Today I traveled with Captain Jack (who, ironically, hates boats) from Port Clyde, Maine, to Monhegan Island for a few days of birding. Since we’ll be busy wandering and visiting, I’ll just be posting a daily list and a photo or two until our return. It’s been I believe five years, and I missed this place. (Woo-hoo!)
Port Clyde to Monhegan List
1. Herring Gull 2. Broad-winged Hawk 3. Double-crested Cormorant 4. Belted Kingfisher 5. Common Loon 6. Northern Flicker 7. Blue Jay 8. Mallard 9. Red-eyed Vireo 10. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 11. Golden-crowned Kinglet 12. White-throated Sparrow 13. Dark-eyed Junco 14. Yellow Warbler 15. Gray Catbird 16. Red-breasted Nuthatch 17. Ring-necked Pheasant 18. Great Cormorant 19. Merlin 20. Peregrine Falcon 21. Cape May Warbler 22. Yellow-rumped Warbler 23. Blackpoll Warbler 24. Black-throated Green Warbler 25. Dickcissel 26. Song Sparrow 27. American Goldfinch 28. American Robin 29. Mourning Dove 30. Sharp-shinned Hawk
A sunny, warm, kind of glorious morning. Spring at last. A breeze rose in the fully-fledged trees, and the resulting hush obscured some birdsong—but I heard enough (and saw enough) to have a happy hike with dog.
Portrait of chestnut-sided Warbler.
Happiest occurrence: A Black-billed Cuckoo zipped up to a branch directly in front of us along the wooded trail and posed for photos. I rarely get to photograph these shy birds.
Back home, a curiosity: the call of a kingfisher where I’d never heard one before. Weird.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked the open trail.
