[Maine-birds] MACHIAS SEAL ISLAND REPORT

Have you enjoyed your summer? Did you blink and miss it?
Okay; maybe I'm pushing it a little but only just a little.
I think of the fall migration as starting with SHORT BILLED DOWITCHERS around mid-July and the SWALLOWS not too much later.
Well ............. yesterday, July 1st, which seems unusually early to me, I saw two small flocks (11 & 15) of Dowitchers orbiting the island and obviously looking to land.

Lots of RAZORBILL & MURRE chicks but still a lot as yet unhatched, even an occasional late egg being laid.

EIDER ducklings from one day to about a month old are scattered around the island and weathering the heavy surf quite nicely.
I took advantage of opportunities to watch a few of the little fellows feeding in the rockweed.  Too buoyant for diving well, they spend a lot of time with butts in the air and popping up like fluffy, charcoal-coloured corks.
So saturated and slicked down when they emerged from the shell, it's amazing how water repellant the fluff becomes after it dries.

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