For the Birds – Northern Finch Forecast

In the last column, I wrote about irruptive northern finches. In the past two weeks, birders across Maine have seen an influx of some of these birds. Common Redpolls, Pine Grosbeaks, Evening Grosbeaks, Pine Siskins, Red Crossbills and White-winged Crossbills have all been seen at multiple locations in the state.

I pointed out that two events must occur for significant irruptions to occur. First, the seed crop on the breeding grounds of these northern birds must be low, forcing the birds to move south for the winter. Second, our seed crops must be sufficient to provide for irrupting birds and allow them to stay. It is already clear that this will be a flight year for northern finches. Will we have enough seeds here to support the finches for the winter? We’ll have to see.

Ron Pittaway, an Ontario birder, gathers information on seed crops in eastern Canada and prepares a prediction for northern finch abundance. Some of the information Ron uses comes from eastern Quebec and the Maritime Provinces so his predictions can be applied to Maine with a bit of caution.

As one would surmise from the northern finches already arriving in Maine, seed crops in the boreal forests of Canada are poor this year. Last year by the way produced bumper crops of conifers in the boreal forest and northern finches were scarce as hens’ teeth here in Maine last winter.

Ron notes that in Ontario Pine Siskins and White-winged Crossbills departed east and west in the summer. This eastward movement may account for the good Pine Siskin numbers we have seen in Maine this fall. Bird counts in Ontario indicate that Evening Grosbeaks, Pine Grosbeaks, Purple Finches and redpolls (Common Redpoll and the much rarer Hoary Redpoll) are irrupting south from northern Ontario. Bring them on!

Pine Grosbeaks are unusual finches because they depend largely on soft fruit rather than seeds of conifers or other trees. Pine Grosbeak movements are triggered by failure of mountain ash (or rowan trees). Poor fruit set has occurred in the boreal forests of Canada. Irrupting Pine Grosbeaks look for crabapples, mountain ash berries and the fruits of various ornamental shrubs like cherries. They will also frequent sunflower seed feeders. We have not had a sizeable Pine Grosbeak flight since the winter of 2001/2002.

Purple Finches have been driven south out of northern Ontario by low conifer production. Ron Pittaway predicts that the Purple Finches will continue to move south into the mid-Atlantic states as fall gives way to winter. If he is right, enjoy those Purple Finches at your feeder while you can.

White-winged Crossbills are one of the most nomadic of the northern finches, wandering frequently in search of good cone crops. Once a bumper crop is found, these crossbills may stop and nest, regardless of the season. White-winged Crossbills are the only North American birds in which nesting has been documented in every month of the year. One of my most memorable birding memories occurred in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont one January when I watched White-winged Crossbills feeding their young when the temperature was twenty below!

Pittaway notes that the favored cones of White-winged Crossbills, balsam fir and red spruce cones, are scarce throughout Ontario but abundant in Nova Scotia. My impression is that Maine crops of these two trees are good as well. Perhaps we will have a banner year for White-winged Crossbills.

Birch seeds, the favored food of Common Redpolls, are quite scarce throughout northern Ontario and Quebec. There is every reason to believe we will have an excellent winter for Common Redpolls this year.

Evening Grosbeaks depend on seeds from a variety of trees, most of which have a poor seed crop this year in the boreal forests of eastern Canada. We can expect an irruption but unfortunately nothing like the irruptions of 20 years ago. Evening Grosbeaks populations are declining and the likely reason is the decline of spruce budworms. Evening Grosbeaks rely on spruce budworm caterpillars and pupae for feeding their young. So the lack of major spruce budworm outbreaks has been great for spruce trees but unfortunate for Evening Grosbeaks.

Irruptions are also staged by Red-breasted Nuthatches and Bohemian Waxwings. Red-breasted Nuthatches depend on cone seeds for overwintering and not surprisingly have moved south (some as far as Georgia). They are pretty common in Maine now.

Like the Pine Grosbeaks, Bohemian Waxwings depend on mountain ash berries. The poor yield of these trees in the boreal Canadian forests is forcing these vagrants south and east. Good numbers have already been seen in Maine.

[Originally published on November 17, 2007]

For the Birds – Northern Finch Irruption

For the past two months, a flock of Purple Finches has been frequenting our feeders in South China. This species seems to be pretty common throughout Maine so far this fall. Over the weekend, the Purple Finches were joined by a voracious flock of Pine Siskins. Many other Maine birders have recently reported siskins as well.

