For the Birds – Highlights of Maine Christmas Bird Counts – II

This column is the second of three reviewing the highlights of some of the National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Counts for the 2007/2008 count. We’ll examine three coastal counts in today’s column. I’ll cover them from south to north.

The Bath-Phippsburg-Georgetown Count, held on December 15, produced a list of 87 species. The number and diversity of birds associated with water were outstanding. Sixteen species of waterfowl were present. The 1,110 American Black Ducks was an impressive total. Other notable high counts were 792 Common Eiders, 160 Black Scoters, 368 Bufflehead, 28 Barrow’s Goldeneyes and 101 Hooded Mergansers.

Loons were found in good quantity: 79 Common Loons and 19 Red-throated Loons. The grebe family was represented by 49 Horned Grebes and 84 Red-necked Grebes.

Twenty Bald Eagles and 10 Red-tailed Hawks were found along with two Sharp-shinned Hawks, a Rough-legged Hawk and a Merlin.

Fifteen Dunlin and 34 Sanderlings were nice accompaniments to the 223 Purple Sandpipers. An unexpected shorebird was the singleton American Woodcock.

South of Cobscook Bay, Black-legged Kittiwakes tend to be found offshore at this time of year. With a bit of effort, kittiwakes can be seen from shore with a spotting scope. The Bath counters found 27 this year. An excellent sighting was a single Pomarine Jaeger, typically a pelagic species in Maine. In addition to the 28 Black Guillemots, six Razorbills added to the alcid diversity on this count.

Open countryside and coastal beaches attract a characteristic suite of ground-dwelling land birds. The Bath counters scored a grand slam with these species, finding 28 Horned Larks, one American Pipit, 113 Snow Buntings and one Lapland Longspur.

Lingering landbirds included a Northern Flicker, a Carolina Wren, a Hermit Thrush, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, three Red-winged Blackbirds, three Common Grackles and a Brown-headed Cowbird.

Irruptive species included six Bohemian Waxwings, 114 Pine Grosbeaks, three White-winged Crossbills and 27 Common Redpolls.

The Pemaquid-Damariscotta count, held on December 29, yielded a count of 55 species. Common Eider with 810 individuals was the most common duck found on the count. A single Harlequin Duck was a good find as was the single Barrow’s Goldeneye. A total of 97 Common Loons was tallied but no Red-throated Loons this time.

Six Bald Eagles were the only birds of prey on this winter’s count. Four species of gulls were found with the 657 Herring Gulls being the most abundant by far. The only alcids this year were six Black Guillemots and two Razorbills.

A Belted Kingfisher was a good find at this time of year. A Northern Flicker was the only other land bird that was lingering beyond the normal departure date for the species.

Irruptive species included a Northern Shrike and seven Bohemian Waxwings .

The finch diversity was outstanding with seven species counted, including 14 Pine Grosbeaks, one Purple Finch, a Common Redpoll, 12 Pine Siskins, 8 American Goldfinches and a fine count of 19 Evening Grosbeaks. A Red Crossbill was seen in the area just after the count.

The Schoodic count, held on January 3, produced a list of 46 species. Ten species of waterfowl were counted. The most abundant ducks were Common Eiders (305) and Buffleheads (309). A total of 24 Common Loons was found. Grebe numbers were modest with only 10 Horned Grebes and five Red-necked Grebes this year. Five Great Cormorants were recorded.

Only two raptors species were found this year. The raptors seen were eight Bald Eagles and two Northern Goshawks. Excellent quality if not quantity.

Purple Sandpipers, a wintering species in Maine on rocky shores, are notoriously patchy in their distribution. This year, Schoodic counters found only nine of these shorebirds.

Five species of gulls were found, highlighted by excellent counts of Iceland Gulls (six) and Glaucous Gulls (eight).

The Schoodic peninsula is dominated by coniferous forest. One would expect that Red-breasted Nuthatches, which prefer coniferous forest, would outnumber White-breasted Nuthatches, a species more associated with deciduous forest. That expectation was met with 12 red-breasts and 3 white-breasts tallied.

Tufted Titmice and Northern Cardinals have been expanding their ranges northward over the past 30 years. The downeast coast is at the frontier of this expansion. Schoodic counters found four Tufted Titmice and five Northern Cardinals.

Other notable records this year included a single Lapland Longspur and 124 Pine Grosbeaks.

[Originally published on January 26, 2008]