[Maine-birds] Sanford Sewage Treatment Plant and Kennebunk Plains- big Broad-wing migration

At Sanford STP today, I didn't know where to look. There were birds everywhere! Hawks in the sky, ducks on the ponds, warblers in the trees, sparrows on the ground. At one point I was simultaneously trying to scan the ducks that had just flushed off the pond and count the Broad-winged Hawks migrating overhead in the hundreds when I was ambushed by a mixed flock of warblers out of the trees, all of a sudden chipping and bzzting all around me.

Highlights were just under 700 Broad-winged Hawks migrating (high) overhead, along with 5 Osprey, 6 Bald Eagles, 2 American Kestrel, 1 Northern Harrier, 3 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 2 Cooper's Hawks, 2 Red-tailed Hawks and a Red-shouldered Hawk. Amongst the common Mallards, American Black Ducks and Blue and Green-winged Teal were 2 Hooded Mergansers, 1 Pied-billed Grebe and 9 Wood Ducks, along with a Solitary Sandpiper mixed in with the more common shorebirds on the edge of the largest pond. Warbler highlights included the first wave of Yellow-rumped Warblers and a Northern Waterthrush.

At Kennebunk Plains, I had good numbers of Savannah, Vesper and Field Sparrows, and possible Grasshopper and Clay-colored Sparrows. A young male Cape May Warbler was a first for the fall for me, as were 2 Dark-eyed Junco and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. I struck out on Brown Thrasher and Eastern Meadowlark though. 

Good birding

David Rankin

P.S.

This week should be great for Broad-winged Hawk migration. I'm sure if I'd been on a ridgetop today, I'd have seen thousands streaming by. As it was, the birds I saw were absurdly high, going directly overhead as tiny dots barely visible against the achingly blue sky.

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