Purple Finches and Pine Siskins are two species in a group of finches commonly called the northern finches. Others in the group are Common Redpolls, Hoary Redpolls (quite uncommon in Maine), White-winged Crossbills, Red Crossbills, Evening Grosbeaks and Pine Grosbeaks.

These species nest at higher latitudes. The two redpolls and Pine Grosbeak nest to the north of Maine. Although the other five species are known nesters in our state, most of their nesting occurs to the north of us.

The northern finches are well known for their winter irruptions. An irruption is the opposite of an eruption. Birds erupt or leave from one area and irrupt or arrive in a different region. In good irruption years, we may be thrilled by large numbers of Common Redpolls or Pine Grosbeaks at our feeders and crossbills in the coniferous woods.

The cause of this irruptive behavior is food. All of these northern finches are primarily seed-eaters and many feed primarily on the cones of spruces, firs, tamaracks, hemlocks and even pines. Common Redpolls depend heavily on birch seeds for their winter sustenance.

We know that cone or seed production by trees in a local area varies greatly from year to year. A year of heavy seed production, called a mast year, may be followed by several years of low seed production. This annual variability seems to be an adaptation by trees to reduce the effect of insect seed predators.

By producing relatively few seeds for several years in a row, the trees keep the insect seed predators at a fairly low population size although most of the seeds produced may be eaten by the insects. Then a mast year occurs and seed production is so high that the insect population cannot consume all of the plenty. At least some of the seeds will successfully disperse and germinate. Of course, the insect populations will rise but are sure to plummet the following year when seed production is low.

The northern finches travel broadly in search of appropriate trees having a mast year. For us, two conditions must occur for an irruption to occur. First, our trees must be having a mast year to attract and hold any irrupting birds. Second, the trees on the nesting grounds of the northern finches must have a year of low seed production, forcing the finches to erupt elsewhere in search of sufficient seeds. So, a mast year in Maine may not always be accompanied by a northern finch irruption.

When I was growing up in North Carolina, we would often be delighted by hordes of Evening Grosbeaks and Pine Siskins during the winter. Those irruptions are events of the past. Big flights of Evening Grosbeaks are now uncommon even in Maine.

It occurred to me a few years ago that the rise of bird-feeding over the past 25 years might be influencing the irruptions of northern finches. Perhaps, Pine Siskins and other finches do not need to go so far south now to find natural food because of all of the sunflower and niger seeds we put out for them. In other words, I wondered if northern finch irruptions were being short-stopped.

To test for a short-stopping effect of bird feeding, I analyzed all of the recapture data of banded birds for six northern finches (Common Redpoll, Purple Finch, Pine Siskin, Pine Grosbeak, Evening Grosbeak and White-winged Crossbill) in eastern North America from 1975-1994. I also used Christmas Bird Count data for the same years as a measure of how the magnitude of irruptions of these birds might have changed.

I was able to show that larger irruptions occurred earlier in the study (pre-1984). However, recapture of banded birds showed that there was no significant increase in finches wintering at northern latitudes over time. The data suggest that the less dramatic irruptions in recent years are due to a decline in the populations of these birds rather than a short-stopping of irruptive movements.

What will this winter bring? Perhaps Pine Siskins will stage a large irruption this year. Common Redpolls in Maine have shown a strong pattern of alternating an irruption year with a year of few individuals. We should be in for a Common Redpoll irruption this winter.

[Originally published on November 3, 2007]

For the Birds – Review of “Of a Feather” by Scott Weidensaul

I’ve must finished reading a new book by Scott Weidensaul called “Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding”. It’s a delightful read and I offer this review to you today.

I have reviewed other books by Weidensaul, one of our most gifted nature writers, in this column before. His books include “Living on the Wind”, a lyrical examination of bird migration and “Return to Wild America” in which he retraced the trans-North America birding trip that Roger Tory Peterson and his British friend, James Fisher, had done 50 years before.

Weidensaul lives in the mountains of Pennsylvania but has a Maine connection. He is one of the instructors in the summer National Audubon Camp on Hog Island off mid-coastal Maine.

