Birding Washington County

 The East Machias River, Washington County, ME 5-30-15

Ever since moving back to Maine I have been trying to submit at least one checklist to eBird in every county in Maine. Last year I was able to add Oxford, Knox, and Lincoln Counties to my list of Maine Counties. Earlier in May I added Piscataquis County when I followed In the Footsteps of My Grandfather. Of the 16 counties in Maine, I only had Washington County left to count birds in, and May 30, 2015 was the day for me to conquer that county! As my friend Donna and I drove towards Quoddy Head State Park we passed through East Machias. The road ran close to the river there and as we drove I saw dozens of cormorants in the river. I quickly pulled onto a side street, parked, and jumped out to get my very first Washington County, Maine bird list!

Here I am parked on the side of the road. Donna is in the car but she has her hand in front of her face because she does not want me to get a picture of her! I was just photographing the place I parked! Besides, I was more interested in the birds!

This Double-crested cormorant taking off looks more like a giant bat!

 

Airborne!

 

These are just some of the 100 cormorants I counted!

The ones with pale heads and necks are juveniles.

The East Machias River is a tidal river. In the morning it looked like this.

 

And in the afternoon it looked like this!

 

With the lower water level the cormorants were all gone and the ducks and gulls were here instead. I counted birds in this location both times.

Gulls on the rocks.

 

Afternoon low tide on the East Machias River 5-30-15

With the birds I saw at Quoddy Head State Park and a few others we saw along the way, I ended up with 29 species for the year so far in Washington County. Come back soon to read my post and see photos of Quoddy Head State Park!

 

My eBird Checklists for this location:

• Willow Street Morning Count
• Willow Street Afternoon Count