[Maine-birds] Late report: Bicknell's Thrush on Sugarloaf Mountain, June 15th

Hi all,

Apologies for the delayed post; I just got around to completing my eBird checklists from the last week of field work but I thought that this report would still be of interest. On Thursday morning, I hiked Sugarloaf Mountain before work with the goal of finding my long-overdue life Bicknell's Thrush. Starting well before sunrise, I hiked up underneath the West Mountain lift and then along Tote Road to the summit. The view was spectacular in the early morning light, and the birding did not disappoint. Starting at ~3000 ft, singing Swainson's Thrushes and Blackpoll Warblers were positively thick. I heard and saw several Magnolia Warblers and many Yellow-rumped Warblers, along with a couple of Nashvilles. At least two Lincoln's Sparrows were singing from wet stream crossings along the trail system, and White-throated Sparrows were everywhere once I got near the summit. Still in need of my target bird, I took the old AT off the back of the mountain, where I heard the beautiful song of a Fox Sparrow loud and clear. Puzzled by the apparent lack of any Bicknell's Thrushes, I was walking back down the Upper Timberline Trail when I heard the distinctive "beer" call! Although it was very skulky, with patience and persistence I got fantastic eye-level looks at one individual calling from within the spruce krumholtz along the trail. On the remainder of the hike down, I also heard a single Yellow-bellied Flycatcher singing and I got good looks at a silent Boreal Chickadee near Bullwinkle's. All in all, it was a wonderful morning of birding and hiking, and I'm very happy to have checked such an elusive species off my list in such style. My eBird checklist from the morning, complete with an audio recording of the calling BITH, is at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S37600795. 

Good birding!

Don Jones

Brunswick, ME / Laramie, WY

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