In “Of a Feather”, Weidensaul gives a whirlwind tour of the history of bird study in the United States and Canada. Birding is now a popular avocation in North America. Six million U. S. citizens can identify at least 20 species of birds. The sale of bird seeds, binoculars and associated materials along with money spent on traveling to see birds give birding a significant economic influence. That was not always the case of course.
The first portion of the book is devoted to the period of discovery when to European eyes the birdlife of North America was new and undescribed. This period begins with John White, a member of the Roanoke Colony or Lost Colony in Manteo, North Carolina from 1585-1587. White’s charge was to paint every kind of living thing that was not known in England.

The two notable students of birds in the 18th century were John Lawson and Mark Catesby. Lawson was a surveyor and land speculator with a strong interest in natural history. He published a book in 1709, “A New Voyage to Carolina”, detailing the 136 species of birds he saw on a two-month journey to the Carolinas.
Catesby built on Lawson’s work, sometimes plagiarizing his material, in his “The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands”. This book was published in installments, with each installment containing 20 colored plates. This book is considered the first ornithological text on American birds.

The age of ornithological discovery continues with two luminaries, Alexander Wilson and John James Audubon. Neither of these men had any formal biological station but were captivated by birds.

Wilson, a Scottish immigrant, arrived in the New World when was 28 years old. He saw a copy of Catesby’s book in the library of the naturalist William Bartram and was inspired to build on Catesby’s work. Wilson traveled widely in eastern North America and published the first comprehensive account of North American birds, “American Ornithology”. This work, also published in installments, contained many accurate paintings of eastern birds, including 26 that were new to science. “American Ornithology” covered 268 species of the 350 species that we know occur in the region Wilson surveyed.

Audubon was clearly a more skilled artist than Wilson but seemingly a less reliable observer. Weidensaul does a fine job of pointing out the foibles and failings of Audubon as well as his lasting contributions to ornithology. Understanding the man was made more difficult by his granddaughter who altered Audubon’s diaries and letters after his death to mask his egotism. Nonetheless, few will argue that Audubon’s paintings are masterful and a tremendous improvement on the paintings of North American birds done by his predecessors.

Wilson and Audubon met briefly in a store in Louisville that Audubon and a partner owned. Wilson showed Audubon some of his paintings and Audubon nearly subscribed until his partner pointed out that Audubon’s own paintings were superior to Wilson’s.

The age of discovery continued in the 19th century with westward exploration, beginning with the Lewis and Clark expedition. Some of the greatest contributions were made by military officers, often medical doctors, who were stationed at forts in the west. A number of western birds have common names that commemorate such men as Bendire, Baird, Hammond and Xantus.

The end of the 19th century resulted in two distinct paths of bird study. The American Ornithologists Union was founded in 1883. This professional organization advocated the collection of bird specimens. People with an avocation in birds cut a second path that resulted in conservation groups like the National Audubon Society and the rise in the use of binoculars rather than shotguns to identify birds. More recently, the American Birding Association continues the tradition of bird study by amateurs.
I’ve managed to only touch the surface of the rich birding history that Weidensaul chronicles in his fine book.

[Orginally published on October 6, 2007]

For the Birds – Fall Migrant Flight Calls and Seabirds

Flight calls of migrating birds

Fall migration is well underway now. You no doubt have noticed birds in the morning that weren’t there the day before. A great way to experience the fall migration is with your ears. Go out on a clear night with little wind. Shortly after dusk you will be able to her the chip notes of unseen migrants above. On a good night, a river of birds will pass over, with most individuals giving away their presence with distinctive flight calls. The migrant river may flow all night although much of the migration occurs before midnight.

Just hearing the migrating birds is thrill enough. However, it is possible with practice to identify migrating birds by their characteristic notes. Some species give flight calls that are similar or even identical to call notes they give on the ground. Others, like the thrushes, have distinctive flight calls that are only given while in flight. A great resource for learning these calls is a CD-ROM titled Flight Calls of Migratory Birds, put together by Bill Evans and Michael O’Brien. The CD has recordings of the flight calls of 211 eastern landbirds. You can find more information at: http://www.oldbird.org/. The website also gives directions on making an inexpensive recording apparatus using such high-tech equipment as plastic flower pots, a plastic dinner plate and saran wrap. Another site with some recordings of flight calls can be found at: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdcalls

Seabirds

Fall is a great time to look for seabirds in the Gulf of Maine. The term seabird does not refer to a particular taxonomic group of birds but rather to birds that spend most of the year on or above the ocean well out of sight of land. All of the tube-noses (albatrosses, shearwater, storm-petrels) are seabirds. Northern Gannets and their relatives are properly called seabirds. Some sandpipers, the Red Phalarope and Red-necked Phalarope, are seabirds. Among the gulls, Sabine’s Gulls and Black-legged Kittiwakes to a lesser degree are encountered only offshore outside of the breeding season. Skuas (two species in Maine) and jaegers (three species in Maine) are gull relatives that typically occur on open water for most of the year. Five of the six species of auks that nest in the western Atlantic (Atlantic Puffin, Razorbill, Common Murre, Thick-billed Murre and Dovekie) winter at sea. The Black Guillemot is our only auk that can be reliably seen from shore in every month of the year.

The seabird community of the Gulf of Maine is an interesting mix of species like Atlantic Puffin that nest abundantly from Newfoundland south to Maine, species like the Dovekie that nest at high latitudes and the jaegers that nest broadly on the arctic tundra. Leach’s Storm-Petrels nest along the shores of the Gulf of Maine while the similar Wilson’s Storm-Petrel breeds in the southern oceans and disperses to the northern hemisphere during the austral winter. Our two most common shearwaters, Greater Shearwater and Sooty Shearwater, also nest in the southern hemisphere.

There are several ways that you can see some of these seabirds. One easy way is to go on a whale-watching cruise. These boats go offshore far enough to find whales and that is usually far enough to see seabirds. A second option is to take a ferry ride aboard the Cat from Bar Harbor to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. By crossing the Gulf of Maine twice you will have great chances to see many of our seabird species.

Maine Audubon offers an annual seabird trip out of Bar Harbor. This year’s trip will be on September 29 from 6 AM until 2 PM. The boat used this year will be a fast 110-foot power catamaran so a lot of territory can be covered. Contact Margi Huber ([email protected]) for more information.

[Originally published on September 22, 2007]

For the Birds – Hoarding

Today we will begin with some wisdom of the ages as given in one of Aesop’s fables, The Ant and the Grasshopper. This lesson is particularly relevant as summer wanes and cool fall weather will soon enough lead to the cold of winter.

“In a field one summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest. “Why not come and chat with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of toiling and moiling in that way?”

“I am helping to lay up food for the winter,” said the Ant, “and recommend you to do the same.”

“Why bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present.” But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew: It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.”

Quite a number of birds follow the ant’s advice and put food away for seasons of scarcity. Winter poses a particular challenge for Maine birds. Insects are virtually absent, snow covers lots of potential food and the days are so short that birds have little time to find enough food to last them through the night.

Black-capped Chickadees provide an excellent example of food-hoarding behavior. Usually seeds are hoarded although insects and spiders may be stored as well. Insects and spiders are prepared before storage by removing the head. Chickadees readily cache sunflower seeds and pieces of suet from bird feeders. You have probably seen this behavior at your own feeders. A chickadee will remove the husk of a seed before caching it.

Chickadees do most of their hoarding in the fall. The number of seeds stored is staggering. Over a thousand items may be stored in a single day and, over the course of autumn, 50,000 to 80,000 spruce seeds were stored at one study site.

Sites for food storage are varied. Typical hiding places are cracks or crevices in woody vegetation, under bits of bark (particularly birch bark), in clusters of conifer needles, in the ground and even in the snow.

An interesting pattern emerges when one compares the frequency of hoarding in different parts of the range of Black-capped Chickadees. Hoarding is frequently noted in northern populations, as reported in studies done in upstate New York and Ontario. In milder climates like southern Illinois, food caching is rarely seen. Chickadees there seem to be able to get away with the grasshopper strategy!

Unlike some birds that hoard food at a single location, chickadees store their food in widely scattered locations. The advantage of scattering hiding sites is that other chickadees will not be able to steal all of their stored food if a thief encounters a stored seed. The disadvantage, of course, is the need to remember where all the seeds are stored.

