This post\u00a0concludes the overview of the National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Counts conducted in Maine between mid-December and early January.<\/p>\n
The Orono Christmas Bird Count (hereafter, CBC) was held on December 17. A Gray Jay was perhaps the least expected of the 44 species tallied. Tufted Titmice were represented by 28 individuals.<\/p>\n
A hardy Northern Mockingbird was unexpected. A whopping 1,467 Bohemian Waxwings were found, an excellent count for this early in the winter.<\/p>\n
Irruptive finches were well represented with 65 Pine Grosbeaks, 25 Purple Finches, 54 Common Redpolls and 103 Evening Grosbeaks.<\/p>\n
Just eight miles south of Orono, the Bangor Christmas Bird Count was held on December 31. \u00a0The effort yielded a fine count of 58 species. Careful looks at the Common Goldeneye flocks on the Penobscot River yielded two Barrow\u2019s Goldeneyes.<\/p>\n
Two Red-bellied Woodpeckers and a lingering Northern Flicker were the most notable woodpeckers. Two Peregrine Falcons and a Northern Shrike were delightful finds.<\/p>\n
Tufted Titmice continue to increase in the area; a total of 96 were found this year. Lingering songbirds included a Carolina Wren, two Northern Mockingbirds and a Yellow-rumped Warbler.<\/p>\n
The Bangor counters found 311 Bohemian Waxwings along with 79 Cedar Waxwings.<\/p>\n
Northern finches put on a good show: 146 Pine Grosbeaks, six Purple Finches, three Pine Siskins and nine Evening Grosbeaks.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s head over to the downeast coast to Machias and then work our way south along the coast.<\/p>\n
The Machias Count yielded 59 species on December 31. A Common Pintail and four Harlequin Ducks were the most notable of the 14 species of waterfowl.<\/p>\n
Lingering birds included a Northern Harrier, three White-throated Sparrows and a Song Sparrow.<\/p>\n
A Red-bellied Woodpecker was unusual for this part of Maine. Rough-legged Hawks have been scarce in Maine so far this winter so the two found here were great finds.<\/p>\n
Red-breasted Nuthatches were well represented with 363 individuals. Irruptive birds included 38 Bohemian Waxwings, 74 Pine Grosbeaks, 61 Purple Finches, 55 Pine Siskins and 27 Evening Grosbeaks.<\/p>\n
Counters on the Schoodic CBC started the new year off right, finding 59 species. Twelve species of waterfowl appeared, none out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n
Six Northern Gannets were delights along with two Rough-legged Hawks.<\/p>\n
Black Guillemots are expected on any coastal Maine CBC. Counters here found 36 along with two other less common alcids: two Thick-billed Murres and a quartet of Razorbills.<\/p>\n
Less common gulls included five Black-legged Kittiwakes and singleton Iceland and Glaucous gulls.<\/p>\n
Two Northern Shrikes graced the area with their presence. Lingering birds included nine American Robins, a Northern Mockingbird, a White-throated Sparrow and three Song Sparrows.<\/p>\n
Winter finches included 55 Purple Finches and an excellent total of 24 Red Crossbills.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s hop on a plane to visit Matinicus Island, 20 miles off shore, like three CBC birders did on January 5. You never know what a far-flung outpost like Matinicus will hold.<\/p>\n
The counters found 39 species. This year there were no jaw-dropping finds. The expected coastal birds were present \u00a0just offshore.<\/p>\n
Lingering birds included a Northern Flicker, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, four White-throated Sparrows and two Song Sparrows. The only other sparrow was a American Tree Sparrow and no finches were found at all.<\/p>\n
The Pemaquid Count produced a nice total of 64 species on December 17. Three Wood Ducks were the most unusual of 15 species of waterfowl.<\/p>\n
Lingering birds included a Northern Harrier, a Belted Kingfisher, five Eastern Bluebirds and a Northern Mockingbird. A Merlin and two Fox Sparrows were notable.<\/p>\n
The Bath CBC was held of December 19, producing a fine total of 74 species. Fifteen Northern Pintails were the most notable waterfowl.<\/p>\n
Highlights included an American Pipit, four Lapland Longspurs and a long list of lingering species. These ambitious birds included a Great Blue Heron, five Northern Harriers, two Hermit Thrushes, a Savannah Sparrow and five Red-winged Blackbirds.<\/p>\n
[First published on February 5, 2017]<\/p>\n\n
This post\u00a0concludes the overview of the National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Counts conducted in Maine between mid-December and early January. The Orono Christmas Bird Count (hereafter, CBC) was held on December 17. A Gray Jay was perhaps the least expected of the 44 species tallied. Tufted Titmice were represented by 28 individuals. A hardy Northern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":853,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions\/853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}