The big highlight from Rock Meadow today was a family of Orchard Orioles. I’ve been hoping to confirm breeding for several years now and finally succeed today.
Youngster
What?
Mom and a youngster
Someone’s hungry
Mom taking a break.
Update: Coincidentally, great video from Lang Elliot was posted today (7/20).
As promised, here’s the first day of my trip to Maine for the Dragonfly Society of the Americas annual meeting.
Thursday 6/24:
The meeting was scheduled to begin with a late afternoon social thing. Since it’s about 5 hours to Orono, I decided to head up early and make a couple birding stops along the way. I left the house a little after 6 and reached the Kennebunk Plains at about 8:30.
The plains are a big open grassland with all sorts of interesting birds. My main target was Upland Sandpiper and I wasn’t even 50 feet from the car when one made several passes overhead.
It circled and called quite a bit and landed occasionally. Most of the time on the ground, it was hidden in the grasses, but I did manage one shot.
Upland Sandpiper was a long-overdue life bird so I spent a good bit of time enjoying them (there were at least two right there). Very much a curlew.
Once I had my fill of the sandpipers, I continued down the trail hoping for a few of the other specialties. Grasshopper, Vesper, and Clay-colored Sparrows all apparently breed here but I was only able to find Vesper. Fortunately, there were several and they were very cooperative.
I eventually worked my way down to some water, which was pretty quiet. It was getting hot, so I headed back to the car (stopping for the sparrows again) and moved on.
My next stop was to be Scarborough Marsh. However, I got somewhat lost along the way (not sure if there’s been new development since the birder’s guide to Maine was written or if I was just in the wrong spot for the entire time) so it took an extra hour. Once at the marsh, it was drizzling a bit. I decided that I didn’t feel like carrying the scope and would just take a quick walk out.
On the way, a Seaside Dragonlet posed nicely:
The usual birds were around including many egrets, a few Glossy Ibis, and Willets.
Sharp-tailed Sparrows were singing a good bit and I got some brief views. I suspect most were Nelson’s but one appeared noticably brighter, so that was probably a Saltmarsh. After following the path most of the way out, I headed back to the car for lunch (stopping for these neat flies on the way).
From here, I headed straight up to Orono, arriving early afternoon. I checked into my hotel, showered, rested a bit, and then headed to the main conference hotel. The group was taking over the lobby and I quickly was saying hello to many of the people I had met last year and meeting many others that came from further away.
After an hour or so here, we moved in a large group for dinner. This wasn’t the best idea as the nameless (only partially because I don’t remember it) restaurant was not capable of dealing with 30 people at once. The waitstaff was new but almost had things under control but the kitchen did not. My table got food probably 20 minutes after the other tables. For a slightly more expensive place, I wasn’t impressed with the obviously frozen green beans and packaged rice pilaf.
Once we finally managed to get away from the restaurant, we returned to the hotel where the initial meeting had already just about finished. Fortunately, they ran it again, so we were briefed on possible locations for tomorrow’s field trips.
After that, it was off to the hotel and bed for a fairly early start.
Back to Tuesdays apparently.
Tuesday 7/6: Didn’t get out (way too hot) but a Band-winged Meadowhawk in the yard was first of year.
Wednesday 7/7: Hardy Pond in the heat. Seemed to be common stuff around but didn’t spend much time looking.
Thursday 7/8: River walk was hotter than I realized. Most of the usual birds were around and I counted about 50 Blue-fronted Dancers between Shaw’s and Elm St.
Friday 7/9: Duck Ponds. Ponds were quiet (although a Great Blue and Killdeer eventually popped up at the lower one). Downhill, I had to bushwhack to the bridge (and couldn’t reach the second one). A whole bunch of birds sounded annoyed, with a redstart among them. After a few minutes scanning, I finally picked up a young Eastern Screech-Owl sitting on a branch. Patch tick!
Saturday 7/10: Joined the Concord Butterfly Count. I’d say separate post but there were very few butterflies in the hot and dry and then we got rained out in the afternoon. My Broad-winged Skippers turned out to be the best thing on the day. Still fun though.
Sunday 7/11: Tried to refind a couple things and generally found nothing. Checked the duck ponds for the owl and redstart, then Prospect Hill for saddlebags. Finally stopped at Woerd Ave as I had the camera and have wanted some Lilypad Forktail shots for awhile but couldn’t find any of those even.
Monday 7/12: Paine had the regular birds and some Somatochloras but not much else.
Monday 6/28-Tuesday 6/29: DSA Postmeeting in Jackman, ME.
Wednesday 6/30: Prospect Hill had an Indigo Bunting and a few marginally interesting dragonflies.
Thursday 7/1: Paine had a few butterflies and a good number of dragonflies although all fairly common.
Friday 7/2: Purgatory Cove was pretty quiet at lunch.
Saturday 7/3: Out to Otis for the night. Ovenbird walking next to me was about the best thing.
Sunday 7/4: Spinylegs and two uncaught Somatochloras to start the morning in Otis. On to New Salem where Ethan’s yard was quiet but I found a pair of Evening Grosbeaks up the hill.
Monday 7/5: 3 Broad-wings over Ethan’s were the best of the morning. Failed to catch the couple of Somatochloras.
Monday 6/21: Paine, not too much exciting. Couple interesting darners stayed too high to ID.
Tuesday 6/22: Didn’t get out.
Wednesday 6/23: Charles at lunch. Very few odes (few bluets, 1 baskettail, 1 slaty skimmer) but an Orchard Oriole was a nice surprise. Very early migrant or overlooked here? Also a family of mallards was running around the neighborhood in the afternoon, hope they made it across Trapelo safely.
