The last 3 weeks of spring were just as fabulous (weatherwise) as the earlier months of the season here in Northern Maine. Though the first week of the month was a soggy one, the nearly 3" of rain was needed and the developing greenery sucked up much of the precipitation. Temperatures have been nearly normal for this time of the year.
The breeding season is in full swing and nesting and fledgling birds are everywhere. It appears thus far, that nesting success, for both land and water birds, is as good as its been in four or five years in northern Maine.
Waterfowl highlights in the County this month include the "usual" breeding Redheads (2 pairs), Ruddy Ducks (at least 2 pairs nesting with as many as 12 other probable non-breeders), American Wigeon, Gadwall and Northern Shovelers at Lake Josephine in Easton. Though none of these species have yet to appear with young, the first broods should be leaving the nests here any day. A
Eurasian Wigeon drake found here back on 26 May lingered through at least 13 June. Jonathan Mays caught this drake Gadwall on the wing at Easton on the 12th.
A Green-winged Teal hen with 10 just-hatched ducklings was seen on the 19th in a small ponded area just off the Burnt Landing Road in Square Lake Township. The hen put on an impressive distraction display which included flying into a rank stand of tamarack and cedar and landing on the mossy forest floor. I would have liked to watch more but we left the area quickly so she could return to her little fuzzballs.
Also at Lake Josephine a hen Common Goldeneye whose initial clutch numbered 8 on the 10th was tending only four big-but-fuzzy youngsters on the 20th...
A
Spruce Grouse hen was seen with chicks in Square Lake Township on the 13th. Jonathan Mays got this nice shot of the little one. Ruffed Grouse too, are showing with chicks in the area.
A rare find this far north,
a pair of Green Herons discovered constructing a nest near Lake Josephine on the 20th, was one of the best finds of the month. Thanks to Paul Cyr's photos, this was the northernmost documented nest for the state. American Bitterns are being seen regularly now at Lake Josephine and Christina Reservoir.
Many of the breeding raptors in northern Maine are nearing time to fledge. The Bald eaglet at the Aroostook River nest in Fort Fairfield has been seen exercising its wings and has actually lifted off the nest a few times! This will be first eaglet produced from this nest in many years. Other area eagle nests are also having a productive spring. Paul Cyr also got this shot of the eagles at a nest in Presque Isle.
The young Northern Goshawk at the Nordic Heritage Ski Centre in Presque Isle is ready to fledge as well. I know several mountain bikers who have been eagerly following the progress of this nest, mostly because they are looking forward to the re-opening of the bike trails on this side of the ridge. Merlins nesting in Caribou and Presque Isle were reported to have fledged their young in early June- early dates.
The
Common Moorhens have once again returned to Lake Josephine and are apparently settling in to the same pond where they nested last year. First heard on the 6th, the birds have offered some fleeting glimpses since then. Soras and Virginia Rails are very vocal lately. Paul Cyr recently captured these fine portraits of the hard-to-see species.
Though some local Killdeer have produced young already, Wilson's Snipe continue to perform their winnowing displays over swamps in Sinclair and Square Lake. Ken Lamb photographed this leggy Killdeer youngster recently.
25+ Common Terns appear to have begun nesting at the colony on the north end of Long Lake in St. Agatha. There has been no sign of the Black Terns that were seen here in past years.
A species that I completely missed in northern Maine last year, a
Black-billed Cuckoo was calling in the Woodland Bog on the afternoon of the 22nd.
American Three-toed Woodpeckers have been showing exceptionally well this month. Pairs have been seen regularly at the Burnt Landing Road in Square Lake and along the Moscovic Road in Stockholm. Others were spotted near Beardsley Brook in New Sweden and off of the Square Lake Road in Cross Lake Township.
