Harpswell Yard Birds

 Black-capped Chickadee 8-31-2015 Harpswell, Maine

Though we moved into this new house in mid-August, it wasn’t until the end of the month that I started photographing birds, since first I took a trip to Connecticut to help my mom out and to pick up my cats and bring them back with me. My cats are strictly indoor cats so they can watch the birds but they cannot harm them. Here are just some of the 60+ species of birds I have seen since moving into this house. I have been amazed at how quickly the list has grown after a very slow start. Fall migration has helped a lot and I have seen several birds species only once as they passed by on their way through. Of course, since this is Maine, there are always chickadees!

Each species was seen in or from this yard and I have posted their pictures with the date each photo was taken beneath, though this is not necessarily the first date that species was observed. You can see the full list of species at the end of this post.

 Black-capped Chickadee 8-31-15

 Magnolia Warbler 9-1-15

 Red-breasted Nuthatch 9-1-15

 Song Sparrow 9-1-15

 Tufted Titmouse (juvenile) 9-1-15

 Blue Jay 9-1-15

 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 9-1-15

Since moving to Harpswell I have seen several stray cats in this yard hunting my feeders and the little critters that live here. Cats kill millions of songbirds each year and do not belong outdoors. I have noticed that this does affect the number of ground feeding birds in this yard. I photographed this one on September 3rd.

Black-and-White Warbler in the birch tree 9-4-15

 

 Northern Harrier flyover 9-7-15

 American Goldfinches 9-20-15

It is no secret that I love woodpeckers and I have seen several species in this yard. I do not have photos of the Pileated Woodpeckers or Northern Flickers I have seen here, but I was so pleased to have the following species drop by during migration!

 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in the bird tree 9-24-15

 

 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker trying to hide 9-24-15

 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Red-bellied woodpecker 9-24-15

 Two red-bellied woodpeckers and 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 9-24-15

 Tufted Titmouse 9-24-15

 Downy Woodpecker 9-24-15

 White-throated Sparrow 9-25-15

 Male House Finch 9-25-15

It was over a month before I saw a House Finch here. Now there is a pair that shows up sporadically.

 Red-bellied Woodpecker 9-26-15

 Downy Woodpecker 10-10-15

And just last week I had a big surprise when a pair of migrating Baltimore Orioles plopped down into the fruit trees in the front yard. I was sitting in my chair near a downstairs window and I was shocked, especially when I realized my camera was all the way upstairs! I was hoping they would stay there and they did. I managed to take these pictures through the upstairs window before they flew off!

 Baltimore Oriole 10-16-15

 Baltimore Oriole 10-16-15

Baltimore Oriole looking for insects 10-16-15

Harpswell Yard Life List

1. Herring Gull, 7-7-2015
2. Common Tern
3. Northern Flicker
4. Red-eyed Vireo
5. American Crow
6. Gray Catbird
7. Ovenbird
8. Common Yellowthroat
9. Song Sparrow
10. Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 8-14-15
11. American Goldfinch
12. Dobule-crested Cormorant, 8-15-15 (our first full day in this huse)
13. Red-shouldered Hawk
14. downy Woodpecker
15. Blue-headed Vireo
16. Blue Jay
17. Common Raven
18. Black-capped Chickadee
19. White-breasted Nuthatch
20. Tufted Titmouse, 8-16-15
21. Canada Goose, 8-17-15
22. Red-bellied Woodpecker
23. American Robin
24. Cedar Waxwing
25. Black-and-white Warbler
26. Osprey
27. Wilson’s Warbler, 8-18-15
28. Mourning Dove, 8-19-15
29. Belted Kingfisher
30. Eastern Wood Pewee (then I was gone for 9 days)
31. Pileated Woodpecker, 8-28-15
32. Red-breasted Nuthatch
33. American Redstart, 8-30-15
34. Black-throated Green Warbler
35. Great Blue Heron, 9-1-15
36. Magnolia Warbler
37. Hairy Woodpecker
38. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
39. Chestnut-sided Warbler
40. Cooper’s Hawk, 9-2-15
41. Carolina Wren
42. Brown Creeper, 9-3-15
43. Northern Parula
44. Northern Cardinal 9-4-15
45. Philadelphia Vireo
46. Northern Harrier, 9-7-15
47. Peregrine Falcon, 9-15-15
48. Broad-winged hawk, 9-16-15
49. Eastern Phoebe, 9-17-15
50. Nashville Warbler, 9-18-15
51. Bald Eagle, 9-21-15
52. Dark-eyed Junco
53. Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 9-22-15
54. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, 9-24-15
55. White-throated Sparrow, 9-25-15
56. House Finch
57. Red-tailed Hawk, 10-1-15
58. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle), 10-2-15
59. Sharp-shinned Hawk, 10-3-15
60. Palm Warbler (yellow)
61. Yellow-billed Cuckoo, 10-4-15
62. Turkey Vulture, 10-8-15
63. White-crowned Sparrow
64. Common Grackle, 10-12-15
65. Merlin, 10-15-15
66. Baltimore Oriole, 10-16-15

It is interesting to note that in a little over 2 months I have seen almost as many birds in this yard as I did in 18 months in my Tucson Yard, where I saw 69 species of birds before I moved back here to Maine.

Here are how My Yards Lists Compare

Yard	Years	Number of Species
Sycamore Canyon	April 2007 thru August 2010	83
Andover Yard	October 2010 thru August 2012	65
Tucson Yard	September 2012 thru January 2014	69
Mere Point Yard	February 2014 thru August 2015	117
Harpswell Yard	August 2015 to present*	66

*I counted birds for 15 minutes on one day in July when we first looked at this house, but my actual day to day counting did not start until August 14th in the evening.