Thursday 6/24 to Sunday 6/27: At the Dragonfly Society of the Americas annual meeting. Separate post sooner or later but highlights included getting a nemesis bird on the way up, 6 species of Ophiogomphus and 2 Neurocordulia plus various butterflies and a moose.
I never got around to posting about the DSA Northeast Meeting from last July, but it’s time for the annual meeting. Here’s a couple videos that somehow star me from last year to give a taste.
(there’s 1:15 of not much happening in the second one before I pop up)
Would have been nicer if I wasn’t swinging and missing as much.
Thanks to Meena Haribal for posting these videos.
Monday 6/14: Paine: first Banded Hairstreak of the year plus a Painted Skimmer and Scarlet Tanagers right at the parking lot.
Tuesday 6/15: Duck ponds had a good selection of dragonflies and a kingfisher.
Wednesday 6/16: Prospect Hill was quiet (barely any bugs even).
Thursday 6/17: Charles was pretty quiet. Lots of swallows, a juvenal Wood Duck, fledgling House Wren, couple dancers that got away.
Friday 6/18: BBN had lots of the regular stuff but nothing really of note.
Saturday 6/19: Trail building at Shady Pond all day. Usual forest birds sang a bit but didn’t seem much. One interesting bluet (Skimming?).
Sunday 6/20: Didn’t really get out as had some computer things to deal with. While running up to Nashua, made brief stop in Tyngsboro to see if the Willow Flycatchers were singing. They weren’t but one of the Osprey passed over and both Green and Great Blue Herons flew over Rt. 3.
Flights were on American (several airlines were all at the same rate, picked based on time and connecting city) and we had no real issues. Car rental was through Hertz. Mazda 3, which was much less comfortable than the 6 I had last year. We’re pretty sure we got screwed a bit on the cost there and have no interest in dealing with Hertz again any time son. Hotels and food are all mentioned in the daily reports.
I brought my own GPS. It worked fine for the most part, but had occasional issues with new construction and road names. The construction wasn’t a problem as it was obvious where to go but the names did cause some problems. We had to refer to the paper directions for several places as I couldn’t find them in the attraction list and the route number in the address wasn’t accepted (for some reason it wanted the local name).
Here’s everything seen on our trip:
The cool and cloudy weather wasn’t very good for bugs, which were in low numbers after cold weather before we arrived.
February 13
Today was a travel day as we headed back to San Antonio. Of course, with 2 very good birds on the way, it was also a good birding day.
We left Rockport and started towards Beeville. On the way, we found a couple Sandhill Cranes in a field and had an Avocet and other stuff fly over.
Reaching Beeville, we worked our way to the outskirts where a Northern Wheatear spent the winter at a farm. The farm was easy to find (a bit closer to the road than the directions implied). Getting out of the car, we were almost immediately joined by a Canadian couple. Seconds later, the wheatear popped up and gave us pretty good views (which was doubly nice as other people reported having long waits and only distant views).
After stocking up on peanut brittle for gifts, we headed on to the next stop, Choke Canyon State Park. Not surprisingly, the other people were heading that way too and we arrived at the same time. Checking in, we got directions to the pond hosting the Jacana and headed that way. Almost immediately, we located the bird walking out in the open along the edge of the lake.
We spent close to an hour watching it walk and fly along the edge of the pond, getting great views.
We drove around the park a bit and eventually stopped at one of the picnic areas for lunch. This was near the fishing area and we enjoyed a flock of Snowy Egrets waiting for leftovers.
From here, we headed back to San Antonio, arriving at Jack’s midafternoon. We went out to Red Lobster for dinner (again with a wait from rodeo crowds). It was fairly good (especially considering we already had excellent seafood the last few nights). We then packed and got ready for our early flight.
The return trip was easy with flights right on time (not having to get off the plane in Chicago was very nice) and we were home by midafternoon with Harry waiting.
Two weeks since I forgot to post the previous one.
Monday 5/31: Main highlight, but an Ebony Jewelwing in the yard wasn’t bad either.
Tuesday 6/1: Prospect Hill was quiet. Didn’t get a good look as they went into the sun but pretty sure a Red-spotted Purple was chasing a White(ish) Admiral.
Wednesday 6/2: Looks like I didn’t do anything.
Thursday 6/3: Paine, quiet.
Friday 6/4: West Meadow. Turkey, meadowhawk, etc.
Saturday 6/5: Allergies bothering me, stayed in.
Sunday 6/6: BBC walk at Great Meadows, pretty quiet. Hooded Merganser, Pied-billed Grebe, not much else. Rained the rest of the day.
Monday 6/7: Prospect Hill, quieter than last week.
Tuesday 6/8: Prospect Hill again (base today). Not much for birds but a Familiar Bluet partway up. Small swarm of saddlebags, green darner, spot-winged glider at the base. Noticed a different looking darner among them and grabbed the net. Turned out to be the state-listed Spatterdock Darner! No camera unfortunately.
Wednesday 6/9: Day off for Minuteman Survey (nothing different, numbers seemed a bit low but tons of traffic noise). Then ran up to Dunstable where I got Bobolink within safe dates and added Savannah Sparrow as well. No luck with any Empids though.
Thursday 6/10: Purgatory Cove/Forest Grove. Cloudy and quiet.
Friday 6/11: BBN had a Wild Turkey with at least 1 robin-sized chick. Also first of year Painted Skimmer.
Saturday 6/12: Probably posting separately but northern NH. Filled in the gaps that were Bicknell’s Thrush and Black-backed Woodpecker plus Rusty Blackbird and other stuff. Also several good butterflies including Arctic Skipper.
Sunday 6/13: Made a late morning trip to Arlington Great Meadows hoping for Alder Flycatcher. No luck with that (or Willow) but the usual stuff was around. Stopped at the Waltham St. Fields on the way home and got very wet.