November 5, 2016; Androscoggin River, Lake Auburn, The Basin and Sabattus Pond.
It was a perfect day for our Lakes and rivers trip; a little bit cold, but no wind, with the sun playing hide-n-seek with the clouds.
The ducks were a bit few and far between in Auburn, but we did find our only Ring-neck Duck in the marsh along Lake Shore Drive; it was a female in with a group of Mallards. We also got our only Blue Heron at the Lake Auburn Inlet.
Things changed when we got to Sabattus Pond. Not only were there a lot of other birders, there was also a LOT of ducks! The Ruddy Ducks alone numbered in the high hundreds, and they were joined by a good number of Scaup and Bufflehead… all easily seen from the south beach.
The west shore offered up Pintails, Green-winged Teal, and a lot of Canada Geese, as well as a lone immature Bald Eagle.
After we left Sabattus Pond we made an unscheduled stop at the Old Bloody Hill Road parcel of Thorncrag to look for the Bluebirds that had been seen there last week. Unfortunately they had already moved on. But the stop was rewarded with a small flock of Turkeys.
Dan Marquis, leader; Tom Hayward, recorder
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Birds seen or heard:
Canada Goose
American Black Duck Mallard Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal Ring-necked Duck Greater Scaup Lesser Scaup White-winged Scoter Bufflehead Common Goldeneye Hooded Merganser Common Merganser Ruddy Duck Wild Turkey Common Loon Horned Grebe Double -crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Bald Eagle
Ring-billed Gull Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Blue Jay American Crow Black-capped Chickadee White-breasted Nuthatch European Starling Cedar Waxwing Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal House Finch American Goldfinch TOTALS: 33 species |
 One female Ring-neck Duck with a group of Mallards at Lake Auburn  Great Blue Heron at Lake Auburn  Immature Bald Eagle along west shore of Sabattus Pond  Goldfinches eating Alder catkins  Wild Turkeys at Thorncrag’s Old Bloody Hill Road parcel |