Trick or Treat Turkey

 Wild Turkey on top of power poles on Brunswick Landing?

Okay, I hate to admit it, but I got faked out. This summer while driving through Brunswick Landing I was amazed to see male Wild Turkeys atop power poles every time I drove through Brunswick Landing. I had no idea why they were up there but could only guess that they were standing guard over nesting hen turkeys somewhere below. Every time I drove through I saw these birds, but soon started to notice they were in the exact same locations. What faithful birds I thought to myself and I faithfully eBirded them. Sometimes I even saw turkeys running alongside the road in the grasses, but these four males were always atop their poles. Finally one day I stopped to take their pictures and when I finally offloaded the photos I was shocked! I had been faked out by fake turkeys!

I could only guess that they were put up there to keep osprey from landing on or building nests on these poles as there are a large number of nesting osprey on Brunswick Landing. I sheepishly went back and corrected all my eBird lists. I felt so dumb and blind. It just goes to show that you are never too old to learn, or make a fool of yourself!

Trick or Treat on me!

Happy Halloween to you!

Osprey and other birds at Brunswick Landing

 Broad-winged Hawk on power lines 6-12-15

Over the course of the summer I birded Brunswick Landing several times. It is a massive property and was formerly the Brunswick Naval Air Station. Now it is being developed as commercial property and there are not as many wild areas as there were before. Some sections have been shut off that we used to have access to when I first moved here and learned about this property. Still, it is a good place to bird with many surprises to be found, but it involves a bit of driving. I usually cover 3 to 5 miles with various stops along the way. In summer Upland Sandpipers can be found on the airfield. As you drive around you can spot vireos, warblers and woodpeckers. Both summers I have been here I have found Pileated Woodpeckers when driving through.

I found this one climbing a utility pole on July 2nd of this year!

 

 

 

Finally up in the clear where I can see his gorgeous crest!

This massive woodpecker is the size of a crow and the one most closely related to the now (presumed) extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

While I was looking up at the Pileated, this little male Common Yellowthroat was in the brush behind me.

Several pairs of Osprey nest on the Brunswick Landing Property. It is a short flight for them to the Androscoggin river in Brunswick or to Middle Bay to fish. There are also a couple of isolated ponds on the property that I have seen them fishing in as well.

This photo was taken on June 12th. You can just see the tiny head of the osprey chicks peeking up above the edge of the nest. The photos below were all taken just a 3 weeks later on July 2nd. Look at the difference in size!

Two offspring look like they are gobbling up some yummy fish!

 

Look at the size of those wings now!

 

The adult osprey is keeping an eye on me, but soon those youngsters will be flying and fending for themselves.

Please note that I was in my car and using a long lens to get these shots. At no point was I anywhere near these birds or their nest, which is actually atop a very tall pole in an abandoned baseball field that is fenced off with No Trespassing signs posted. However, you can easily see these birds from the roads and parking lots of Brunswick Landing. I would never disturb a bird to get a photo and these particular osprey are quite used to living in and around humans.

Brunswick Landing is a unique place to bird with many rarities showing up in the summer and the winter. Over 150 species of birds have been recorded here so far. Click on the links below to learn more.

Links:

• Brunswick Landing is an eBird Hotspot
• All my posts about Brunswick Landing
• My eBird Checklist for 6-12-15
• My eBird checklist for 7-2-15

A Few Surprises at Brunswick Landing

 Great Horned Owl 4-7-15 Brunswick Landing

In April of this year I drove through Brunswick Landing several times during the peak of Spring Migration. Winter was just ending but the birds were were retuning and some of them were already nesting. Brunswick Landing is a funny place because in some ways it is abandoned and wild, but moves are underway by Midcoast Regional Development Authority to bring new life to this place. I, however, like the wildlife more than the business aspect of things, and while I do believe that some of the land will be left wild, much is being developed and places I had access to last year have now been blocked off. Still, it is a good place to bird if you know where to look and this year I found a few surprises! The Great Horned Owl Pictured above is one of them. While I missed out on seeing the Snowy owls that were reported to be hunting the airfield at the Brunswick Executive Airport which is part of Brunswick Landing, I was surprised to find this Great Horned Owl nesting in an abandoned osprey nest near the same airfield! This was my first and only Great Horned Owl in Maine!

While I was watching the owl this raven flew by pursued by a couple of crows!

Notice the wedge-shaped tail!

Notice the fan-shaped tail of this crow.

 

In the north pond I was pleased to find Wood Ducks and Ring-necked Ducks!

 

This American kestrel was perched atop this light pole at the far end of the abandoned ball fields off Line Road. Osprey like to nest on the platforms in the middle of the field.

