Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (juvenile).
Another wonderful (almost-)week on Monhegan at the end of September—incredibly, my seventh in a row. I’ll see if I can remember all the species I saw or heard and list them out below. (Probably miss one or two, since I never write them down.) So nice to have the daughter with me. She’s not exactly a birder, but is quick to say, “I like birds.” Plus, she can spot ’em, if not ID ’em, which has proved really helpful.
Fringed Gentian.
Not a load of birds this year. The slowest ever for me, frankly—and the first I return from without having spotted a “lifer”—but that’s OK. There’s a whole lot more to this island than birds. Rare plants (e.g., Fringed Gentian), amazing trails, good people and great friends, even a fine little brewery. Also lovely equinoctial weather: today was the coolest of our stay, I think. Most days I wore shorts and sandals, at least during midday.
As we left the harbor with a horde of island kids (back from what I gather is an annual get-together), jumpers plunged off the dock into the chilly water, an island tradition. The boat ride home was fine.
Great to see Jack-my-dog, who was well cared for in my absence, and of course I took him straight up Beech Hill. Crazily, I happened to trip over a protruding stone, pitch forward, catch myself with my hands, once of which I lacerated on (I guess) a sharp rock. I happened to have a couple Monhegan napkins in my pocket and so squeezed those until we finished our hike, then it was off to the emergency room for six stitches.
Leaving Monhegan.
But all’s well that ends well. And there’s more to come—e.g., Sunday’s total eclipse of the “supermoon.”
Monhegan List
From midday Sunday, 20 September, to midday Friday, 25 September, I traipsed around the island.
(I list them alphabetically.)
1. American Crow
2. American Redstart
3. American Robin
4. Bald Eagle
5. Baltimore Oriole
6. Belted Kingfisher
7. Black Guillemot
8. Black-and-white Warbler
9. Black-capped Chickadee
10. Black-throated Green Warbler
11. Blackpoll Warbler
12. Blue Jay
13. Cape May Warbler
14. Cedar Waxwing
15. Chipping Sparrow
16. Common Eider
17. Common Grackle
18. Common Raven
19. Common Yellowthroat
20. Dickcissel
21. Double-crested Cormorant
22. Downy Woodpecker
23. Eastern Kingbird
24. Eastern Phoebe
25. Eastern Wood-pewee
26. European Starling
27. Golden-crowned Kinglet
28. Gray Catbird
29. Great Black-backed Gull
30. Great Cormorant
31. Greater Yellowlegs
32. Herring Gull
33. Mallard
34. Merlin
35. Mourning Dove
36. Nashville Warbler
37. Northern Cardinal
38. Northern Flicker
39. Northern Gannet
40. Northern Harrier
41. Northern Parula
42. Osprey
43. Palm Warbler
44. Peregrine Falcon
45. Philadelphia Vireo
46. Red-breasted Nuthatch
47. Red-eyed Vireo
48. Red-winged Blackbird
49. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
50. Sharp-shinned Hawk
51. Song Sparrow
52. Spotted Sandpiper
53. Swamp Sparrow
54. White-throated Sparrow
55. Wilson’s Warbler
56. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
57. Yellow-crowned Night Heron
58. Yellow-rumped Warbler
59. Yellow Warbler
