This post is the second of three reviewing the highlights of Maine Christmas Bird Counts. These counts took place between mid-December, 2017 and early January, 2018. Today we will take a tour along the coast from York County to the Machias region.<\/p>\n
The York County Count on December 18 produced an excellent count of 85 species. A whopping 18 species of waterfowl were highlighted by a Green-winged Teal, a Ring-necked Duck, a Greater Scaup, a Lesser Scaup and 77 Harlequin Ducks.<\/p>\n
Two Northern Gannets and 41 Great Cormorants were good finds. Along the shore, participants found 33 Sanderlings, 56 Dunlin and 132 Purple Sandpipers. Just offshore, a single Black Guillemot (low) and 26 Razorbills appeared.<\/p>\n
Raptors put on a good show. The list included a Northern Harrier, two Red-shouldered Hawks, three Snowy Owls, a Northern Saw-whet Owl and a Merlin.<\/p>\n
Birds lingering from the fall included three Great Blue Herons, two Belted Kingfishers, two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, three Northern Flickers, 94 Eastern Bluebirds, two Hermit Thrushes, five Yellow-rumped Warblers and two Chipping Sparrows.<\/p>\n
One rarity was found, an Orange-crowned Warbler.<\/p>\n
The Freeport-Brunswick Count produced 60 species on December 29. Thirteen species of waterfowl were found, capped by five Barrow’s Goldeneye. A Rough-legged Hawk was a thrill.<\/p>\n
A dozen Red-bellied Woodpeckers made for a nice total of this species that is increasing in fits and starts in Maine.<\/p>\n
Species that normally have migrated by now included a Northern Flicker, 41 Eastern Bluebirds, a Hermit Thrush and two Northern Mockingbirds. A Dickcissel was a great find. Just a few are seen in Maine each year.<\/p>\n
The Bath-Phippsburg-Georgetown Count, held on December 16 produced a total of 80 species. Two Wood Ducks and eight Barrow\u2019s Goldeneyes were the most notable of the 15 species of waterfowl.\u00a0 Twenty-two Red-throated Loons and 101 Red-necked Grebes were impressive totals for these diving birds.<\/p>\n
Shorebirds put on a good show with 15 Dunlin joining the more expected 80 Sanderlings and 117 Purple Sandpipers. Five species of gulls were highlighted by two Black-headed Gulls. A gull relative, a Parasitic Jaeger, was a fantastic sighting.<\/p>\n
Black Guillemots, our most common alcid seen from shore, were joined by eight Razorbills and two Atlantic Puffins.<\/p>\n
Owls came in pairs this year with doubleton Great Horned Owls, Barred Owls and Snowy Owls. Diurnal raptors included a Peregrine Falcon and a Rough-legged Hawk.<\/p>\n
The most notable land birds were lingering species, no doubt now departed either for eternity or for points south. These included a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, three Eastern Bluebirds, two Hermit Thrushes and five Yellow-rumped Warblers.<\/p>\n
Offshore we go to Matinicus Island, 20 miles off the mainland in eastern Penobscot Bay. The January 3 count yielded 41 species. A Green-winged Teal was certainly unexpected, among seven other species of waterfowl.<\/p>\n
A couple of Northern Gannets and 18 Great Cormorants were nice winter totals. A Ruddy Turnstone was an excellent find. White-winged gulls seem to be uncommon this winter so the one Iceland Gull made for a good discovery.<\/p>\n
The perching birds were a real grab-bag of interesting birds: a Red-bellied Woodpecker, seven Northern Flickers, a Gray Catbird, a Northern Mockingbird, 24 Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Common Grackle and 11 White-winged Crossbills.<\/p>\n
The Moose Island-Jonesport count in eastern Washington County was conducted on December 16 and resulted in a total of 52 species. The most unusual of the 13 waterfowl species was a Green-winged Teal. Common Eiders were the most abundant duck with 394 counted.<\/p>\n
Seventeen Northern Gannets made for an excellent count. \u00a0Over 2,000 Herring Gulls greatly outnumbered the other gull species (Bonaparte\u2019s, Ring-billed, and Great Black-backed).<\/p>\n
The forests yielded one Ruffed Grouse and one Spruce Grouse. The count produced very few lingering summer birds: a Northern Harrier, a Gray Catbird and a Yellow-rumped Warbler.<\/p>\n
Two species of finches were found: 31 American Goldfinches and an excellent duo of Evening Grosbeaks.<\/p>\n
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This post is the second of three reviewing the highlights of Maine Christmas Bird Counts. These counts took place between mid-December, 2017 and early January, 2018. Today we will take a tour along the coast from York County to the Machias region. The York County Count on December 18 produced an excellent count of 85 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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\/962"}],"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=962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":963,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions\/963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}