The spatial memory of chickadees has been a productive and exciting area of ornithological research. Research done at the University of Toronto clearly showed that chickadees can remember their hoarding sites 24 hours after storage. Chickadees also spent little time at sites where food had been removed, either by the chickadee that stored the food or by a thieving chickadee that stole the cache.

Remembering where food is stored for a day is impressive but what benefits does such short-term memory give for a chickadee on a cold February day. Recent research indicates that chickadees have a longer-term memory for food. Chickadees were able to find food 28 days after caching it. To make matters difficult for researchers, chickadees are also known to take a hoarded seed and then store it somewhere else!

Neurobiologists have shown that a particular region of the brain called the hippocampus is important in spatial memory in chickadees. Birds in which the hippocampus is damaged are less capable of finding hoarded seeds.

Comparisons of the size of the hippocampus in different types of birds is intriguing. The hippocampus in bird species which hoard food is proportionally larger compared to species, which do not hoard.

Within a chickadee, the size of the hippocampus changes throughout the year! The hippocampus is relatively small in the spring but significantly larger in fall as the bird begins to hoard food (and, one hopes, remembers where it was hoarded).

[Originally published on September 8, 2007]

For the Birds – Chimney Swifts

One of our most distinctive breeding birds is the Chimney Swift. Swifts are wonderfully agile fliers with long, curved wings. They have short, tapered tails leading some authors to refer to them as flying cigars. Swifts have a distinctive stiff-winged flight. The wings of a swift appear to beat alternately but actually beat in unison like all other birds.

Chimney Swifts spend most of their time during the day in flight, hawking insects. Swifts have amazingly large mouths that serve them well in capturing insects on the wing. Their method of feeding brings to mind the feeding of swallows but swifts and swallows are not closely related. Believe it or not, swifts’ closest relatives are hummingbirds.

Chimney Swifts give away their presence by their near constant twittering. You can hear a recording of these sounds at: swift vocalizations.

The genus to which the Chimney Swift belongs is Chaetura. Chaetura means “bristle tail” and refers to distinctive hair-like bristle feathers that occur at the base of the tail. The function of these bristles is not known.

Chimney Swifts generally return to central Maine in early May. Their twittering is nearly incessant then as courtship begins. Initially, four to seven swifts fly together in an oval or circular path. Then, three birds will fly together with one acting as the leader, flying ahead of the other two. Finally, two birds will court each other by flying very close together with one bird slightly lower than the second.

Faithfulness to a mate varies. In one study in Ohio, one female had the same mate for nine consecutive years. In that same study, another female had seven different mates over the nine-year period.

Before human habitations dotted the eastern landscape, Chimney Swifts nested in hollow trees and in caves. Now, virtually all Chimney Swifts nest in house chimneys. We have pretty good evidence that Chimney Swifts were widely distributed but uncommon before Europeans settled across eastern North America. The chimneys present in virtually every colonist’s house allowed for an increase in the Chimney Swift population. This information strongly suggests that nesting sites limited the population before houses began to dot the landscape.

Both mom and dad contribute to the construction of the nest inside a chimney. The nests are semicircular cups made of twigs, attached to a vertical portion of the chimney. The swifts gather the twigs on the wing with their feet and usually transfer the twigs to their bill to carry them back to the nesting site. The twigs are glued together with the sticky saliva that the birds produce from their hyperactive salivary glands. After the nest is built, the parents’ salivary glands shrink rapidly.

A Chimney Swift nest usually has four eggs; some nests may have as many as six eggs. Both the female and the male incubate the eggs; hatching takes place 18 to 21 days after incubation commences.

Occasionally, an unmated helper will assist a pair in raising the young. The importance of the third “parent” on fledging success is not known. In most bird species in which cooperative breeding occurs, the helpers are related to the papers but we don’t know if that is the case for Chimney Swifts.

By the way, the Asian delicacy, bird nest soup, is made of the nests of cave swiftlets. The swiftlet’s nest is made of pure hardened saliva.

Both parents feed the young. Sometimes, unmated individuals will assist a pair in feeding their young. Chimney Swifts are diligent parents, sometimes foraging at night to obtain food for their hungry young. Chimney Swifts raise only one brood per year.

As Chimney Swifts prepare to migrate, they often spend the night in large communal roosts. It is truly a spectacle to see 100 or more Chimney Swifts at dusk funneling into a chimney.