Black-backed Woodpeckers have also been seen at the Square Lake and Stockholm locations. A Black-backed hatchling's incessant begging gave away its nest location on the edge of a wetland off the McLean Brook Road in Sinclair (T17R4). The little woodpecker(s)? were peering from the nest hole by the 19th and appeared ready to fledge any day. Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are busy now and easy to find. Patty Jennings sent along this photo of a pair in her yard
The flycatchers have been well reported this month. Two Olive-side Flycatchers and 5+ Yellow-bellied Flycatchers were heard at the Moscovic Road on the 19th. The young left a Boreal Chickadee nest in Square Lake Township sometime in the afternoon of the 18th or the early morning of the 19th. Though lately it hasn't been unusual to encounter (hear) 15 or 20 of these in a morning in the field, they get significantly quieter once their young have fledged. Rare in northern Maine at any time,
3 or 4 calling Willow Flycatchers have taken up residence on the river flat just across the Aroostook River from the town of Fort Fairfield.
Family groups of Gray Jays are commonly encountered in most of the deep, dark conifer swamps lately. A tally of 16 was made in the morning of the 19th in north-central Aroostook Co.
Though Winter Wrens have begun to sing a bit more lately, a
pair of nesting House Wrens in Fort Fairfield is far more noteworthy. At the northern extreme of the breeding range, there have been a few reports of House Wrens nesting in the county, but Kathy Hunter's photo provided the first documentation of the event in this region.
The warblers continue in full song in the wooods of northern Maine.
21 species were tallied here over the weekend. Notables among the list were a pair of
Cape May Warblers seen and four singing
Mourning Warblers at Loring in Limestone, three male Bay-breasted Warblers at Beardsley brook in New Sweden,
4+ singing Wilson's Warblers along the Moscovic Road and a very
vocal Tennessee Warbler on territory along the Burnt Landing Road in Square Lake Twp. Other singing Mourning Warblers were seen along a woods road off of Route 11 south of Masardis on the 12th.
Quite uncommon in the north, an
Indigo Bunting seen in the Sherman Station area of Stacyville on the 12th was a noteworthy find
Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated, Savannah, Song, Swamp, Chipping, Lincoln's and Vesper Sparrows were heard singing at Aroostook NWR on the 20th.
With the exception of American Goldfinch and Purple Finch, the finches have been a tough group of birds to find this month. Flyover White-winged Crossbills, an Evening Grosbeak and Pine Siskin were heard at Stockholm on the 19th.
Most recently a Great Egret has been regularly seen wading and feeding in shallow wetland edge of Collins Pond in Caribou. I first found the big wader here on Sept 7 and the bird continues to be seen daily through today, the 20th.
Paul Cyr got these great shots of the egret last week on the 14th and I've been meaning to share them.
The Great Egret can be separated from other large white wading bird by the combination of its large size, yellow bill and black legs and feet. All these are seen well in this great shot of the flying bird!
I went afield this morning, to see what was around prior to the arrival of the wrath of Earl. It turned out to be one of the better birding days I've had in a while. Abundant migrants and few rareties made it special. 83 species total.
The blackbird was found in a large flock of Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds at Barren Lake in south east Caribou. I believe this is the second county record and the first in fall. 
Here is a digiscoped documentation shot taken from across the pond... I don't know much about the plumage and molt of this species, but I think this bird was an adult female. I'd love to hear from anyone more knowledgeable regarding the age and sex of this bird.
Though numbers here were down a bit from mid August highs, the diversity made up for it. Obviously the Red-necked Phalarope was the highlight here. This species is usually encountered well offshore in Maine and inland records are few. My high-noon digiscoped photos of the phalarope leave something to be desired thanks to the wind and magnification... Lesser Yellowlegs continue to dominate the counts here but eight Pectoral Sandpipers and a flyover American Golden Plover were also treats!
Yesterday, Eric Hynes at Maine Audubon sent me an eBird alert regarding a Black Vulture that was reported at Houlton on 10 August. The vulture was apparently seen at the Tim Horton's donut shop (a favored re-caffienation spot for road-weary northbound birders) located just off Interstate 95! I followed up with the reporter, Noel Dodge and he obligingly sent along a couple of photos of the bird with these details:
The white in the outer primaries is visible in this wing-up shot.
Thanks to a busy schedule, I have not had a chance to visit Lake Josephine in Easton in almost two weeks. Luckily several area birders have been keeping me up to date on the development of the Green Heron hatchlings and other birds of the marshes here.
