February 4, 2017; Leader’s Choice. Sunny, with temps around 32 degrees, with a light wind.
Participants: Tom Hayward, Joan & Stand DeOrsey, Don Favreau, Dan Marquis, Leader & recorder.
For today’s leader’s choice we went to the coast in hopes of seeing several different birds that had been reported. We started at Portland Head Light, but had nothing special, other than a rather cooperative flock of Starlings, and one Mockingbird.
Our next stop was just down the road a ways at Pond Cove, where we were hoping to see Bluebirds, Wood Ducks, and an Orange-crowned Warbler. Unfortunately we saw none of those, but we were treated to a mixed group of small feeding birds in the trees that included a couple of Brown creepers, which are always a treat to see.
Our last stop was at the Portland Fish Pier, where a female King Eider was being reported. After a while of scanning what few ducks were there, Tom Hayward found the target bird in his scope, swimming with three Red-breasted Mergansers. That was certainly the bird-of-the-day, and made an already good trip a total success.
Black Duck
Mallard
King Eider
Common Eider
Harlequin Duck
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Red-breasted Merganser
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Red-tailed Hawk (seen along the turnpike)
Merlin (Passed thru the parking lot at Staples)
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Black Guillemot
Rock Pigeon
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Crow Raven (seen along the turnpike)
Chickadee
Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Catbird
Starling
Song Sparrow
Goldfinch
27 Species