Swifts have an unusual arrangement of their toes, a clear adaptation to perching on vertical surfaces. A swift can point all four of its toes upward to maximize its ability to cling to a vertical surface. Ornithologists refer to such digits as pamprodactyl toes.

However, gravity is a force that is difficult to resist and sometimes swifts fall down chimneys into a homeowner’s fireplace or woodstove. If the swift is capable of flight, the bird will fly around and eventually perch on a vertical surface like curtains or even the wall. You can then slowly approach the perched swift with a coffee can, trash basket or other small container and cover the swift. Slip a piece of cardboard over the opening of the container. Take the swift outside and let it go.

[Column originally published on August 24, 2007]

More on Hair Gathering by Tufted Titmouse

In response to the previous column on Tufted Titmouse hair gathering, Nancy King of Standish wrote to say that a Tufted Titmouse took hair from her own head. The titmouse gathered some hair from Nancy’s hair over a three-day period every time Nancy came out on her deck.

For the Birds: Tufted Titmice and New Gull Book

Cheeky Titmouse

As the 2007 nesting season ends for most of our birds, I want to share a remarkable story of a Tufted Titmouse in Richmond, Maine reported to me by Alice Elliott. Alice and her husband Dan own a golden retriever named Fisher.

Tufted Titmice often incorporate hair into their nests, particularly the inner lining. Last April, Alice and Dan were amused to see a Tufted Titmouse land on Fisher while he was sleeping on the deck. It soon became clear that the titmouse was pulling hair from Fisher to use in nest construction. Fisher was amazingly tolerant as the titmouse removed large beakfuls of hair.

The titmice started a second brood later in the summer and came back to the patient Fisher for more hair.

You can see photographs of the titmouse and Fisher at Alice’s blog (http://henbogle.blogspot.com/). Go to the April 25 post to see a number of photographs of the titmouse removing Fisher’s hair. Go to the July 25 post to see a short video of this unlikely pair.

New gull book

Houghton Mifflin has recently published a new gull identification guide. Written by Steve Howell and Jon Dunn, the book is titled Gulls of the Americas. The book is in the Peterson Reference Guide series. At a size of seven by ten inches, the book will be used more in studying at home rather than serving as a field guide.

This book is a potent competitor to Gulls of North America, Europe and Asia published in 2003 by Klaus Olsen and Hans Larsson. Howell and Dunn’s book covers gulls in North and South America; South American gulls are not covered in Olsen and Larsson.

Gulls are challenging birds to identify in the field. Our smallest gulls require two years to acquire adult plumage and our largest gulls take four years. Within a population, significant variation in appearance and in the onset of molting creates a bewildering variety of gulls. Gulls often roost and forage in mixed flocks, adding to identification challenges. Geographic variation across the range of many species adds to the confusion. Finally, gulls hybridize to make matters even more complicated.

Careful study of Howell and Dunn’s book will reward any birder. They begin their book with an introduction to gull morphology and molting. Little information is provided on behavior, reproduction and foraging of gulls; the book is focused on identification.

The introduction is abundantly provided with high-quality photographs. Many of the photographs are labeled to show features like the gonydeal expansion, primary projection and tertial crescent that can be important features in identification.

The authors provide a lucid description of molts and plumages. Rather than writing of molts in terms of years, they consider molts in terms of cycles. A cycle begins when a gull begins a molt that includes replacement of all of its primary feathers. For adults, a cycle corresponds to a year. Adult gulls usually begin their flight feather molt in the late summer after breeding. For cycles of immature birds, molting usually takes several months less than the adult cycle. For these birds, years and cycles do not match so gull researches choose to identify plumages as second-cycle, third-cycle, etc.

As a way to reduce the identification possibilities of a gull, the authors divide the gulls into two groups, the Tern-like Gulls and the typical gulls. The Tern-like gulls are the smaller gulls with more buoyant flights. This group includes Bonaparte’s Gull, Little Gull and Black-legged Kittiwake. Herring Gull and Ring-billed Gull are Typical Gulls. They further subdivide each of these two major groups into smaller groups. Most of these sub-groups seem reasonable although I question why they put Bonaparte’s Gull and Black-headed Gull in the Masked Tern-like Gulls and put Little Gull in a separate category, Small Tern-like Gulls. Bonaparte’s Gull is scarcely larger than Little Gull and separating these two species in the field is a challenge.