One of my best surprises of birding Brunswick Landing this winter was the discovery of Bohemian Waxwings on Brunswick Landing. I found them in the crabapple trees near the Brunswick Rec center on Neptune Drive in February. But when I stopped to examine this flock of birds in the trees at the edge of the parking lot off Admiral Finch Road on April 9th, I was shocked to find a flock of more than 30 Bohemian Waxwings! Last time I had only seen 3 of them!

Bohemian Waxwings in fruit tree 4-9-2015 Brunswick Landing

 

The birds flew between the fruit tree and this non-fruiting tree.

 

Some would be in this tree and some would be in the other tree.

I stayed in my car to photograph them. I did not want to scare them away.

Close-up of Bohemian Waxwings 4-9-2015

Notice the cinnamon wash to their faces and their Cinnamon colored undertail coverts! Bohemian Waxwings are much bigger than Cedar Waxwings and are highly nomadic. You never know when or where they will turn up, but we only see them here in winter. This was a very late date to see them here, but we still had so much snow on the ground!

Bohemian Waxwings in tree on Brunswick Landing 4-9-15

 

American Kestrel on pole 4-9-15

In April everyone was awaiting the return of the ospreys. I finally saw a pair on their nest in the ball field off of Line Drive (photo below). They are still there now with young in the nest!

Osprey Pair on April 17, 2015

 

Eastern Phoebe on fence 4-17-15

 

Brunswick Landing is a great place to bird and is an eBird Hotspot!

(Be sure to click on any of the labels below to see all posts related to that subject)

Notes From My Nest: Hello Again

Mere Point Bay 4-20-15

Hello Again! I know it has been a very long time since you have heard from me. So much has been going on and my Physical Therapy takes up so much of my time. In the past three weeks my daughter has had surgery on her elbow and my son came to visit from Arizona. He brought along my grandson and they stayed with us for a week while we visited family and celebrated Xavier’s birthday. Meanwhile, the snow has finally melted and the migrating birds have started to return! I feel like a person let out of jail for it is finally warm enough and dry enough to get out and go for walks!

Family 4-22-15

In spite of being so busy, I have managed to go birding in a few places. I birded the Brunswick Town Commons on April 17^th. No one had counted birds there since I had last fall, but on this day it seems another person decided it was finally nice enough to count birds and we both submitted eBird checklists for that day! While I only counted 12 species there in the almost two hours I walked the trails, I did get to see my Lifer Red Crossbills! No, I did not get a photo because they were too quick for me. One of the birds got out in the open at the top of a small pine tree but when I raised my camera for a shot it and the other birds flew off deeper into the pine forest.

Brunswick Town Commons 4-17-15

My Physical therapy is progressing well, but never as fast as I would like. I can now raise my arms above my head and out to the side, but am still having trouble getting my left arm behind my back. I don’t notice this too much until I try to tie my apron on. I am not in pain most of the time but once in awhile I feel a small twinge. At this point, it does not keep me from doing most of the things I want to and I almost feel normal, but it will be awhile until I get my strength back. We cannot work on building strength until we regain more flexibility.

Every day that I go to my Physical therapy I usually count birds in the parking lot. My physical Therapy is located next to the New Meadows River and sits on a small hill overlooking a valley and a ridge. Thus I have been able to witness firsthand the return of the Ospreys. I have seen them flying over the valley with fish and nesting material in their talons.

I have also been birding at Reid State Park, Popham Beach and Scarborough Marsh. I am so behind with all my photo processing that it could be awhile before I have pictures to show you! But the good thing is, the birds are returning!

The dock is finally back in the water on the New Meadows River 4-3015

I have had Yellow-rumped, Palm, and Pine Warblers in the yard. I have seen greater yellowlegs down at Wharton Point. Red-winged Blackbirds, common Grackles, and brown headed cowbirds have all returned, along with starlings and sparrows. I have had Savannah sparrows, song sparrows and white-throated sparrows all in my yard, along with Fox Sparrows back in March. The Woodcocks also returned in March but I did not get to see or hear them as much as I did last year as it was much colder this year. No warm, misty nights to stand in the yard and watch their displays. I did poke my head out the door a few times and hear their calls and wing beats, but it was too dark to see them and none seemed to fly right over my head like they did last year, except for one evening when I opened the door to let Gus in with a load of groceries and a bird flew right over his head in the light of the back door!

Below is a photo montage of events and places over the past month or so. I hope to get some more bird photos up here soon!

On April 9th there was still snow and I counted 36 Bohemian Waxwings in these trees on Brunswick Landing!

