[Maine-birds] Additional Highlights This Week, 8/25-8/31

Hi all,

My observations of note over the past seven days also included:

-2 Great Egrets and 4 Blue-winged Teak, Essex Marsh, Bangor, 8/26 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette). 

-1 Great Egret, Machias River Inn, Machias, 8/26 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette). 

- Head Harbor Passage, Eastport to East Quoddy Head, Campobello Island, 8/27 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Chris Bartlett, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette):

3 LITTLE GULLS (one Maine, two in New Brunswick)**

40-60 Common Murre (mostly adults with chicks) - very high number for here.**

2 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS (both in NB)**

100+ Sooty Shearwaters (mostly in NB; very high count for the passage).**

- Head Harbor Passage and around Campobello through Lubec Narrows on whale watch with Eastport Windjammers, 8/26 ((with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette):

1 Manx Shearwater**

1 Pomarine Jaeger

400+ Sooty and 100+ Great Shearwaters, etc (all of the above in Canadian waters).

- 1 SPRUCE GROUSE, Boot Head Preserve, Lubec, 8/28 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette).** 

- steady trickle of Sooty Shearwaters from Quoddy Head Light, 8/28 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette). 
- 3 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS ( 1st cycle, 3rd cycle, and 3rd/4th cycle), Lubec Bar and Flats, Lubec, 8/28 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette). 
- 2 adult SANDHILL CRANES, Mayall Road, Gray/New Gloucester, 8/30.

And my shorebird high counts this week were as follows:

Black-bellied Plover: 40, Lubec Bar and Flats, Lubec, 8/28 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette). 

Semipalmated Plover: 125, Lubec Bar and Flats, Lubec, 8/28 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette). 

Piping Plover:

Killdeer: 11, Mayall Road, Gray/New Gloucester, 8/30.

Spotted Sandpiper: 2, Boot Head Preserve, Lubec, 8/28 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette). 

Solitary Sandpiper: 2, East River Road, Sebec, 8/29 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette). 

Greater Yellowlegs: 6, Weskeag Marsh, South Thomaston, 8/29.

"Eastern" Willet: 

Lesser Yellowlegs: 18, Weskeag Marsh, South Thomaston, 8/29.

Whimbrel:

Ruddy Turnstone: 2, Lubec Bar and Flats, Lubec, 8/28 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette). 

RED KNOT: 

Sanderling: 12, Lubec Bar and Flats, Lubec, 8/28 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette). 

Semipalmated Sandpiper: 3000, Lubec Bar and Flats, Lubec, 8/28 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette). 

WESTERN SANDPIPER: 1 juv, Lubec Bar and Flats, Lubec, 8/28 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette). 

Least Sandpiper: 100, Lubec Bar and Flats, Lubec, 8/28 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette). 

White-rumped Sandpiper: 150, Lubec Bar and Flats, Lubec, 8/28 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette). 

Pectoral Sandpiper:

*PURPLE SANDPIPER: 1 presumed 1st summer, Black Rock, Head Harbor Passage, New Brunswick. My first ever in summer and Chris's first ever in summer in the area. Life plumage for all!  Incredible record and - along with sightings on offshore Maine islands - perhaps related to reported widespread breeding failure/snow pack in far eastern Canadian Arctic and Greenland this summer. (with Lucas Ahlsen, Chris Bartlett, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette).**

Short-billed Dowitcher: 13, Lubec Bar and Flats, Lubec, 8/28 (with Lucas Ahlsen, Marion Sprague, and Jeannette). 

** Will post photos soon.

-Derek

 

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 Derek and Jeannette Lovitch

 Freeport Wild Bird Supply

 541 Route One, Suite 10

 Freeport, ME 04032

 207-865-6000

 www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com  

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