I had a little time this morning to stop by a spot that was well known to host Yellow-throated Vireos more than 30 years ago. I remember my first trip there, a Penobscot Audubon trip arranged by Gail Freese and led by Steve Weston who had scouted out all the best spots for Yellow-throated Vireos, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and other birds that were particularly special for us Bangor area birders. It was probably around 1980-81. This was also one of the stops on an annual Maine Audubon trip that I used to lead in the late 80’s that I called “Special Places, Special Birds” and also included the Black Tern spot at Messalonskee Lake among other great places.
I’m talking of course about the Waugan along Annabessacook Lake in Monmouth.
Compared to 20-30 years ago, the traffic on the road and the boat and fishing traffic here has gone up exponentially so it is a bit hard to bird here in the min-morning at least when I was there today.
I was about to leave with a sad feeling that the vireos were no longer there when suddenly a gorgeous Yellow-throated Vireo dropped down from the canopy and landed on a wide open limb about 20 feet away. It slowly fed down low and gave me stunning views for a few minutes, never making a sound. I went back to the car to get my camera and it was gone. I waited around for another 20 minutes and only had brief views of it high up in the canopy and I only heard it give about single 3-4 “three-eight” phrases and one short scold call during that time.
But wonderful to know that the descendants of those birds that we used to see decades ago are still making a go at the site!
Jeff Wells
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