Merlin, Osprey and Eagle

A cloudy start this morning gave way to partly sunny skies and much more comfortable conditions than yesterdays heat and humidity. The bird watching was fabulous!

Quite a few Snowy Egrets were feeding in a panne at Goose Rocks Beach. It was not long until several Great Blue Herons and Eastern Willets joined the foray. Low tide on the mudflats this time of the year always ensures plenty of shorebirds to view, and this morning was no exception as seen in our report below.

As my wife and I sat on our beach chairs talking with Bob Malbon, a Merlin charged from the marsh and out across the mudflats in pursuit of a peep. The peeps smaller size gave it somewhat of an advantage as it could turn much quicker than the Merlin. Suddenly, the peep headed straight for us, made a right turn to avoid everyone and the Merlin nearly crashed head-on into me as I sat there with my mouth agape. The Merlin flew straight up and then banked right across the flats, still in pursuit of the peep. We lost sight of the action as they headed seaward.

I must say that the Merlin came awfully close to me before it shot skyward to avoid hitting me. So close in fact that I could hear the wings and feel the gush air as it flew by. You may ask, where are the pictures? The camera was sitting on my lap and I had no time to get a shot off. Even if I had time, the sun was behind the clouds, blah, blah, blah.

The Osprey we photographed was flying over the Little River at Granite Point, and Bob spotted the immature Bald Eagle being chased by Crows near the small bridge on Granite Point Road.

Our observations are as follows:

Location:     Goose Rocks Beach/Granite Point
Observation date:     8/26/07
Notes:     Mostly cloudy skies with warm temps and moderate winds from S.E.
Number of species:     35
Observers:     John and Sharon Briggs      Bob Malbon

Canada Goose     31
American Black Duck     14
Common Eider     7
Great Blue Heron     4
Great Egret     9
Snowy Egret     40
Little Blue Heron     1     With flock of Snowy Egrets
Osprey     1     Flying over Little River
Bald Eagle     1     Granite Point/Bob Malbon
Merlin     1     Chasing peeps
Black-bellied Plover     1
Semipalmated Plover     100
Piping Plover     3
Greater Yellowlegs     1
Lesser Yellowlegs     3
Willet     5
Whimbrel     2
Semipalmated Sandpiper     25
Least Sandpiper     8
White-rumped Sandpiper     6
Short-billed Dowitcher     13
Mourning Dove     5
Belted Kingfisher     1
Common Raven     1
Tree Swallow     15
Barn Swallow     2
Black-capped Chickadee     3
Northern Mockingbird     1
Cedar Waxwing     22
Field Sparrow     5
Song Sparrow     4
Northern Cardinal     1
House Finch     6
American Goldfinch     10
House Sparrow     9

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2

When the sun did shine, we took the following pictures of birds, with a few landscape shots for fun. Enjoy!

Happy birding!

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Hazy bird watching

The three H’s are back with a vengeance! (Hazy, hot and humid) With a week of well below normal temps that only reached the upper sixties and frost at a few inland locations, the heat is back. As I write this article the temperature is nearing 90 F.

This mornings bird watching trip was to Goose Rocks Beach and Granite Point here along coastal Maine. My wife and I arrived at GRB at sunrise, with the mud flats exposed on a rising tide. The flats were busy with shorebird feeding activity, and we had very close looks at Snowy and Great Egrets near the public way to the beach.

The following tally of our morning bird watching activity was generated by eBird.

Location:     Goose Rocks Beach
Observation date:     8/25/07
Notes:     Haze/fog very warm for early morning. Obs made during rising tide.
Number of species:     23

Canada Goose     18
American Black Duck     4
Mallard     3
Common Eider     17     (Males molting)
Great Blue Heron     2
Great Egret     11     (6 feeding on mud flats - 5 in flight)
Snowy Egret     16
Glossy Ibis     4
Black-bellied Plover     1     (feeding on mud flats)
Semipalmated Plover     100
Lesser Yellowlegs     6
Willet     12
Whimbrel     7
Semipalmated Sandpiper     32
White-rumped Sandpiper     9
Short-billed Dowitcher     8
Mourning Dove     3
American Crow     12
Tree Swallow     30
Barn Swallow     8
Gray Catbird     2
Northern Mockingbird     1
Cedar Waxwing     6

Not a bad morning. The haze did cut down on available light for bird photography, but I made do. The following are pictures we took this morning. As always, comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated!

And finally, profile images of several species we observed this morning as well. Enjoy!

Happy birding!

Technorati Tags: Maine, shorebird, bird watching, bird, photography, pictures, images, birding

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Bird Feathers #2

The second in a series of weekly rundowns of what’s happening in the world of birds, birding and bird blogging.

Dead Swallows Found  The sight of birds is a common one along the banks of the Susquehanna River, but not like this.

Wind Turbine Has Switch To Move Clear Of Migrating Birds  A unique turbine was lowered from a height of 80 feet to test the ability to bring it down at the drop of a hat should foul weather set in or should the migratory songbirds and nesting seabirds that frequent this 95-acre island run afoul of the whirling blades.

Guano theory in bridge collapse  Inspectors searching for the causes of the collapse of a Minnesota bridge this month that killed at least 13 people have identified pigeon droppings as a possible factor.

I And The Bird #56 - “What I Did On My Summer Vacation”  is being hosted by Vern over at Big Spring Birds.

Bob Malbon has some more pictures posted on his site from his trip to Machias Seal Island last week.

Happy birding!

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Hawk ID needed

*UPDATE*

The verdict is in! The first three pictures are a juvenile Peregrine Falcon, and the final four are of an adult Broad-Winged Hawk. Many thanks go out to those who offered their input via email and in the comments section of this article. Thank you all!!

These two species of Hawk have me baffled, although I have my ideas on what they are. I put it to our readers to suggest what they think they are. Simply click “Comments” at the end of this article and submit your guess.

The pictures were taken at Granite Point near Biddeford Pool, Maine. The area is a marsh/coastal habitat. The first 3 pictures of the Hawk in flight are one species and the final 4 of the perched Hawk is the second species.

Thank you for your help!

Happy birding!

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Puffins and Murres

Fellow birder and good friend Bob Malbon recently returned from vacation with some great photographs of Puffins and Murres that were taken at Machias Seal Island. Follow this link to see his pictures.

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