[Maine-birds] West Branch Penobscot--Allagash trip report

Between Monday and Saturday of this past week, a friend and I canoed 135 miles in the North Woods between Seboomook Lake (on the West Branch Penobscot) and Allagash Village. The canoeing was rather intense, so almost all of the birding was done from the river while paddling, but we did make a dedicated effort for Three-Toed Woodpecker by walking out to the known locations along Longley Stream Road, with no luck.  

Trip Report:

https://ebird.org/tripreport/149729

Birding highlights:

- 2 SANDHILL CRANES flying over the NE arm of Chesuncook Lake heading SW just before sunset, 6/31

- 1500+ total White-Winged Crossbills, almost omnipresent the whole week. We counted >1000 along the 20 mile stretch between Roll Dam and Chesuncook lake alone

- 9 total Evening Grosbeaks, scattered along the Allagash river portion

- 3 Boreal Chickadees

- 4 Gray Jays

- 3 Least Sandpipers, Chamberlain Lake, 7/2

- 2 Olive-Sided Flycatchers

- 12 Yellow-Bellied Flycatchers

- 1 Black-Backed Woodpecker, in the Black Spruce stand on Longley Stream Road

- 34 total Common Terns (on Chesuncook, Chamberlain, Eagle, and Churchill lakes)

- 2 Bonaparte's Gulls, Chamberlain Lake, 7/2

- 3 Wilson's Snipe, Chamberlain Lake, 7/2

- 2 American Bitterns, one on Chamberlain, one on Umsaskis

- 15 species of Warblers

- Just a handful of Pine Siskins (11) and a single Red Crossbill

For anyone curious, our itinerary was as follows:

6/31: Roll Dam Campground to the NE arm of Chesuncook, 32 miles

7/1: Walking Longley Stream Road, then Mud Pond Carry to Chamberlain Lake, 13 miles

7/2: Chamberlain Lake, Eagle Lake, and Churchill lake to Churchill Dam, 24 miles

7/3: Churchill Dam to Round Pond, 31 miles

7/4: Round Pond to Allagash Falls, 22 miles

7/5: Allagash Falls to Allagash Village, 13 miles

The fishing highlight was a 15 inch Brook Trout at Rosies rock on Musquacook Stream. The whitewater canoeing highlight was canoeing Mud Creek into Chamberlain Lake, which was practically a rollercoaster because with water levels high we found ourselves flying down the steep sections of the narrow (4 feet wide at points) stream at uncontrollable speeds. 

-Matthew Gilbert

--
Maine birds mailing list
maine-birds@googlegroups.com
http://groups.google.com/group/maine-birds
https://sites.google.com/site/birding207
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maine birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to maine-birds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/maine-birds/8700e654-7cd7-4224-9314-fdb64aa8beban%40googlegroups.com.