw, Surf and White-Winged Scoters, Black Ducks and a few Red-Breasted Mergansers.

 The weather was nasty over the weekend. Our fine feathered friends were more than likely seeking shelter in the protected coves of the rocky Maine shoreline.

The following are pictures I took of Curtis Cove about 45 minutes after sunrise. Click a thumbnail for a larger view.

 

Happy birding!

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