I also read that the juvies are excellent swimmers, which will be a handy skill as they try out their wings from this water-bound nest site!
Both adults continue to feed the young. The hatchlings stick their heads inside the parents bills and the adults regurgitate food for them. Here the male (with some new wing covert feathers) is being prompted by a nestling to offer up some goodness!
This Virginia Rail is now almost adult sized. Hard to believe it was a fuzzy black chick a little more than two weeks ago.
A juvie Sora with a Virginia in the foreground. Two rail species in one shot!
Laurie and I took a paddle around Fish River Lake in T13/14R5 on
Notable finds were a sizeable Common Tern colony (22 birds) on a small ledge. The agitated birds obviously had nests on the rock and I caught quick glimpses of larger, gray and fuzzy chicks. ( I later found out from Jon Greenlaw that terns have nested at this location for many years.) We gave the terns a wide berth and let the breeze carry us away from the rock.
Before retreating, I snapped a couple quick photos of the nest ....
and the handsome olive-with-umber spotted egg.
I was surprised I didn't notice the Herring Gull doing any sort of a distraction display or calls when I unknowingly approached its nest. It was, however keeping a close watch of me with its cold yellow eye....
There were also 40+ Ring-billed Gulls on the lake but these appeared
After one of the best nesting seasons in several years, fledgling birds are leaving nests across northern Maine.
And they're hungry.
By day three there are five nestlings. Their eyes are closed and have only a few wisps of natal down on them.
the feather tracts on their head wings and back are starting to develop.
Day nine shows eyes are opening and strong feather growth on all but the runt of the brood. The less developed chick is forced out of the nest bowl by its more fully developed nestmates.
On the eleventh day there were only four nestlings.... eyes are fully open and juvenal plumage is has covered the young birds.
By day twelve the youngsters have grown so big they crowded yet another nestling out of the nest. The fledging begins...
Paul Cyr called yesterday to let me know I'd missed a great show at Lake Josephine in Easton on Thursday morning. Paul started his July at the crack of dawn and was photographing wildlife in one of the marshes near the lake when one of the breeding Virginia Rails emerged from the cattails with her brood of 6 fresh and fuzzy young!
The leggy black young paraded along behind their mother but Paul said they appeared so young and inexperienced that they barely figured out to navigate around the debris or how to forage for bugs.
Paul was able to get a shot of five of the six young in one frame. Click on the image to enlarge it and count them for yourself.
Geoff LeBaron and I found a woodpecker nest in Sinclair midday on 18 June.
The following morning Tom Sayers and I returned and spent an hour watching the nest. it didn't take long before the parents showed up and revealed that this was a Black-backed Woodpecker nest! We were able to get great views as the male (predominantly) and the female brought food to the begging youngster. Though there may have been more out of sight in the cavity it sounded and appeared that there was only one juvenile. 
The young male looked just about ready to fledge and was already sporting a bit of a yellow crest.
Russell Mount, Paul Cyr and I checked on the Green Heron nest at one of the marshes near Lake Josephine in Easton on Friday morning. A single adult was in the nest and, unlike my last visit on the 21st, there was no activity by the birds. The nest appears to be fully constructed and little heron now appears to incubating eggs. There was no sign of the male, but he easily could have been out of sight nearby.
By luck, we were able to watch a couple Virginia's square off in an apparent territorial squabble. The birds were feeding and calling about 10 yards apart at the edge of the floating mats of cattails with no problem until one came into view of the other. One of the two flew over to the second bird and they immediately engaged in some wing-slapping, clawing and pecking. They were both making a squeaky, raspy "keek" call while fighting. This went on for a second or two and then they settled down, bill tip to bill tip, and pumped their heads up and down, each matching the others movements. After about 10 seconds of these head pumps, things again broke down into another tussle, though I'm not sure what happened this round since they were partially obscured during this part. They again went nose to nose and then one of the two (the bird who initially flew over to engage the other, I think) decided he'd had enough. He turned and disappeared into the cattails. The other shook and preened for a moment and then headed into the cattails in the other direction. Paul was able to get a quick shot of the two in action.
