Downeast Spring Birding Festival     May 25-28, 2007       The 4th Annual Downeast Spring Birding Festival served up enough species to place Washington County FIRST in this year's ABA birdiest Atlantic Coastal Counties competition. 75 people from Maine, 14 other states, and New Brunswick attended the festival. Participants and staff found 171 different birds this year. Of the 171 birds, 165 were qualified for the competition. The festival has always placed high, but this was its first victory. (The victory was repeated in 2008.)     The puffin trip on board Captain Andy Paterson's Barbara Frost had excellent weather and an outstanding day on Machias Seal Island, with plenty of Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills, and Common Murres. The sighting of a Northern Fulmar was unusual so early in the year, and was widely celebrated. An all-day van trip led by Maine Birding Trail guides Sandi and Bob Duchesne also had terrific luck from the outset. On the Boot Head Trail in Lubec, Boreal Chickadees were among the first birds encountered. Several Spruce Grouse were underfoot, reluctant to move out of the way. While probing the bog boardwalk at Quoddy Head State Park, late migrating hawks began to fly over: several Sharp-shinned Hawks were followed by numerous Red-shouldered Hawks. Later, while searching the South Lubec Sand Flats for shorebirds, another kettle of Red-shouldered Hawks and several Bald Eagles flew over.     Perhaps the funniest sighting of the weekend came when an Eastern Woodcock settled in the road, believing itself to be invisible, and posed for as many photos as four carloads of Elderhostel participants cared to shoot.