[Maine-birds] Epic Sparrow Flight, Portland's East End, 10/19.

Hi all,

Especially considering the lack of precipitation to cause a fallout, the numbers of sparrows around the East End of Portland this morning were unbelievable.  I spent over 4 hours birding the Eastern Promenade, North Street Community Garden (and surrounding hillside), Sheridan Street, and a couple of other scattered lots north of Franklin St.

Wind and the sheer volume of bird hampered the detection of any rarities, but 2 juvenile RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS were my personal 175th species on the Eastern Promenade!

My estimates and/or counts for the morning (from all sites in the East End that I visited), were as follows:

2150 White-throated Sparrows (2K estimated along the Prom).

565 Song Sparrows

130 Dark-eyed Juncos

76 Chipping Sparrows (really, no Clay-colored!?)

46 Swamp Sparrows

17 Savannah Sparrows

15 Eastern Phoebes

10 Hermit Thrushes

9 White-crowned Sparrows

8 Yellow-rumped Warblers

7 Ruby-crowned Kinglets

2 American Kestrels

2 Red-bellied Woodpeckers

2 Gray Catbirds

2 Common Yellowthroats

1 Wilson's Snipe

1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

1 Red-eyed Vireo

1 Golden-crowned Kinglet

1 Lincoln's Sparrow (sparrow species #8)

Awesome morning!

-Derek

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Derek and Jeannette Lovitch
Freeport Wild Bird Supply
541 Route One, Suite 10
Freeport, ME 04069
207-865-6000
www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com

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