Following the introduction is the largest section of the book, the Plates. The authors devote 250 pages to annotated photographs of the various species and hybrids of gulls. Each page has up to six photographs. The photographs show the variation within species and cycles for the 36 gull species.

The remainder of the book is devoted to textual Species Accounts. Each account begins with an Identification Summary followed by a section on Status and Distribution. Most of the account is devoted to Field Identification in which each cycle is thoroughly described. Flipping between the Species Account and the appropriate pictures in the Plates is an effective way to improve one’s gull identification skills.

[Column originally published on August 10, 2007]

Maine Bird Tour – III

On June 21, we drove from our B&B in Lubec to the dock in Cutler for a 7 AM departure on a puffin cruise aboard the Barbara Frost to Machias Seal Island, part of the province of New Brunswick. A thick fog that so often besets the coast here at the lower portion of the Bay of Fundy delayed us for a bit but soon enough we were wending our way out of the harbor for the ten mile cruise to the island.

The fog had lifted enough along the way to allow us to see quite a few Northern Gannets and the occasional Wilson’s Storm-Petrel. Machias Seal Island was shrouded in fog but we knew we were getting close because of the many Atlantic Puffins and Razorbills that began flying by the boat.

Fifteen of us were ferried ashore in a small dinghy and scrambled up the rocks to the lighthouse on the island. A Canadian Wildlife Service biologist gave us the do’s and don’t’s about the island. We then divided into four groups, each group going to one of the four photographic blinds right on the rocky shore. The fog was lifting and soon we were enjoying blue skies and great visibility.

These blinds provide an unbelievable opportunity to observe and photograph the Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills and Common Murres that nest on the island. The birds are literally only a few feet away. The puffins often land right on top of the blind. It’s pretty neat to hear puffins doing the two-step right above your head!

We had over an hour in the blinds until another tour group arrived. We could have stayed twice as long.

The 20-acre island is mostly vegetated by short grasses. A few Song Sparrows and Savannah Sparrows were singing from the meadow. An unexpected find was a Black-billed Cuckoo.

Historically, several thousand Arctic Terns have nested on the island. These aggressive birds dive-bombed human visitors as they walked to and from the blinds. This year the terns abandoned the nesting site for unknown reasons. Only a few terns were flying around.

Although there are four Maine islands where you can see puffins (Seal Island, Petit Manan, Matinicus Rock and Eastern Egg Rock), landing is not permitted. Two Maine companies offer cruises to Machias Seal Island, the Bold Coast Charter Company out of Cutler and Norton Tours out of Jonesport. If you call to make a reservation, be aware that a maximum of 15 passengers are allowed on the island. The other passengers get to see the puffins at arms-length from the boat but the blind experience simply can’t be beat.

Back aboard the Barbara Frost, we circled around the island, getting great looks at many Harbor Seals and one large Gray Seal with its horse-like head.

One of the many attractions of the Cobscook Bay region is the large amount of land with public access. Around the Bay, there are several state parks, Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge (a unit in Edmunds and another in Baring), and several state wildlife management areas. The Quoddy Regional Land Trust and the Maine Coast Heritage Trust have preserved a number of properties and maintain trails for public access.

The Baring unit of Moosehorn NWR boasts the most easily observed Bald Eagle nest in the state. The nesting platform is only 300 yards from the road that runs through the middle of the refuge.

At Moosehorn, we walked along an abandoned railroad track just north of Route 1 through an extensive marsh. Swamp Sparrows were abundant. A Wilson’s Snipe called unseen from the marsh vegetation. We saw a couple of turtles laying eggs in the sand along the old railroad track. Unfortunately, predators had discovered a number of nests and eaten the eggs.

The Boot Cove Preserve in Lubec is a fairly easy hike through spruce-fir forest to a rocky headland. A bog with a short boardwalk along the way provides different habitat. We had great looks at Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, Nashville Warblers, both kinglets and tons of Magnolia Warblers and Black-throated Green Warblers. Sometimes, Spruce Grouse can be seen right along the trail here but we were not so fortunate. A few Blackpoll Warblers were in the stunted red spruce along the exposed headland.

West Quoddy Head State Park produced spectacular views of the rocky coast as well as Boreal Chickadees, Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, Alder Flycatchers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Hermit Thrushes and Dark-eyed Juncos.