On April 12th I counted 17 species at Reid State Park.

One of the trails on Brunswick Town Commons 4-17-15

My footprints on a footbridge at Brunswick Town Commons

 Charlie Brown forgot his Christmas Tree 4-17-15

(seen alongside the trail on Brunswick Town Commons)

 Trail sign on Brunswick Town Commons 4-17-15

 Finally some Flowers in my yard!

 

 My precious grandson, Xavier 4-20-15

 Teaching Xavier to bird 4-20-15

 Popham Harbor 4-21-15

 The Androscoggin River at the Brookfield Recreation Area 4-24-15

(I saw my First of the Year Spotted Sandpiper at this location on this day!)

 Saying good-bye: Father and Son

 Saying Good-bye: Mother and Son

Poem I Wrote: A Seaside Goodbye to My Son

Scarborough Marsh 4-26-15

 Pine Point Beach 4-26-15

 

Gus and I took a ride to Winslow Memorial Park in Freeport on Tuesday night. While I knew it was an eBird Hotspot, I had never been there yet until this night. What a pretty place. The wind was pretty fierce, so I did not see many songbirds, but the water was full of Common Eiders!

Oh, and this is the car we were riding around in!

Gus just got the windows tinted on this day so we had to take a ride to check it out!

As we drove back into town on Pleasant Street in Brunswick there was such dramatic storm lighting that I kept snapping pictures through the windows of the car. We even saw a rainbow!

Cormorants on the Rocks at Sawyer Park in Brunswick, Maine 4-30-15

After whining about not being able to see many birds in the first part of this year, I am finally up over 100 species for the year! However, this still pales in comparison to the 126 species I saw in all of January last year before I moved away from Tucson! Here are my current stats and a comparison of species I have seen each month. You can easily see the huge spike in bird species in April and I only expect May to get even better! One of my birding goals this year is to count birds in every county in Maine. Currently I only have one state where I have counted birds in every county, and that is Connecticut. While Connecticut has only 8 counties, Maine has 16. I have counted birds in 14 of those counties. Piscataquis County and Washington County are the two I have yet to tackle. It is my mission to get to them both before this month is over!

2015 Bird Species Totals	Life	Year	Month
January	479	53	53
February	479	60	55
March	479	70	58
April	480	107	98

 

Meanwhile, the Month of April was National Poetry Writing Month and while I tried my best to write or publish a poem every day, things just got too hectic, but, if you are interested, check out my poetry blog, Kathie’s Poet Tree to see all my latest poems! Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog and saying Hello whenever you can!

Winter Birding around Brunswick, ME

 Downy woodpecker at the Mere Point Boat Launch 2-13-15

I find it hard to go into town to do errands because I just can’t seem to go anywhere without stopping to count birds! This makes all my trips to town take much longer than they do for most people, but I think of it as my reward for doing all the errands! On February 13, after spotting the Barred owl in my own yard, I went into town and counted birds at Brunswick Landing.

 During the winter they block the road of near the south end of the landing so one can no longer drive through to the golf course and out onto Route 123. However, they do still allow walkers and bikers to go through, though you needed skies or snow shoes to get through here this winter! Beyond these barriers is the area where many good birds were being seen, including some red crossbills which I may have seen on March 27 but didn’t know it! How could I not know it? Because I saw them in the distance fly across the road all in a line calling to each other, but I am not familiar with this species and did not recognize the behavior or the call. When I described it to another birder I encountered at a later date, he said that was probably them! Yikes! I have been back several times looking for them but to no avail!

 Birding Brunswick Landing was an easy choice for me this winter, since I can bird most of it from my car, and with my dislocated arm, I did not want to get out and walk and risk falling and reinjuring it again!

 It was hard finding open water with ducks in it this winter, but I found this small pond on the Parkview Adventists Hospital campus in Brunswick where a small portion stayed open all winter. Mallards and Black Ducks were the only species I saw there however. On my way home I would often drive through the Mere Point Boat Launch and count birds from the safely and warmth of my vehicle.

 I spotted this White-throated Sparrow there on 2-13-15

Now the snow is finally melting and it’s almost hard to believe it was this deep just 2 months ago. Migration is in full swing here and while I only added 3 species to my 2015 yard list in February, I have added 5 species in March and 7 species so far this month with a Chipping Sparrow showing up yesterday and an Eastern Phoebe arriving just this morning! I am up to 111 Total species for this yard with 52 species seen so far this year and 35 species seen so far this month!

Downy woodpeckers are seen here year round!

• Brunswick Landing
• Mere Point Boat Launch
• Backyard Barred Owl-seen earlier on this same day