Isao Taoka, his wife, and friends are accomplished birders from Japan who had a few holes to fill in their North American life lists.  Thirteen of those holes were filled on a quick jaunt downeast a day before Maine Audubon's famous pelagic trip out of Bar Harbor.

    Isao brought good luck with him, because there were four American Golden Plovers roosting on a rock behind the Irvings convenience store in Machias when we stopped for gas. Then the first bird we came to on the South Lubec sand flats was a Buff-breasted Sandpiper. It walked right up to us in the oblivious way that is their trademark, too close for digiscoping.

    The beach also contained 50 Black-bellied Plovers, a dozen Red Knots, and nine Short-billed Dowitchers. The usual Semipalmated Sandpipers and Least Sandpipers posed for pictures, including the Least shown below. Even Addison Marsh, visited on the way to Lubec, was a hit. Shorebirds crowded together next to the road. Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs stood within inches of each other for good comparison and photography. The show continued even after a Merlin buzzed the flock several times.

On the north end of the road to the South Lubec Sand Flats, there is a pond famous for having hosted a vagrant Whooper Swan some years back. On this occasion, it was surprisingly full of dabblers, including several Blue-winged Teal that were on Isao's search list. Green-winged Teal floated nearby for comparison. Wood Ducks and American Black Ducks were also plentiful. Another quarry bird was the Northern Gannet. They were abundant off West Quoddy Head, as a recent shift in breezes and food supply have pushed the birds quite close to shore in the last week. A few Black-legged Kittiwakes and Bonaparte's Gulls flew by, but they were not roosting on Sail Rock as they normally do. It seems that hundreds of small gulls offer no contest to a single Bald Eagle when he decides to rule the roost.

    Boreal Chickadees turned up on the Boot Head trail in Lubec, and also later in in the Edmund's Division of Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge. The latter group had just worked its way to the front of the foliage to pose for pictures when a Merlin swooped in and disrupted the festivities. Bad, Merlin, bad.