Yesterday was a different story and the gorgeous male dove under the thick layer of duck weed and came quite close to us on a couple occasions. It was interesting that the duck would make hardly a ripple when it emerged from the dive and seemed to just appear.
Paul was able to get lots of great photos of the drake Ruddy as it displayed. With this point-blank image, Paul froze the head bobbing/breast beating action in mid display. Head crests and tail are erect and you can see the bubbles boiling out from the the breast feathers. Though Palmer didn't mention it, at close range these bubbles being expelled from the breast feathers adds a sizzling sound to the display!
Here Paul captured the end of the display
where the little duck gives his raa-anh call. I love that this duck seems to almost have lips...
As we were getting ready to leave the area we discovered a Yellow Warbler had been busy constructing a nest in some Red Osier bushes, essentially right under our noses. I had noted the yellow bird flitting back and forth while we were watching the heron, rails and ducks but it took until it almost landed on my binoculars that I really took notice. The female was carrying in small dry strands of what appeared to be sedge and other marsh grass and quickly worked it into the bowl. Paul was able to get this nice shot from his vehicle as the warbler shaped the nest bowl.
The last 3 weeks of spring were just as fabulous (weatherwise) as the earlier months of the season here in Northern Maine. Though the first week of the month was a soggy one, the nearly 3" of rain was needed and the developing greenery sucked up much of the precipitation. Temperatures have been nearly normal for this time of the year.
Waterfowl highlights in the County this month include the "usual" breeding Redheads (2 pairs), Ruddy Ducks (at least 2 pairs nesting with as many as 12 other probable non-breeders), American Wigeon, Gadwall and Northern Shovelers at Lake Josephine in Easton. Though none of these species have yet to appear with young, the first broods should be leaving the nests here any day. A Eurasian Wigeon drake found here back on 26 May lingered through at least 13 June. Jonathan Mays caught this drake Gadwall on the wing at Easton on the 12th.
A Spruce Grouse hen was seen with chicks in Square Lake Township on the 13th. Jonathan Mays got this nice shot of the little one. Ruffed Grouse too, are showing with chicks in the area.
A rare find this far north, a pair of Green Herons discovered constructing a nest near Lake Josephine on the 20th, was one of the best finds of the month. Thanks to Paul Cyr's photos, this was the northernmost documented nest for the state. American Bitterns are being seen regularly now at Lake Josephine and Christina Reservoir.
Many of the breeding raptors in northern Maine are nearing time to fledge. The Bald eaglet at the Aroostook River nest in Fort Fairfield has been seen exercising its wings and has actually lifted off the nest a few times! This will be first eaglet produced from this nest in many years. Other area eagle nests are also having a productive spring. Paul Cyr also got this shot of the eagles at a nest in Presque Isle.
The Common Moorhens have once again returned to Lake Josephine and are apparently settling in to the same pond where they nested last year. First heard on the 6th, the birds have offered some fleeting glimpses since then. Soras and Virginia Rails are very vocal lately. Paul Cyr recently captured these fine portraits of the hard-to-see species.
Though some local Killdeer have produced young already, Wilson's Snipe continue to perform their winnowing displays over swamps in Sinclair and Square Lake. Ken Lamb photographed this leggy Killdeer youngster recently.
American Three-toed Woodpeckers have been showing exceptionally well this month. Pairs have been seen regularly at the Burnt Landing Road in Square Lake and along the Moscovic Road in Stockholm. Others were spotted near Beardsley Brook in New Sweden and off of the Square Lake Road in Cross Lake Township. Black-backed Woodpeckers have also been seen at the Square Lake and Stockholm locations. A Black-backed hatchling's incessant begging gave away its nest location on the edge of a wetland off the McLean Brook Road in Sinclair (T17R4). The little woodpecker(s)? were peering from the nest hole by the 19th and appeared ready to fledge any day. Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are busy now and easy to find. Patty Jennings sent along this photo of a pair in her yard
Though Winter Wrens have begun to sing a bit more lately, a pair of nesting House Wrens in Fort Fairfield is far more noteworthy. At the northern extreme of the breeding range, there have been a few reports of House Wrens nesting in the county, but Kathy Hunter's photo provided the first documentation of the event in this region.