[Originally published on July 27, 2007]

Maine Bird Tour – II

This column is the second in a series of three giving the highlights of a week-long birding tour I led for a group of Maryland birders in June.

On our third day, we left Sanford and headed toward Booth Bay Harbor. We stopped along the way at Maine Audubon in Falmouth where a Willow Flycatcher had been reported. We were able to hear the Willow Flycatcher but it bashfully never gave us a good look.

We made a quick side trip to the Wild Bird Center in Yarmouth to look for the Carolina Wren that had been sighted there. The wren scolded us from the dense shrubbery but like the Willow Flycatcher never gave us a chance to see it.

Booth Bay Harbor was our next stop where we had reservations on a whale-watching cruise. Our goal, of course, was to see some pelagic birds. We had good success in that regard on a wonderfully calm day. We saw at least 30 Greater Shearwaters, ten Sooty Shearwaters, one Northern Fulmar and the occasional Wilson’s Storm-Petrel whizzing by the boat. Northern Gannets, mostly young birds, were abundant. The six finback whales and a Minke whale we saw weren’t too bad, either!

Our last stop of the day was the Salt Bay Heritage Farm in Damariscotta. This delightful area has acres and acres of tall grass, criss-crossed by a number of walking paths. The fields were alive with Bobolinks. A pond with cattails ringing it sits in the middle of the property. A small observation deck permits close observation of the marsh/pond birds. We had Virginia Rails and Soras both calling to us as well as Marsh Wrens. A delightful way to end a day of birding.

After spending the night in Waterville, we left early in the morning for the Sidney Bog along the Middle Road in Sidney. We birded from the road rather than going onto the bog. We had the species one expects in the moat-like habitat ringing a bog: Nashville Warbler, Canada Warbler and Northern Waterthrush. On the bog, we could hear Hermit Thrush, Common Yellowthroat, Palm Warbler, White-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Eastern Towhee and American Goldfinch.

Our next stop was the southwest portion of Messalonskee Lake in Belgrade. Scanning over the marsh from a small parking lot on Depot Street near Hammond’s Lumber, Al Haury found our target bird, Sandhill Crane, in less than a minute. Up to four cranes have been seen at this site.

A visit to the boat landing just a bit south on Route 27 rewarded us with great looks at Black Terns. This area hosts the largest of only a few colonies of this striking bird in the state. Other birds included Pied-billed Grebe, Wood Duck, Ring-necked Duck and Swamp Sparrow.

Highlights of a walk through the Perkins Arboretum at Colby College were a Barred Owl and a Red-shouldered Hawk.

A visit to the Pine Tree State Arboretum is always ornithologically rewarding. Eastern Bluebirds and Eastern Meadowlarks were our highlights during a late afternoon visit.

We rose quite early the next morning and drove to Long Falls Dam Road along the east side of Flagstaff Lake. This road provides easy access to boreal forest habitat. Intermittent rain throughout the morning reduced the frequency of bird song but we nevertheless managed a nice list. Swainson’s Thrushes were abundant along with Alder Flycatchers, Black-throated Green Warblers, Magnolia Warblers and Dark-eyed Juncos. We had nice looks at Black-throated Blue Warblers and heard a distant Yellow-bellied Flycatcher in one of the bogs along the road. Common Ravens flew overhead, uttering an amazing variety of vocalizations. Despite a fine cone crop, no crossbills were nesting in the area this year. No luck with Black-backed Woodpeckers, Boreal Chickadees or Gray Jays this time.

The rain held off long enough for a picnic lunch and we began our trek eastward toward Washington County. We stopped on the way at the Orono Boardwalk (http://www.oronobogwalk.org/), in search of two local specialties, Palm Warbler and Lincoln’s Sparrow. If you haven’t birded this wonderful site, you should make an effort to do so. The mile-long boardwalk is wheel-chair accessible. The boardwalk takes you through forested wetlands and then completes a circuit through a portion of the Orono Bog. We had no problem getting great looks at our two target birds from the boardwalk. Other birds there were Common Ravens, Common Yellowthroats, Song Sparrows and Purple Finches.

Just as we reached our van, the skies opened up. We drove through the rain to the Lubec area in downeast Maine where we spent the next three days.