You can feel, hear and see it as soon as you walk out the door. The warm air, the singing of the birds, the crocus and daffodils pushing through the ground; you have walked right into Spring, bursting forth with life and you are happy to be alive!
On Wednesday, the mercury topped out at 70° F here along the mid coast of Maine. Thanks to a sea breeze (an almost daily occurrence during the spring and summer months along coastal locations) temperatures have been hanging around the upper 50′s to low 60′s. On this same Wednesday, Portland, Maine soared to 85° F. and several inland locations ended up just a degree shy of ninety! I was also awakened in the middle of the night by a thunderstorm this week. Spring in Maine!
Birds are migrating and they are stopping by our feeders for a quick “pick me up” before continuing their journey. On Thursday of this week, 6 Osprey were fishing in our cove and an adult Bald Eagle was harassing ever one that it could. A pair of Osprey are repairing a nest nearby and I saw Bald Eagles carrying moderate sized tree branches to a nest just across the cove from where we live. It’s as if someone threw a huge switch signifying the start of Spring!
The following list represents birds recorded from our home over the course of several hours on Thursday.
Location: Home – Bath, Maine
Observation date: 4/9/10
Number of species: 46Canada Goose 8
Wood Duck 4
American Black Duck 11
Mallard 6
Blue-winged Teal 1
Green-winged Teal 15
Ring-necked Duck 2
Bufflehead 2
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Wild Turkey 3
Common Loon 2
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 4
Osprey 6
Bald Eagle 3 (2 adults and 1 – 3rd year)
Northern Harrier 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 6
Belted Kingfisher 1
Downy Woodpecker 3
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 2
Blue Jay 4
American Crow 8
Tree Swallow 11
Black-capped Chickadee 6
Tufted Titmouse 4
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Brown Creeper 1
American Robin 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Pine Warbler 1
Chipping Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 7
Dark-eyed Junco 6
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 12
Common Grackle 5
Brown-headed Cowbird 6
Purple Finch 5
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 8This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
The following are bird photographs taken this week from our home, including a male Purple Finch I lovingly call “Peg Leg”. The bird is missing a foot but seems to be doing very well. I have seen it eating, singing and chasing other male finches from the feeder.
Simply click a thumbnail for a full-sized shadow box photo. Controls at the bottom of the full-sized photo will take you to the next photo.
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- Osprey
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- Osprey
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- Peg Leg – Male Purple Finch
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- Peg Leg – Male Purple Finch
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- Male Purple Finch
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- Common Grackle
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- American Goldfinch
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- Female Purple Finch
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- Female Purple Finch
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- Female Common Eider
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- Female Common Eider
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- Chipmunk
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- Beautiful spring day on Potts Harbor, Maine
Happy birding!
{ 15 comments }
Poor little Peg. Glad he's hanging tough though! Spring is so wonderful! Everyday it seems the flowers and leaves are a little bit further along. It's almost like magic! Wonderful harbor shot. I can truly appreciate it.
Hope school is going well!
Sharon
A VERY impressive list there John! I am so glad Spring has finally sprung for you back there. Isn't it marvelous?
Your Osprey photos are awesome as always. I really like the one where he's coming out of the water. Looks like he missed his target that time. I can tell Peg Leg has enough spunk and personality to make it. Who needs a second foot anyway when you can fly?
Your capture of the Common Grackle is incredible! Showing off those beautiful iridescent colors. The Common Eider, gorgeous, but the cutest shot of them all would have to be the Chipmunk, of course
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Great photos of all the spring-time birds you have been seeing. Glad you get a sea breeze there – it would be a bit too hot otherwise!
Looks like you had a great birding outing. Lovely photos too!
…I'm so happy spring has arrived too–I love having the windows open so I can listen to the birds wherever I am in house! Poor little peg leg, but he looks like he's hanging in there. He certainly has beautiful color. Loved the Osprey!
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great shots ! and lots of great birds, too. NIce list
Migration here is a tad uneventful so far…
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Here comes the sun! …and the birds, too! Lovely shots, but I like Peg Leg the most.
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Thank for visiting and commenting everyone!
Peg Leg is doing great. He is actively defending one of the feeding stations against another male and has been very sucessful.
Simply divine! Bird are so gorgeous to watch.
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Fantastic shots, I especially love the Eider ones. Impressive species list there, too!
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Wow, these are all spectacular photos! What a wonderful week you've had capturing shots of these beautiful birds. Those shots of the osprey are really fabulous!
Hi John,
Wow man, I would love to see 46 species from home, but this is no gonna happen!!! I barely see any in my yard, i guess this is because they are no often in garden in Iceland. Your pictures are gorgeous and I lvoe the common grackle a lot, as well as the female eider! Well done John…
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What a neat collection and the photos are beautiful!
Don’t you love migration time?
Would love to see one of those Purple Finches. I think he looks a bit like our Sinai Rosefinch (which eluded me the two times I tried to find him *sigh*)
We had a peg legged Chickadee here all winter. It seems to have moved on. And now, one lone male purple finch all by his lonesome. But, the good news is he's got both legs!
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what a great collection of birds. Love the variety of them. It is nice to see all different species when you are out birding.
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