In a fever to survey as many remote blocks as possible before the first half of winter ends for the Maine Bird Atlas project, I hit 6 blocks, finishing 4 in the Allagash area over the last 3 days. This area was crammed with finches last winter, but devoid this winter. A few pine grosbeaks are still around, and I did score 2 redpolls, but no crossbills, siskins or purple finches at all. I pity the biologists who are going to have to decipher what all this means.
Speaking of deciphering…
I walked over 20 miles on plowed logging roads, spending at least a dozen hours in the woods, and did not see a single crow or blue jay. I covered a similar area two weeks ago, and also saw none. It’s making me wonder how much the jays and crows move in winter.
I did pile up good numbers of boreal chickadees and Canada jays…and one more black-backed woodpecker, a saucy little female.
Bob Duchesne
0 comments:
Post a Comment