--I'm sure Monhegan was better, but the Maine North Woods were pretty darn wonderful today. Seeing as how a gentleman from North Carolina needed to close out woodpeckers on his lifelist, we went up to my favorite area west of Baxter. Gray Jays and Boreal Chickadees were on us in minutes. The woodpeckers took longer. Shortly after settling onto tree stumps to listen for clues, we heard an American Three-toed Woodpecker drumming from across the road. He stopped after three drums, but I felt confident he hadn't left the area. With substantial effort, we probed the skidder trails and tracked him down.
As we were walking back out of the forest, a Black-backed Woodpecker came in, calling like there was no tomorrow. What got into her? (I'm pretty sure she's the same bird that has been foraging over that area for all of September.)
But the local grouse stayed in the woods, so we went over to the Cuxabexis Road (Delorme: Page 50) and grabbed several spruce grouse there. One demonstrated his inherent tameness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLu8o1IyBBY
Other notes from the boreal forest: the finches remain missing. Two Purple Finches and one Pine Siskin were the only finches encountered. No crossbills. Even the abundant Cedar Waxwings are gone. Lots of Yellow-rumped Warblers still hanging around and a few Palms. One Ruby-crowned Kinglet sang and several growled. RB Nuts are still abundant, not fleeing the state so far. A few juvie White-crowned Sparrows were noted. I heard a Fox Sparrow sing once – first since August.
So today was one of those rare days starring the Boreal Big Five. The Boreal Chickadee – Gray Jay – American Three-toed Woodpecker – Black-backed Woodpecker combo was achieved before noon. The Spruce Grouse was in the bag by 1:30. But that's far off the record time of getting all five by 8:50am in 2012. I guess I'll have to go back.
Bob Duchesne
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