First day of Autumn birds
September 23, 2007 · Print This Article
What a beautiful morning along coastal Maine! The first day of Autumn brought clear skies, light northwest winds and temperatures in the low 50’s. Birds were everywhere, butterflies flitted and squirrels and chipmunks busied themselves with storing food for the long upcoming winter.
Saturday was dreary. Fog and clouds dominated the day, which led to some nap time at the homestead. Catching up on the old z’s is what it’s all about on a day like this. We tried watching a movie via OnDemand, but half way through it, we lost audio and no one was around at the cable company to rectify the problem. Today, the problem still exists, but worse yet, there is no audio on any of the HD channels. I WILL get some satisfaction from them Monday!
Back to the bird watching, Granite Point and Eastern Point in Biddeford Pool was our area of interest today. Bob Malbon, Sharon and I birded these areas from 6:30 a.m. through 10:00 a.m. The following is our tally from Granite Point.
Location: Granite Point
Observation date: 9/23/07
Notes: Clear skies, winds light NW, temp lower 50’s
Number of species: 25
Canada Goose 3
American Black Duck 4
Common Eider 6
Common Loon 1 In flight above Little River
Great Blue Heron 5
Great Egret 2
Snowy Egret 16
Northern Harrier 1
Semipalmated Plover 5
Willet 8
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
Whimbrel 2
Mourning Dove 4
Belted Kingfisher 3
Downy Woodpecker 1 Female on a telephone pole
American Crow 12
Tree Swallow 5
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Gray Catbird 2
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 30
Field Sparrow 1
American Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 4
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2
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Location: Eastern Point
Observation date: 9/23/07
Notes: Light NW breezes, clear skies, temp upper 50’s
Number of species: 28
American Black Duck 12
Common Eider 30
Common Loon 1 In Flight
Double-crested Cormorant 100
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 1
Snowy Egret 12
Osprey 1 Landed on sailboat mast
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Willet 2
Lesser Yellowlegs 3
Whimbrel 1
Mourning Dove 2
Belted Kingfisher 1
Northern Flicker 1
Blue Jay 4
American Crow 30
Common Raven 1
Black-capped Chickadee 6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Gray Catbird 6
Northern Mockingbird 1
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling 16
Yellow Warbler 1
American Tree Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 2
Dark-eyed Junco 1
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2
The following pictures are what I believe to be a Solitary Sandpiper. These images where taken on Eastern Point along the waters edge this morning. Please offer your input as to whether or not I have this bird named correctly by commenting on this article.
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Happy birding!
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Good number of Snowy Egrets!Nice that you saw a few Kinglets.-I’m a total novice with shorebirding, but the eye ring and greenish legs seem to point to Solitary.-that’s one shhorebird that I’ve seen a few times.
Larry;
Thank you for your input. I am fairly certain that it’s a Solitary Sandpiper for the same reasons you listed. Been many years since I have seen one and was surprised to have one land near me.
John
Nice shots John. What you have there is a juvenile Spotted Sandpiper. Quite frequent in fall along the coast.
Ed