Today was a scouting day for a couple of boreal birding excursions that will happen next weekend, sandwiched around the Maine Audubon pelagic trip. Since, apparently, only one location for American Three-toed Woodpecker has been reported this summer, I wanted to make sure they were still present.
Dutifully, Linda Powell and I visited the area just west of Baxter State Park today, arriving at 9:30am. Things started a little slowly, or we were just too distracted by the multitude of White-throated Sparrows, Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers, and the flocks of Cedar Waxwings to uncover any tough species right away. We didn’t find ourselves surrounded by Boreal Chickadees until 45 minutes later. Indeed, though we encountered many chickadees on the day, we didn’t witness a single black-capped all day. The usual family of Gray Jays passed us at 11:14. Two parents and a juvenile have been marauding this area all summer. Two American Kestrels also made an appearance. They were there a week ago, when I last checked the area, too.
At 11:35, we got lucky. VERY lucky. My attention was drawn to a wandering family of flickers when suddenly I noticed that one of the flickers was not a flicker. It was too far to be heard or easily seen and we could have easily overlooked it, but once noticed, it was undeniably an American Three-toed Woodpecker. And…best part…it was in an easily accessible dry upland. We walked right up to it.
Since we were careful to keep a respectful distance, the woodpecker took no notice of us. We spent the next hour and half with it. At one point, I even went back to the car to grab the picnic lunch…which was probably unnecessary because there were just so many ripe blueberries around us.
What a great chance to observe Maine’s toughest woodpecker at length. At one point, a Sharp-shinned Hawk flashed by us and grabbed a warbler. I expected the woodpecker to flee. Instead, he froze against the tree. In his motionlessness, he was tough to see even when we were staring directly at him. An hour later, we watched him nap for 10 minutes, eyes only half open.
I’ve posted a video at www.mainebirdingtrail.com. Only a hardcore birder will watch all 4 minutes, but do take the time to notice the smallish yellow cap compared to the larger cap of a Black-backed Woodpecker, the slightly darker flanks, and the fact that the whitish mottling along the back is not nearly as obvious in Maine as it is on the same species in the western United States. Whenever spying a Black-backed Woodpecker north of The Golden Road, take a second look. The mottled back isn’t always apparent on first glance.
Bob Duchesne
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