[Maine-birds] Monhegan CBC Results, 1/3

Hi everyone:

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of heading out to Monhegan Island with Fyn Kynd and William Nichols to conduct the Christmas Bird Count on the 3rd. The weather was variable over the weekend but quite nice on count day; much better than the 7-10ft seas and 45 kt gusts we came back in yesterday. We ended the count with 40 species (49 including slashes, spuhs, and count week birds).

A Gray Catbird was the only new species for the count this year.

The only species with a new high count was Hermit Thrush with 3 on the count day. There is a ton of fruit out there and I would guess we had up to 8 different Hermit Thrushes over the weekend.

We had our lowest count for total individual birds which wasn't much of a surprise given the lack of gulls around the island (hardly any roosting in the harbor or the east side) and and scarcity of ducks moving in the morning. An adult Glaucous and multiple Kumlien's Gulls were seen on either side of the count day.

Other noteworthy birds included a Snowy Owl on Manana, an overdue 'island bird' for me. Also, a Wilson's Snipe spent a couple days near Lobster Cove and allowed for some great photos.

Speaking of photos, you can see some of Fyn's and the rest of the the birds from the count in this checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S21167958

The most fun thing for me was birding with a couple of Maine's excellent youth birders. This is the first time I've ever done a CBC where I was the oldest person counting. There was some great discussion on this list recently about town/county/state Big Years and I hope everyone considers bringing a fledgling birder along on the chase.

Happy New Year everyone,


Doug Hitchcox
Staff Naturalist
Maine Audubon
207-781-2330 x237
dhitchcox@maineaudubon.org

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