Temperatures stayed in the 30s throughout our walk this morning and we only got a glimpse of the sun before low clouds rolled in. We still managed to tally 42 species for the walk though! Beginning next week (7 Nov) we will be starting the walks at 8:00am. A few highlights from today included:
Our first Common Goldeneye of the fall, at least 23 birds in two groups along the river. Bufflehead numbers continue to increase and dabbling-duck diversity got a +1 from a hen Green-winged Teal following some American Black Ducks around the cove near the 'south' blind in the West Meadow.
In fun eBird news, we got to report our first "Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)" that will become the default in Maine in order to properly differentiate the "Rock Pigeon (Wild type)" and no longer use the overarching "Rock Pigeon". You may see "Rock Pigeon" flagged on some filters during this change over, but with filters controlling multiple things (data entry lists, record validation, and rare bird definitions) these types of "glitches" are to be expected. For more on this, go to: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/rock-pigeon/
And the real highlight of the walk was a gorgeous Yellow-breasted Chat in the North Meadow. We found the bird in a scrubby patch of Asiatic bittersweet south of the feeders left over from the Big Sit. The bird was vocal and gave itself away quickly but did not linger.
Here is a complete checklist from the walk: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15530873
Good birding,
Doug Hitchcox
Staff Naturalist
Maine Audubon
207-781-2330 x237
dhitchcox@maineaudubon.org
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