Wilds of Moosehead
June 16-17, 2007 |
Moosehead Lake lived up to its reputation
for great birding. The lifers piled up as the weekend went
along, since the birds seldom stopped singing. Guests of the
Greenville Inn and
Evergreen Lodge spent Day One exploring the
birding secrets of the east side of Moosehead Lake and Day Two
exploring the west side. It takes a full day to cover one side
of the lake, since Moosehead is the largest lake east of the
Mississippi that is wholly contained within the borders of a one
state.
Timing was excellent. Gray Jays had just fledged their
nestlings, so locating the curious youngsters was not difficult.
Boreal Chickadees turned up in multiple places. A weekend
highlight: Wilson's Snipe were particularly noisy near any
wetland location, alternating between their joyful sky dance and
their chronic complaining in the marsh. A Cape May Warbler
surprised the guide, who had staked out a Bay-breasted Warbler
near Shirley Bog the day before the trip and was astonished when
the more elusive warbler turned up instead. Brown Thrashers are
not common in northern Maine, but one nonetheless popped out of
the treetops and sang merrily in Greenville Junction. An
Olive-sided Flycatcher could be heard just a mile beyond, along
a road that is notorious for warbler variety, and the group
collected more than half of the weekend's warbler sightings
within the first hour of the trip. Later, during a drive up to
the B-52 crash site, numerous Blackpolls were found singing in
the clear cuts on Elephant Mountain.
Sunday morning's trip up the west side of the lake added
Black-throated Blue and Chestnut-sided Warblers - birds that
were uncharacteristically reclusive the day before. |
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