I’ve been traveling lately, and it has been two months since I haunted the North Maine Woods. Fortunately, I had a client from Spain who wished to fill in a few boreal species on his US list. Today was the day, and with bad weather expected, we agreed to meet at 4:30am in Bangor in order to beat the rain and heat.
So, per usual, it was out the Golden Road and up the Telos Road, west of Baxter State Park. Harvester Road proved to be a dud, save for the boreal chickadees and gray jays. Fortunately, the road to Umbazooksus saved us. We quickly added American Three-toed Woodpecker, Black-backed Woodpecker, and Spruce Grouse…and had all five of the boreal specialties by 10:40am. Not a personal best. My record is 8:50am. But that was in May when birds are more vocal.
Two unrelated notes:
No crossbills. Last summer was crossbill-heavy. White-wings seemed to be breeding everywhere up there. Not this summer, as it appears.
The spruce grouse were both males, mere yards from each other. In spring, males jealously guard territories until mid-June. In August, they sometimes return to their turf, just to make sure no young male tries to take over. These two males were uncomfortably close to each other. I’m guessing that they were working out their territorial differences…but that’s just a guess. Nonetheless, I remember exactly where this was, I’ll be checking to see who won next spring.
Bob Duchesne
Woodpecker Whisperer
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