Maine birds And MOAC mountainbiking

Friday, 3 August 2018

[Maine-birds] Scarbourough Marsh Little Egret Redux

I should have mentioned that it has now dropped both head plumes.

Tim Fennell

Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S7, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone

[Maine-birds] Scarborough Marsh Little Egret

Currently feeding in Route 1 pannes.

Tim Fennell

Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S7, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone

[Maine-birds]

Had a Chat around my feeders this morning (5:45AM). Nice bright yellow throat & breast and rounded tail. Probably an imm as spectacles not obvious. Otherwise just usual birds.

Peggy Blair

Clinton

--
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.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

Thursday, 2 August 2018

[Maine-birds] Flat Bay, Harrington - shorebirds! what else?

This morning's tide brought over 2,000 peeps to the mudflats of Flat Bay. Fog and mist made distinguishing species difficult but we checked our records and this time of year is mainly Semipalmated Sandpiper with growing numbers of Semipalmated Plover and a sprinkling of Least Sandpipers. Maybe the Semipalmated Plover are starting to come in and boosting the numbers.

Around 50 Black-bellied Plover and 20 or so Short-billed Dowitchers. Hundreds of gulls using the mudflats as well - Herring, Ring-billed and Bonapartes (many adults with black heads which we don't often see on Flat Bay!).

Six Whimbrel - but we heard flight calls as we walked down to the shoreline so there could have been more that flew before we got the scopes up.

Anne Archie

Re: [Maine-birds] commensal feeding observation

Thanks for the really cool observation, Scott. My birding acuity has also been enhanced by the Breeding Bird Atlas work. Every bird I have seen this spring and summer might be a breeder, and so I have found myself looking at each individual, its habitat associations and its behavior longer and with more care. The Atlas has made me a better birder.

Cheers,

Craig K

Southwest Harbor

On Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 6:16 PM, 'Scott Cronenweth' via Maine birds <maine-birds@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Greetings, birding/atlasing friends! Just wanted to quickly share a snippet of the joy and wonderment that I'm experiencing through participation in our Maine Bird Atlas.

Like many of us, I'm scrutinizing bird plumage and behavior at every opportunity (you don't want to be in a moving car with me right now :-) in an effort to confirm late-season breeding. Last night I happened to be reading about commensal feeding among birds and *blammo!* this morning I observed a very cool instance of it!

In commensal associations, one species (the "beater") helps another species (the "attendant") at no cost to itself. Cows and Cattle Egrets are an example.

In my "yard" (a regenerating clearcut), the Indigo Bunting is El Supremo when it comes to feeding on the seed heads of tall grasses. The male in particular is very adept at jumping up on a stem and bending it down until it hangs up on other stems, forming a sturdy "feeding tripod." The INBU's beak is great for managing tiny grass seeds, but quite a few rain down on the ground about 2 feet below. There wait a pair of Chipping Sparrows (one adult, one juvenile). These two suck at jumping on grass stems (they should just give it up) but love gleaning seeds from the ground. The adult gathers up a bunch and transfers them to the youngster, which can now forage for itself in the interim. When the INBU moves to a new seed head, the CHSPs move with it.

Super cool!

Go Maine breeding birds!

Peace and "Happy Atlasing!"

Scott Cronenweth
Industry, ME
scottcronenweth@icloud.com

--
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.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

Wednesday, 1 August 2018

[Maine-birds] Lens Cap Replacements

Hi. Does anyone know where I could get replacement lens caps for a Swift Audubon 8.5X44?

thx!

judy scher

[Maine-birds] Scarborough Marsh Little Egret

Currently foraging in Rt. 1 pannes. Three Snowies as well.

Tim Fennell

Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S7, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone