Evergreen and Capisic Park

 UPDATE: The Hawk in question is an immature Cooper’s Hawk. Thanks to Stella, Luke and all the others who helped us out with the ID of this bird.

Early to rise this Sunday morning, my wife and I traveled to Portland and took a walk through Evergreen Cemetery and Capisic Park looking for Warblers. Maybe it was the cold front that went through the area last night, bringing with it cooler temps and winds from the NNE, that caused a poor showing of Warblers that had been reported from the area on the Maine BirdList all week long.

We did have a good time regardless, meeting birders from the Portland area and talking about our birding experiences.

At Evergreen, a large Snapping Turtle surfaced in the large pond that is nearest the woods, Kingfishers chattered and splashed into the pond, Mallards chased each other, and mostly Ruby-Crowned Kinglets and Yellow Rumped Warblers flitted about the trees. I did hear a report about a Blue Throated Green flying across the pond, and a Water Thrush seen in a small stream on the woods side of the large pond.

A Double-Crested Cormorant and a single Spotted Sandpiper occupied the small stony island in the large pond.

At Capisic Park, an immature Hawk was seen and photographed near the entrance to the park. I am not quite sure which species of Hawk this is, so a little help is appreciated. The first four pictures below show four different views of this hawk, so please comment on this article with your ID guesses.

Red-Winged Blackbirds were everywhere in the park, along with Ruby-Crowned Kinglets and Yellow-Rumped Warblers. A pair of Kingfishers chattered here and there, and Fox and Song Sparrows were seen on numerous occassions. A Lesser Yellowlegs was seen feeding in the brook that feeds the pond.

While I was walking up the hill that is mid-way into the park, I saw some movement along the waters edge. Investigating, I found the movement was an American Bittern, so blended in with its surroundings that it was nearly impossible to see. The photo is included below.

We will return to Evergreen and Capisic Park when the Warbler migration is in full swing, which will be in the next two weeks or so. There are still plenty of species of this bird to see!

Below are pictures taken today. Simply click a thumbnail for a larger view. Comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated. Don’t forget to scroll down the page for an article on Saturdays outing.

Happy birding!

Technorati Tags: Warblers, birders, Portland, Hawk, bird, birding

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Warbler Mania

Warblers are a strange lot. Moving around as if they had drank massive quanities of coffee, darting about feeding on the insects that they crave, they must burn a lot of energy. They will also fly within inches of where you stand if you are still enough.

My wife and I had a wonderful morning of Warbler watching along First Avenue in Biddeford Pool Saturday morning. Hundreds of Warblers flitted about the narrow treeline along Great Pond. Some of the Warbler species seen:

• Yellow-Rumped
• Golden-Winged
• Nashville
• Golden-Crowned Kinglet
• Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
• Blue-Headed Vireo

Some were cooperative when it came time to snap a photo, others were not. The Ruby-Crowned Kinglets were the most photogenic bird, sometimes coming so close that my camera could not gain a focus on them. The Nashville and Golden-Winged Warblers allowed a good look or two through the binoculars, but just would not cooperate when the time came for a photo.

While watching the Warblers for over a hour and a half, flocks of Double-Crested Cormorant flew overhead along with a pair of Great Blue Herons. A lone Kingfisher chattered while in flight over Great Pond on several occassions, eventually landing in a snag near the Spiritual Center.

While leaving the area to head back home, we watched several White-Throated Sparrows enjoy some grit from a driveway near Bay Street.

Later in the day, we were treated with great views of a Black-Crowned Night Heron in a pond on West Street in Biddeford. Several Snowy and Great Egrets were feeding in the pannes on Granite Point, along with 10 Savannah Sparrows feeding along the high tide line on Curtis Cove. Also on Curtis Cove, I watched and photographed a pair of Killdeer mating.

I received an email from fellow birder Bob Malbon which contained a beautiful picture of a Palm Warbler taken in Biddeford Pool Saturday morning. I will post a link here to it when he uploads it to his site.

Enjoy the photos below by simply clicking a thumbnail for a larger view. Comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated.

Happy birding!

Technorati Tags: Warblers, bird, birding

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Birding club thoughts

The idea of starting a birding club in the area has been discussed several times with a few friends of ours, and now I believe it is time to ask our readers if anyone would be interested in such a venture.

Starting a birding club in our area can be a very rewarding project. Making new friends, learning about birds and sharing experiences are just a few of the benefits a club can provide.

We are open to any and all suggestions to make this work. Field trips, public bird walks and guest speakers are just a few of the rewarding experiences a birding club can bring.

I will gladly provide the web space for a birding club and will advertise the club’s existence (and what it stands for) on a regular basis and via a variety of channels.

