Despite the gray conditions, there were some great highlights during our bird walk today at Gilsland Farm:
It took 40 minutes before we got out of the orchard because of a few warblers. We chased two Orange-crowned Warblers from tree to tree before they finally came out for an unobstructed view. This is the third and fourth OCWA that I've seen at Gilsland Farm over the past two weeks. Amongst those, and a collection of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, was a late Tennessee Warbler. Not as obliging but it made for a fun study of shades of yellows and greens.
Duck diversity continues to increase in the river: Buffleheads numbers are rising and it is nice to see a growing raft of Common Goldeneye after there were so few in the river last winter. A Gadwall associating with American Black Ducks was a welcome and overdue patch bird for me. This was soon topped by a Red-necked Grebe swimming up river. The warblers were nice but this was probably the bird of the morning as it swam closer and closer, to the point we were almost looking straight down on it from the bluff in the West Meadow. This was also the first record (in eBird) for Neck-necked Grebe at Gilsland; and another patch bird!
A complete list from the walk is available at: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20457138
Good birding,
Doug Hitchcox
Staff Naturalist
Maine Audubon
207-781-2330 x237
Doug Hitchcox
Staff Naturalist
Maine Audubon
207-781-2330 x237
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