Return to Wharton Point

 Least Sandpipers at Wharton Point 8-21-14

August 21, 2014: the day after my family came to visit I went birding with a fellow birder and blogger named Cynthia Cage. I had met Cynthia once before on an outing of the Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp back in 2011. We have stayed in contact through our blogs in Facebook, so when she was able to come to Maine on her summer vacation, we made plans to meet and bird together. Cynthia met me at my house and we drove over to Wharton Point. After my success in birding there a few days ago, I thought it would be a quick and easy place to start our day. Boy, were we in for a surprise! Easy, yes. Quick, no! There were so many birds!

Here is Cynthia looking at shorebirds in the distance.

 

This is just one of the Least Sandpipers we saw near the boat ramp.

Least Sandpipers are our smallest peep at only 6 inches. They have yellow-green legs, not black like sanderlings or semipalmated sandpipers. We also saw a lot of species in the surrounding meadow.

Goldfinch in meadow.

 

 Nelson’s Sparrow

Though it is hidden in the grass, notice the orangish face.

Cynthia has a better picture on her blog. She had a longer lens than me.

Nelson’s Sparrow

 

Two blurry bobolinks in the meadow!

 

A lone Bonaparte’s Gull in the bay.

I thought we would be here for about a half and hour, but there were so many birds and more kept flying in! We got into the car to leave at least twice, then jumped back out when we saw new birds! Our destination was the Scarborough Marsh, but we ended up seeing the most birds species right here at Wharton Point in Brunswick, Maine! On our way south to Portland we stopped off at Day’s Seafood on Route One in Yarmouth to eat lunch. Yes, we ate seafood! We had chowder and fried clams and more. We sat outside at the picnic tables and counted more shorebirds in the inlet behind the Seafood shack!

Greater Yellowlegs in Yarmouth, ME 8-21-14

Birds seen at Wharton Point on August 21, 2014 with Cynthia Cage:

1. Black Duck, 1
2. Common Eider, 20
3. duck species, 50
4. Double-crested Cormorant, 3
5. Great Egret, 2
6. Snowy Egret, 2
7. Glossy Ibis, 1
8. Osprey, 2
9. Bald Eagle, 1
10. Greater Yellowlegs, 1
11. Lesser Yellowlegs, 3
12. Least Sandpiper, 5
13. peep species, 20
14. Bonaparte’s Gull, 1
15. Ring-billed Gull, 1
16. Herring Gull, 14
17. gull species, 10
18. Common Tern, 1
19. Morning Dove, 10
20. Blue Jay, 3
21. American Crow, 3
22. Tree Swallow, 12
23. Barn Swallow, 1
24. Gray Catbird, 3
25. Cedar Waxwing, 1
26. Common Yellowthroat, 4
27. Yellow Warbler, 2
28. Nelson’s Sparrow, 1
29. Song Sparrow, 6
30. Sparrow species, 1
31. Bobolink, 4
32. blackbird species, 1
33. House Finch, 5
34. American Goldfinch, 15

We were here for just under two hours and this was only the beginning of our day! Come back for parts 2 and 3 tomorrow and the next day! There are many more birds to see as we continue to search for shorebirds on migration! If you click on the link for Wharton’s Point you can see a checklist of the most recent sightings on eBird and who has seen what. This checklist is updated in real time so you will never miss a bird. it is a good reference point for those new to the area or coming here to bird. click on any of the labels below to see all posts related to that subject.

Links:

• Wharton’s Point
• Birding Wharton’s Point-Cynthia’s blogpost about this day
• Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp
• Birding with the BwBTC Group 2012
• Birding with Cynthia-part 2-Scarborough Marsh