A chill in the air

A cold front swept through Maine Friday night and brought with it northwest winds and much cooler temperatures. Being out on the mud flats at Goose Rocks Beach just before sunrise this weekend required fall attire.

I love this time of the year! The skies are cobalt blue (when the clouds are not blocking it) and the winds bring with them that feeling you get deep inside that says its soon time to prepare for winter. The days are getting shorter, the crowds are thinning (tourists) and migration is in full swing.

Raptors were taking advantage of the NW winds as quite a few Hawks and Osprey were seen area wide over the weekend as their migration is beginning. Peeps beware…. Hawks were definitely having a feast out on the Scarborough Marsh. Several thousand peeps of every kind imaginable were fleeing in groups of hundreds every time a Hawk soared over the marsh. A Semipalmated Plover head was seen on a sandy islet as a reminder of the consequences of not being alert.

On the brighter side, we finally were able to see the Stilt Sandpiper that had been reported at the marsh, and watched two Northern Harriers collide in mid-air. Neither hawk was injured.

Sharon and I parked our sand chairs on the beach at Goose Rocks this morning waiting for the clouds to burn off and the sun to warm us up. It was a long wait. We shot some video (see previous post) and watched in amazement as peeps, Dowitchers, Willets and Black-Bellied Plovers whizzed by our heads and landed not more than ten feet away from where we sat. At one point, with no sunlight to get a good picture, 24 Snowy Egrets flew directly overhead not more than 30 feet off the deck. And to add insult to injury, 13 more flew in front of us at the same height shortly thereafter.

It was surreal to quietly sit there, so close to these birds as they go about their business, acting as if we were not there. All the while, quietly praying that the sun would come out from behind the clouds.

The results of our weekend bird watching ritual are shown in the photos below. Comments and criticisms are always appreciated.

Happy birding!

Technorati Tags: Maine, video, birds, bird watching, photos, birding

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Video Birding

This post will be somewhat of a test for the video plugin I have for my birding blog.

The following videos were taken this morning at Goose Rocks Beach near Kennebunkport, Maine. File size will be beside the video name heading, and all videos are in the .wmv format. If video does not auto-start, please click the play button on the player. You may also click the link below the video and Windows will open Windows Media Player to play the clip. Enjoy!

Shorebirds (2 mb.)

[coolplayer width="380" height="280" autoplay="0" loop="0" charset="utf-8" download="1" mediatype=""]
Shorebirds (2 mb. wmv format)
[/coolplayer]

 

Willet Eating Crab (2.7mb)

[coolplayer width="380" height="280" autoplay="0" loop="0" charset="utf-8" download="1" mediatype=""]
Willet Eating Crab (2.7 mb. wmv format)
[/coolplayer]

 

Short-Billed Dowitcher (5.2 mb)

[coolplayer width="380" height="280" autoplay="0" loop="0" charset="utf-8" download="1" mediatype=""]
Short Billed Dowitcher (5.2 mb wmv format)
[/coolplayer]

Let us know what you think of the videos and if you would like to continue to see them added to our articles. Later today, I will post my regular weekly article with photos of our birding adventures.

Happy birding!

Technorati Tags: birding blog, videos, Maine, video

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Birdwatching on Granite Point

A chill in the air greeted Sharon and I on Granite Point near Biddeford Pool, Maine Saturday morning. Temperatures were in the upper 40’s under crystal clear skies and calm winds. Sunday morning was a little milder, but still picture perfect. The birdwatching was spectacular!

Passerine migration seems to be beginning as Tree, Cliff and Barn Swallows are staging in flocks of over one hundred. Several of these “over one hundred flocks” were seen, at times the flocks would rest on high tension lines or an exposed sand bar, while others would make a trip over the marsh for some food.

Snowy and Great Egrets seem to be in large flocks also. A flock of over 30 Snowies were seen flying above the Little River Saturday morning, with flocks of 8 to 12 common on Sunday. Peeps flying over the river varied in number from a handful to over 40 individuals.

Little Blue Herons were common in the pannes, fighting with Snowies over food. A pair of juvenile Glossy Ibis were in a panne along Granite Point Road, near to the sharp curve that goes to the right before the tennis court. A lone juvenile Northern Harrier glided over the marsh in search of prey, and then again just over our heads as we stood at the boat launch on the Little River.

