Filling the Gaps, Part 2: Northern New England, June 25-30

I flew from Minneapolis to Boston on the morning of Sunday, June 25, 2023. I arrived at Boston’s Logan Airport at 2:15 PM just as Irene Fortune, Gregg Goodrich and Anna Troth arrived from Colorado. They had signed up for a tour of northern New England to be led by local guide Eric Hynes. Eric lives in central Maine. He grew up in Massachusetts and then moved to Maine where he became a birding guide. He recently had been living in Telluride, CO, where he created his own guiding company called Box Canyon Birding. I got to know him when I co-led a field trip to San Miguel County during the 2019 Colorado Field Ornithologists convention in Montrose. He reminded me that we first met much earlier when his Field Guides grouse tour crossed paths with my Quetzal Tours grouse tour on Rabbit Ears pass about ten years ago. Eric now leads tours around the world for Field Guides. He had just returned from guiding in Finland. He picked us up in a rented minivan at 3 PM and off we went.

This was very much a target birding tour. Eric was informed of my big year needs, which included New England specialty species Atlantic Puffin, Razorbill,  Bicknell’s Thrush and Saltmarsh Sparrow as well as gap species Willow Flycatcher and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. The others had much longer needs lists for their life lists. 

We had time to make a couple birding stops before checking in to our hotel at Scarborough, ME, just south of Portland. At Wells, ME, we were unlucky finding the Saltmarsh Sparrow that first afternoon but we did get decent views of Roseate Tern. I had forgotten to photograph this species at the Dry Tortugas in May so I was pleased to have another opportunity and I took advantage of it. In the evening we visited a unique habitat at Kennebunk Plains. This inland sandy-soiled pine barren hosted Grasshopper Sparrow, Prairie Warbler, American Woodcock, and Eastern Whip-poor-will. The whip-poor-will, a nocturnal species in the goatsucker family (Caprimulgidae) put on a magnificent performance for us, flying within feet of me and landing on the road in full view. 

The pine barrens at Kennebunk Plains are famous for attracting rarities. We missed a vagrant Loggerhead Shrike (normally found much further west) that had been reported here earlier in the week. And we let a heard-only, probable Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (normally found much further south) go unidentified. It’s single crow-like call wasn’t enough for us to pull the trigger on identifying such a rare bird in Maine.

June 26, 2023

On Monday morning, Scarborough Marsh produced stunning views of both Saltmarsh and Nelson’s Sparrows. An old railroad track converted to a recreational trail for bikers, joggers, walkers and birders provided access to the marshes. After the first half mile of walking we had detected no sparrows but were entertained by close views of Eastern Willet in breeding plumage.  Eric explained that this taxon may one day be split from its larger, grayer cousin, the Western Willet.  The dearth of sparrows, Eric suggested, could be due to the late date. The Sparrows were wrapping up their breeding season. However, my concern for missing these targets was alleviated when after another half-mile, we began hearing the squeaky buzz song of both sparrow species close to the trail. The Saltmarsh Sparrow was Biggest Year-bird number 714. The Atlantic subspecies of Nelson’s Sparrow is quite cryptic, appearing more similar to Saltmarsh Sparrow than to the brightly plumaged interior subspecies of Nelson’s Sparrow, which I had glimpsed in the salt marshes of Galveston, TX. This one posed for photos and provided audio of its song for documentation. 

After lunching at Eric’s brother’s very successful brew-pub in Augusta, we birded in Eric’s local patch at Piggery Road.  Here we found Swamp Sparrow, Willow Flycatcher (715), Broad-winged Hawk, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Virginia Rail, Bobolink and Purple Finch. From here we headed north to Bar Harbor. We made brief birding stops  around Messalonskee Lake in Kennebec County, for Purple Martin at Depot Rd. and Black Tern and Sandhill Crane all of which are unusual in Maine.

June 27, 2023

Tuesday morning, we showed up bright and early at the Bar Harbor dock for the Puffins and Lighthouses cruise which we expected to yield several target species plus an unknown number of Atlantic Ocean pelagic species such as Shearwaters and Storm-petrels. However the wind had picked up and the captain was waiting to see if the 4-6 foot waves would settle down. The cruise was scheduled to depart at 9:30 AM. He waited until 9 AM to make the decision to cancel the foray to Machias Seal Island where Atlantic Puffin and Razorbill breed. We were heartbroken. But Eric had a backup plan. We jumped into the minivan and sped off to the south to New Harbor, 2.5 hours away. We arrived at 11:30, just in time to board the ferry to Eastern Egg Rock for puffin viewing. This would be a shorter cruise with fewer chances for pelagic species. However, this boat runs rain or shine and guarantees views of Atlantic Puffin. Razorbill had been seen on the rock recently. And a vagrant Tufted Puffin from the Pacific Ocean had been spotted in the area as well. A basking breeding-plumaged Black Guillemot in the tiny harbor was a good omen. As we left the harbor, several Wilson’s Storm-Petrel (716) followed the boat. Then came more pelagic species as we headed out over open water: an impressive number of Sooty Shearwater, a Northern Gannet and several Northern Fulmar. As we approached the island, we began seeing Atlantic Puffin (717) flying by and swimming close to the boat. Common Tern and Roseate Tern were nesting on the island with the puffins. A large alcid flew by encircling the boat. Was it my target Razorbill? No, it was a rarer bird for Maine, a Common Murre! I was excited to see one in Maine waters, although I had seen plenty of these in the Pacific Ocean earlier this year. After thirty minutes along the west side of the island it was time to turn around. The captain didn’t want to visit the east side due to high seas but I am afraid that was where the Razorbill was hiding. Later we found out that the Tufted Puffin was also using this tiny island as a resting spot, perhaps on the east side that we never saw. Nevertheless it was a thrilling ride and we all left very satisfied with the adventure. It was now mid-afternoon and time for a traditional seafood lunch (think fish and chips or lobster roll) followed by a long drive to the Rangeley Lakes region and the boreal forests of western Maine. We spent the next two nights at the Saddleback Mountain Lodge in Rangeley, ME.

