With fall coming on in full force, it’s almost hard to remember the beauty of Maine in June, when the lupine were in bloom and birds were nesting and hatching their young. Gus and I took a drive one evening down to Land’s End in Harpswell. Little did we know then that we would soon be living in that town! This is one of my favorite drives to take down Route 24 from Brunswick as you cross over Orr’s island to Bailey Island and end at the sea.
Brunswick Town Commons is a town Nature Preserve located on Route 123 or Harpswell Neck Road in Brunswick, Maine. It is a mixed forest with lots of Eastern White Pine as well as mixed hardwoods and a Pine Barrens. Trails run off in several directions and some lead to nearby neighborhoods. There is a loop trail I like to hike, but often I will just grab my lunch and go sit at one of the picnic tables near the parking lot and watch birds for about 20 minutes. This past summer I was only able to get there about two or three times. I brought my friend, Donna Simonetti here when she visited me in June, and I went back to bird watch again in July.
I also found a whole family of Hermit Thrushes, but I could never get one to turn around for me, so all I got were tail shots!
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Note: The former post used cell phone shots. These are the photos I took with my Nikon D80.
I have had a Broad-winged Hawk hunting my feeder for the past few days. Yesterday morning it flew out of the trees directly across from my backdoor when I first went out in the morning. Its broad wings pumped frantically as it flew across the front yard, and even without binoculars I could see the wide white band in its black and white banded tail. This morning I experienced the same thing again. After exiting through the backdoor I walked around the front of the house to check the feeders on the other side. Suddenly the hawk flew through the trees on that side of the yard and disappeared into the woods. I noted that its silhouette is much chunkier than the slim and nimble Cooper’s Hawks are that hunt my feeders in winter here and when I lived in Arizona. My family of crows is still around filling the air with their cries. They are not here all day long now, but make regular stops to see if any seed has dropped and they surprise me with their willingness to eat even the tiniest millet that has fallen from the tube feeders, knocked loose by sparrows and finches.
In the top of the old spruce by the driveway various birds perch at various times. It is naked at the top for some reason and the birds love it as a gathering and lookout spot. I have seen everything from the flickers and flycatchers up there, to the smallest sparrow and finch. This morning a family of House Finches collected on the different small twigs with the fledgling doing their begging thing fluttering their wings, mouths agape and crying piteously. The two parents seemed weary by it all and soon flew them down to one of my feeders as if to say, “Feed yourselves!” I had a nice surprise one day last week when I looked out the window early in the morning to see a different silhouette up there. After a look through my binoculars I was delighted to find an Eastern Kingbird perched on the highest point. As I was inside the house, I don’t know how it saw me, but it was as if it knew I was looking at it and it took off flying across the yard. The white tipped tail was easily seen and I added bird number 96 to my Yard List! Will I get four more species before the year is out and finally have a 100 species yard?
For now I am enjoying this new life I am living. Things are always changing. Miss Blossom is getting old and I spent all day last Thursday at a veterinary specialist having diagnostic testing done. The end result is that she has an enlarged heart and we are waiting for an appointment with our new vet to find out what the treatment plan is.
June 10, 2014: Long before Chris Rohrer arrived for Our Big New England Birding Adventure I went to meet and visit a fellow blogger over in Androscoggin County, Maine. I had known Grace from her blog, Grammie’s Ramblings for a few years. Having lived in Androscoggin County before myself, I knew it was an under-birded locale and I always encouraged her in her eBirding. Grace is now one of the top two eBirders in that county! The information she supplies to eBird is invaluable in my opinion since so few people eBird there. I was looking forward to meeting this legendary eBirder and seeing her yard birds!
In twenty minutes I was at her house. Or…it would have been 20 minutes if I hadn’t stopped to buy donuts at Tim Horton’s In Topsham! I don’t think Grace had any complaints about that! She put on a pot of coffee and we sat down at her table to chat. And of course, we started talking about birds! Right near the table was a sliding glass door that opened onto her deck. Across the deck she had a wire strung, and from that wire dangled numerous bird feeders. Purple Finches and woodpeckers clung to the feeders. Swallows swooped through the yard. Grace and I watched birds, sipped coffee, and munched on Boston Cream donuts! Yum! While we were chatting about all the birds we were seeing, one of us asked if the other had seen any cuckoos. I was just telling her about seeing the Black-billed cuckoo in my yard when Grace suddenly got up to look out a different window. She called me over to take a look. Right now Grace only has her camera to use, but I had both camera and binoculars. I quickly stood up to look out the window and focused on the arbor in her backyard.
Looks like a bird to me…
Oh My goodness! it was a Black-billed Cuckoo!
It was also a new Yard Bird and a new species in Androscoggin county. For me, this is my first ever photo of one, even though I have seen them a few times before! What a great way to start off the day!
It was a lovely cool and gray day.
Yes, this is the male Rose-breasted Grosbeak again!
Then Grace asked me about seeing an American Tree Sparrow that was still hanging around her yard. Tree sparrows are suppose to be far up in Canada right now breeding in the boreal forest, so what was one still doing here? Finally the bird in question showed up.
…then this…
It’s not a Tree Sparrow…
While both Tree Sparrows and Field Sparrows have a rusty cap like a Chipping sparrow, the Tree Sparrow has a central breast spot and a bi-colored bill. That means it’s top mandible is dark while the lower mandible is lighter. This sparrow has a pinkish bill and no breast spot. Both species have an un-streaked breast. Field Sparrows belong here in summer. American Tree Sparrows belong here in winter. I believe this was a Life Bird for Grace as well! I know is was a new yard bird for her! it was also my first Field Sparrow in Maine and my First of the Year for this species! If you look at the Maine bar charts for this species you will discover they are not found in too many locations. Grace has one of the only records in Androscoggin County! While there are many fields down near the coast where I live, I have yet to see or hear a field sparrow in my neck of the woods! And believe me, i have looked and listened for them!
It sang that it was pleased to met us!
(Some people say the Chestnut-sided warbler’s song sounds like: “Pleased, pleased, pleased to meetcha!”)
As we walked back up the street I heard and saw a ruckus overhead!
I was having such a great time and we were seeing so many birds that I stayed far longer than intended. Thank you so much Grace for having me over to visit. I was so Pleased to Meet You! Hopefully was can do coffee and birds again?
Birds seen in Grace’s Yard on June 10, 2014
Check out her blog at Grammie’s Ramblings
It’s been a month since I took a trip to Colchester, CT for a Mother’s Day Brunch at my Mom’s church. Since then there has been one thing right after another with my father-in-law in the hospital and now a nursing home, to kids coming to visit and birding to be done. As a result, I have had little time to blog and the fast pace is not going to end anytime soon! My oldest sone arrives from Tucson tonight with my grandson, and they will be here for a week. I catch a break fro about 10 days and then Chris Rohrer arrives for 2 weeks of birding as well. In the meantime, my yard list is nearing 90 species and I suspect it will hit 100 before the summer is over! I need to buy a new computer and get set up and then, perhaps, it will be easier to get my photos off-loaded and my blogging done! Until then I will be here in fits and starts, just like this spring, which has taken a long while to warm up. I am still running the heat up here in Maine on most mornings. There have only been a couple of days where it was warm enough to open windows! For now, I hope you enjoy these scenes of spring!
