Blue grosbeak.
Curiously, the most noteworthy birds showed up a stone’s-throw from The Trailing Yew this morning. Kristen, Bill, and I had no sooner turned down the main road, when a white-crowned sparrow greeted us from a small blaze-red tree. When the bird flew off behind the fire house, we followed down the boardwalk, and right away Bill (or Kristen, I forget which) spotted a blue grosbeak in its rich chestnut fall plumage. First time I’d ever seen a member of that species. Then we saw, apparently pals with the grosbeak, an indigo bunting. And not long after that, a northern waterthrush was agreeable enough to give me a peak at its white eyebrow. Another “lifer.” [Correction: I’ve since double-checked and it turns out I’d already listed a northern waterthrush—albeit by voice only—on my spring trip to Monhegan this year.]
Indigo bunting.
But the day brought other nice sightings—most dramatic among them likely the peregrine falcon that rose up the cliffs of White Head as we peered down at a cluster of great cormorants near a large group of touring birders. The falcon was riding the wind, nearly motionless, very near us. “Oohs” and “Ahhs” rose from the tour group. In the tangles near the ballfield behind the lighthouse we saw a dickcissel hanging with a group of white-throated sparrows.
The day—forecast to be wet and rain—turned out to be warm, sunny, gorgeous. I didn’t see as many species as my first two days here, but it was no less of a thrill. Later, relaxing back at The Yew, we watched palm warblers and dark-eyed juncos flitting about in the spruces lining the lawn, along with a solitary pine warbler.
Peregrine falcon.
Monhegan List
(Not in order of sighting.)
1. Mallard
2. Common eider
3. Ring-necked pheasant
4. Northern gannet
5. Double-crested cormorant
6. Great cormorant
7. Osprey
8. Sharp-shinned hawk
9. Merlin
10. Peregrine falcon
11. Herring gull
12. Great black-backed gull
13. Mourning dove
14. Yellow-bellied sapsucker
15. Northern flicker
16. Eastern phoebe
17. Red-eyed vireo
18. Blue jay
19. American crow
20. Common raven
21. Black-capped chickadee
22. Red-breasted nuthatch
23. White-breasted nuthatch
24. Brown creeper
25. Carolina wren (voice)
26. Golden-crowned kinglet (voice)
27. Gray catbird
28. Cedar waxwing
29. Yellow-rumped warbler
30. Pine warbler
31. Palm warbler
32. Blackpoll warbler
33. Northern waterthrush
34. Common yellowthroat
35. Song sparrow
36. Swamp sparrow
37. White-throated sparrow
38. White-crowned sparrow
39. Dark-eyed junco
40. Blue grosbeak
41. Indigo bunting
42. Dickcissel
43. Bobolink
44. Rusty blackbird
45. Baltimore oriole
46. Purple finch
47. American goldfinch
White-throated sparrow.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, Baltimore oriole, black-capped chickadee, blackpoll warbler, blue grosbeak, blue jay, bobolink, brown creeper, Carolina wren, Cedar waxwing, common eider, common raven, common yellowthroat, dark-eyed junco, dickcissel, double-crested cormorant, eastern phoebe, golden-crowned kinglet, gray catbird, great black-backed gull, great cormorant, herring gull, indigo bunting, mallard, merlin, mourning dove, northern flicker, northern gannet, northern waterthrush, osprey, palm warbler, peregrine falcon, pine warbler, purple finch, red-breasted nuthatch, red-eyed vireo, ring-necked pheasant, rusty blackbird, sharp-shinned hawk, song sparrow, swamp sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch, white-crowned sparrow, white-throated sparrow, yellow-bellied sapsucker, yellow-rumped warbler
