Saturday 28 May 2016

[Maine-birds] Monhegan, 5.27.16 - 5.28.16

Paul and I came out to Monhegan yesterday morning, and while we missed Thursday's fallout, good numbers of birds continue on the island and good weather persists, adding up to a perfect couple of days so far.

In the past two days we've seen 21 warbler species, including a bright ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, a bit unusual for spring, first found this morning by Jeremiah Trimble and Jeff Offermann. Other warbler highlights have been several singing Tennessee, several obliging Blackburnians in apple trees--is there anything more picturesque?--Canada, Wilson's, Nashville, many Blackpolls, Cape May, N. Waterthrush, Ovenbird, and Bay-breasted. We dipped on Mourning Warbler--at least 3 were seen this morning. 

Today seemed to be Empid day, with lots of little flycatchers around, and many fortunately vocalizing. We had Yellow-bellied, Alder, Willow, and Least throughout the past two days, all over. 

Other highlights for us:

Sooty Shearwater - 1 seen as our boat approaching the island yesterday
Great Blue Heron - a vocal flyby this morning
Green Heron - at the Ice Pond and in the Meadow
Sora - 1 or more birds continue to call loudly from the Meadow, day and night
Black-billed Cuckoo - I heard this morning, seen by others. At least 1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo was also seen by several birders, but alas, not us. 
Common Nighthawk - Derek Lovitch spotted 1 roosting on a tree branch near the Yew this morning, seen throughout the day
Chimney Swift - 2
Olive-sided Flycatcher - 1, an island first for me, seen near Lobster Cove yesterday afternoon. (Thanks, Jeremiah and Jeff!)
Eastern Kingbird - not unusual, but always fun to watch them playing musical perches in the Meadow
White-eyed Vireo - from the various reports we heard this morning, I think there are several on the island, including one we heard this afternoon in the back of the Meadow
Philadelphia Vireo - we saw at least 2 individuals, maybe more
Red-eyed Vireo - great numbers, as can be typical this time of year; also a personal favorite, so I never get bored with them
House Wren
Swainson's Thrush - FOY, singing in Cathedral Woods 
Brown Thrasher - several around and singing
Cedar Waxwing - a growing flock; common, I know, but my favorite bird of all, and is there anything more beautiful than a flock of waxwings in a blooming apple tree? (Other than the aforementioned Blackburnians, I mean.)
Orchard Oriole - 1 singing male yesterday 
White-winged Crossbill - a small flock hanging out in the spruces near the Ice Pond. There is also a small number of RED CROSSBILLS here, which we haven't lucked on yet.
Pine Siskin - several small flocks all over.

Another miss for us has been DICKCISSEL, which several birders heard fly-over this morning. 

I was also happy to twitch a new beer today: Mad Cow Milk Stout infused with bird-friendly coffee beans launched at the Monhegan Brewery this afternoon (as part of Freeport Wild Bird Supply's Birds on Tap weekend).

Happy holiday weekend!
Kristen




--
Kristen Lindquist

"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." 
--Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

--
Maine birds mailing list
maine-birds@googlegroups.com
http://groups.google.com/group/maine-birds
https://sites.google.com/site/birding207
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maine birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to maine-birds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

0 comments:

Post a Comment