Great Blue Herons seem to be more numerous than in the past few weeks. Several were seen feeding at low tide in the Little River and a flock of 9 flew across the northwestern end of the marsh. These enormous birds are a sight to see when gliding in for a landing. Looking like an awkward stick figure of a bird, when those wings fill with air on descent, they have the grace and agility of a bird many times smaller.

Enjoy the photos of our bird watching adventures from this weekend. Comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated!

The next set of photos are of a fight between two seagulls on the Little River that we watched Sunday morning. Notice how one of the gulls has the neck of the other in its bill. The gull swung the poor soul around by the neck like it was a rag doll. After a few minutes of fighting, the dominate gull took off. As seen in the last photo, the other flew away none the worse for wear.

Happy birding!

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A beautiful day birding

A spectacular day in southern Maine, as the humidity and heat are gone and sea breezes and much cooler temperatures greeted our morning birding trip to Goose Rocks Beach.

I never tire of the shorebirds we have been enjoying and hope that visitors to our site don’t get bored with them either.

I will keep this short and sweet tonight, with more behavior photos of shorebirds. You will also find two photos of a juvenile Bald Eagle that Sharon and I saw at Granite Point, not more than 20 feet above our heads. It then soared over Curtis Cove and went in the direction of Timber Island. These Eagle photos are not the best ones I ever took due to nearly shooting into the sun, but proof positive as to what we saw.

The next set of pictures are of an Eastern Willet eating a crab. It was fun to watch as the Willet first removed the crabs legs one by one and then proceeded to eat the thing whole. Notice how the Willet dislocates its jaw to accommodate the crab.

The following pictures are of a very cooperative Northern Mockingbird at Granite Point this morning. The bug in the birds mouth looks to be a moth. We also watched a young Mockingbird trying to take its first flight.

The final set of pictures are of a shorebird that I can not identify. Larger than a peep and somewhat smaller than a Willet, notice its short bill. May be a juvenile, I just don’t know. Your help would be greatly appreciated!

Happy birding!

Technorati Tags: Maine, shorebirds, photos, pictures, birds, birding

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Bird behavior

Another week of hazy, hot and humid weather in Maine. The only relief from the heat was a line of severe thunderstorms in the northern part of the state which produced very heavy rain, golfball sized hail and a report of a funnel cloud. Here in Biddeford, not a drop of rain fell.

The birding however, was fantastic this morning. Once again, we took an early morning jaunt to Goose Rocks Beach near Kennebunkport. It was a morning to witness the behavior of many types of birds.

Shorebird peeps were displaying at each other, at times leading to an all out fight. As they fed on the mud flats, one peep would get a little too close to another. Displaying and being very vocal, it usually ended with one bowing to the dominance of the other. At other times, mid-air fights would break out, the loser being chased out of the area.

Fledged Least Terns dove for fish in the pools of water surrounding the mud flats. An adult Least Tern did not like the idea of a beach walker near his territory and gave him a good dose of guano, in which case the beach walker used a hand full of sand to remove the foul droppings from his leg. To make a long story short, the bird regained his territory very quickly.

There is always some excitement when you go birding, but for my wife and I, it was not a bird that caused a ruckus, it was a dog. A pair of tourists from New York were walking their two very big dogs on the beach and came near Sharon and I as we were sitting in the shade on some rocks. One of the dogs growled, then lunged and bit at me, all the while not being controlled by their owners. Believe me, if I would have not pulled my leg back in time, that dogs teeth would have been deep in my flesh. The dogs owner claimed that the canine was afraid of my camera. Give me a break!

I love dogs, but I will tell you what I think. If you cannot control your dog, leave it at home. What happened this morning could have been serious if I would not have moved so quickly. No thanks to the dogs owner who did nothing to control his pet. I also believe that a dog has no place in the middle of a shorebird habitat. That’s all I have to say, I’m going to bite my tongue before I make all those dog owners out there mad.

Backs to the birds, I have included several photos in this article of some of the bird behavior we seen this morning at GRB. Enjoy!

Happy birding!

Technorati Tags: Maine, Biddeford, birding, Kennebunkport, birds, Shorebird, bird, photos

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