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Birding Southern Maine: An
all day van trip
Evergreen Cemetery is notorious as the state's premier warbler fallout,
attracting both birds and birders. Maine Audubon leads daily trips in May,
and you're likely to run into the state's leading experts on any morning.
Like all true fallout hot spots, a morning's action is dictated by weather
the night before. A
Altogether, 69 species were added to the trip list, including eleven warblers, six sparrows, five waders, four sandpipers, three terns and a smattering of others. Highlights: definitely the close-up of warblers, orioles and night-herons, the abundance of Glossy Ibis, and the feeding frenzy at Pine Point. back to home |
When warbler season is peaking in southern Maine, it's a good time to head for
Evergreen Cemetery in Portland. So a van load of northern Maine birders
did. Jim Zeman was the high bidder at a Maine Audubon auction, entitling
him to a van trip to anywhere in Maine for himself and ten friends, led by
Bob and Sandi Duchesne. The first stop was Evergreen Cemetery. OK, the
first stop was for coffee. 5:30am comes early.
southerly
breeze can bring in large flocks of mixed passerines. But in a morning
fog, they may miss this urban oasis altogether. Alternatively, if the
weather is too nice, the birds just may keep going. May 20th was an uneven
morning. The van arrived from Bangor about an hour after most Audubon
experts were already on the scene. As it happens, the Maine Audubon
trustees were engaged in their own Big Day that day, and the property was
overrun by experts. Unusual sightings included a Tennessee Warbler next to
the pond and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher behind it. Both species eluded the
Bangor team, but others filled their places. Birds that are tired and
hungry ignore birders, and we enjoyed arm's length views of Magnolia,
Wilson's, and Black-and-White Warblers, plus several close looks at
American Redstarts. Good views of Chestnut-sided Warblers and Northern
Parulas added to the count. Then it was off to Capisic Pond Park.
Capisic
Pond Park is only five minutes away from the cemetery, but the open area
park is infused with flowering trees. If you can't find a Baltimore Oriole
or Yellow Warbler here, you're not trying very hard. We were given close
looks at several pairs of orioles, including one female building her nest.
But we missed the Orchard Orioles that had just located down the path
because we got caught staring too long at a Green Heron among the
cattails. Common Yellowthroats are abundant in the park and were still
squabbling over territories, causing one pair of males to nearly collide
with us during the chase. Catbirds and Northern Cardinals also added their
songs to the din. Time to push on.
Next
stop: Kennebunk Plains. This large, sandy flatland is famous for many
species uncommon to
Maine.
A cooperative Prairie Warbler was a lifer for several. Minutes later, a
Vesper Sparrow became a lifer for several more. We strained and strained
for good looks, but we shouldn't have bothered. As we continued the short
hike, they began to appear everywhere. Because of the abundance, we almost
overlooked a Field Sparrow in the crowd and several Savannah Sparrows
later. We DID overlook the Grasshopper Sparrows, most of which had
probably not yet returned. By the time we had covered one quarter of the
reserve, it was well past lunch time and we gave up the search for Upland
Sandpipers. We learned later that we had come quite close to where they
had been seen frequently. Before climbing back into the van, we were
surprised by a Red-shouldered and a Red-tailed Hawk sharing the same
thermal - a great chance to compare the two at a distance.
Lunch
next to a racing stream in Kennebunk yielded two Black-crowned Night
Herons very close to us.
Then
it was off to Scarborough Marsh, arguably the top spot in Maine for
birding. Glossy Ibis were ubiquitous, but there were a fair number of
Snowy Egrets and at least one Little Blue Heron. Normally, Saltmarsh
Sharp-tailed Sparrows arrive before Nelson's, but neither had yet made an
impression on the locals and we were probably a couple days early for the
leading wave. Willets were common and we teased out a few Greater
Yellow-legs and Black-bellied Plovers, too. At Pine Point, there was a
feeding frenzy going on. Alewives are running strongly at this time, and
many of Maine's rivers are seeing birds eating voraciously, though seldom
with such an abundance of birds as here. In the tidal flow, Double-crested
Cormorants crowded out the gulls. Common Terns were plentiful, but with
skill and a powerful Zeiss spotting scope, several Least Terns and a
Roseate were also noted in the crowd.