June 28, 2023 

On Wednesday morning, we delved into the forest atop Quill Hill, a privately owned sanctuary. The dawn chorus featured many species of warbler including Black-and-white, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, Nashville, Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped, Wilson’s and Mourning. Also Northern Parula and American Redstart. Other songsters included White-throated Sparrow, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Alder Flycatcher and Indigo Bunting. The next 24 hrs of birding this remote region of western Maine produced a great variety of breeding birds of the northern forests. Additional highlights included Canada, Palm, Blackburnian and Black-throated

green Warblers, Blue-headed Vireo, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (718), Winter Wren and Boreal Chickadee.

June 29, 2023

Thursday after lunch, we headed south toward Mt. Washington. At Grafton Notch State Park, we stopped to appreciate the songs of Philadelphia Vireo and Red-eyed Vireo, which conveniently are both present at this location. These vireos look different but sound almost identical so the comparison of songs made a great study. At 4 PM we arrived at the Mount Washington Auto Road in Grafton, New Hampshire. Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Appalachian Mountain Range at more than 6,000 feet elevation. Here we confirmed our after-hours van tour (cost = $275). Afternoon thunderstorms threatened to put a damper on our plan but the tour driver Ken offered to make an attempt to reach tree line regardless of the weather for our quest to find Bicknell’s Thrush. In the USA, this species breeds only in the krumholz zone of the northern Appalachian Mountains, including the Adirondack’s in New York, Green Mountains of Vermont and White Mountains of New Hampshire and Maine. The krumholz zone is characterized by elevation-stunted spruce trees. Like many passerine bird species, Bicknell’s Thrush is suffering  worrisome population declines and has disappeared from some of its previous breeding areas. I was one of the last to observe the species on Mt Greylock in the Berkshire Range of Western Massachusetts in the late 1970s. As kids, my brother Ollie and I had joined an overnight camping trip led by Steve Grinley for the Brookline Bird Club. I don’t recall seeing the thrush, only hearing it’s beautiful haunting melody. We were with my mother Karen Komar and our birding mentor, the late Herman d’Entremont. In those days, the Bicknell’s Thrush was considered a subspecies of Gray-cheeked Thrush.  

After checking in at our nearby hotel, we returned at 6 PM and drove up the auto road as the last tourists were coming down. We arrived at tree-line at 6:45 PM. We listened to the chorus of White-throated Sparrow, Slate-colored Junco and Blackpoll Warbler songs emanating from the stunted vegetation of the krumholz zone for about thirty minutes. No thrushes. In the distance we detected a Swainson’s Thrush and a rare Red Fox Sparrow singing from a presumed breeding territory (they normally breed further north in Canada). A Black Bear crashed through the brush, running from our presence. Finally, at 7:30 PM we began to hear call notes of Bicknell’s Thrush (719). We played a tape of the song and a flurry of songs responded briefly but no thrush dared to show itself. We shifted our location a couple of times. Finally at 8:30 PM as it was almost too dark to see, Eric spotted a distant thrush singing atop a short spruce tree, and put it in the telescope for decent views by most of us.

June 30, 2023

Friday was the final day of the tour. We had accomplished most of our objectives. We needed to drop off Irene, Gregg and Anne at Logan Airport at 3:00 PM for their return flights to Colorado. Eric chose a route to increase our trip list by several species. The route included a visit to Biddeford Pool on the Maine coast south of Portland. A pair of calling American Oystercatcher was a pleasant addition. The full trip list of 151 species along with photos and audio files can be found in the eBird trip report here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/141380. 

Once the Northern New England tour ended, I recuperated for a few days at my mother’s house in Newton, Massachusetts, in Southern New England. I still went birding during these days. On July 1, I joined Alf Wilson at Winthrop along the coast north of Boston. We took killer photos of Least Tern and Piping Plover at Winthrop Beach. In the adjacent neighborhood he showed me an active Monk Parakeet nest. A block away, at Lewis Lake Park, I spotted a Purple Martin which was flagged as rare in eBird. One town over at Revere Beach, Alf spotted a few Manx Shearwater (720) loafing beyond the surf. These seabirds presumably nest on islands in Boston Harbor. They have been reliable off Revere Beach for years and are well known to the local birding community. They can be tough to find on pelagic boat trips so I was glad to have seen them now. With few other possibilities for new Year-Birds in New England, I opted to fly to Miami to chase a couple of rarities.  On July 4, 2023, my last day in Newton, I invited my mom on a 90-min drive to Coney Rock Park in northeast Connecticut. I was chasing an eBird report of a singing Cerulean Warbler. We did not find it but I thoroughly enjoyed encountering some wonderful birds of the southern New England forest, including Veery, Wood Thrush, Yellow-throated Vireo, Worm-eating Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush and Scarlet Tanager, all singing. I was happy to share my Biggest Year adventure with my 87-year-old mother, Karen Komar. These opportunities are few and far between.