Some thoughts: Maximize access to club activities. Move indoor meetings and field excursions meeting points around the area to allow those who live on the fringe areas to participate. Schedule field trips for Saturdays and Sundays to take in different work patterns of members and sometimes schedule mid-week evening outings.

Build confidence in birdwatching newcomers. Welcome newcomers to club meetings by assigning experienced members to talk to them. Also assign a member with good people skills and birding experience to be ‘field mentors’. Advertise field outings as being suitable for ‘beginners’. Increase recreational birdwatching activity.

Creation of a club newsletter, field trips to noted birding hotspots and setting up local ‘user-friendly’ bird counting scheme i.e. a gardenwatch. Undertake training sessions for the various bird-counting schemes, such as the GBBC, Breeding Bird Survey, etc. Get new members to accompany experienced survey workers to de-mystify the process of survey work.

There are so many things a local birding club can bring to beginners and the experienced alike! Let’s hear from you and get the ball rolling. Simply click on “Leave a passing comment” at the end of this article and let us know what you think and if you would participate.

Happy birding!

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Singing in the rain

Last weekends spectacular weather had a price. This weekend we are paying for it with clouds, fog, rain and cool temperatures. We did enjoy a total of one and a half hours of sunshine Saturday afternoon at Pine Point before the clouds and showers moved back in.

But through it all, the birds kept singing, territorial fights ensued and nest building continued. We, as human beings, can reschedule around the weather and simply stay inside our homes when the weather threatens. Our feathered friends must go on, for those that wait for clearer skies may be left behind and may not survive.

Granite Point was a flurry of activity Saturday morning. Canada Geese were fighting and chasing each other over territorial issues, flocks of Double-Crested Cormorants were nearly continuous, and large rafts of Common Eider drifted in Curtis Cove. Fellow birder Bob Malbon and I watched a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet hop around a few bushes, never quite sitting still long enough for a good photograph.

Later Saturday afternoon, Sharon and I enjoyed the short-lived sunshine birding in and around Pine Point. Hiding among the lobster traps stacked on the lower dock, we waited for waterfowl to come within range to get a few photographs. We were quickly rewarded with a lone female Old Squaw, who dove occassionally for food. At one point, as I lay on the dock near the waters edge, she popped up in front of me so close that I was unable to get the camera to focus! Eventually, she backed off and I got some shots which can be seen below.

Today, we rose from our slumber later than usual, but still went out into the rain and birded Granite Point. We hate to miss our Saturday and Sunday morning birding trips because of weather or other commitments. We make sure that no appointments are made on weekend mornings and bird in any and all types of weather. We could miss that odd behaviour of a common bird, or miss a rarity only seen once in a lifetime!

Near the end of this mornings jaunt, we spied several Ruby-Crowned Kinglets and Yellow Rumped Warblers flitting around some small trees along a pond. We promised to return on a sunny day to get some more photos and to see if other Warblers are in the area.

Whether rain or shine, we always see something new and different. Please enjoy the photographs we have posted below, birds that we have appreciated this weekend. Comments and criticisms are always appreciated.

Happy birding!

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Birding Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Maine

During the last two weeks, my wife and I have been very busy with visits to Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Of course, we found time to do some birding in these locals and we were not disappointed with the bird activity despite the horrendous weather.

Last weekend, we visited Presque Isle State Park in Erie, PA. and saw tens of thousands of Red-Breasted Mergansers, Lesser and Greater Scaup, Buffleheads, Coots, Canada Geese and Grebes. We enjoyed a total of 3 hours of sunshine last Saturday morning, which allowed me to photograph most of the above species. After that, snow, rain and wind greeted anyone brave enough to venture into the park.

Our return trip from the Keystone State was a journey through every type of weather imaginable! On the New York Thruway, between Buffalo and Albany, a raging snowstorm kept traffic to a crawl with numerous accidents. Once entering Massachusetts on the MassPike, heavy rain and high winds wracked us and persisted the rest of the way home. Maine was a disaster area, with homes washed into the sea, downed trees and powerlines which led to power outages affecting 300,000 homes and businesses and major flooding. It was a mess! I saw a dead seagull entangled in powerlines on Pool Street here in Biddeford, and another dead gull laying in a yard. I recorded a 68 m.p.h. wind gust here at home, which in turn, knocked over my instrument tower. No damage was done.

This past weekend, we birded the Biddeford Pool area on Saturday and then made a trip to the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island in Massachusetts on Sunday. Activity was light all around this weekend, but the weather was beautiful.

Below are photographs I took over the last 2 weeks. Simply click a thumbnail for a larger view. Comments and criticisms are always welcomed.

Presque Isle State Park - Erie Pennsylvania

 

Biddeford Pool, Maine

 

PRNWR - Plum Island, Massachusetts

 

Happy birding!

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