Cape Elizabeth Birding Report

I had mentioned in my last column that this time of year can be very productive in terms of seeing and hearing owls. Late afternoon on Feb 16 was a two owl day for my wife, ten-month son and me. We had been making our way along the forest margins of our property when we heard the hoot of a Great Horned owl not that far off. For the record, this was the second time this month that I had heard this species of owl along Shore Road. To make matters more exciting, just as we started to move along I looked up and a Barred owl was sitting 50 feet up in an old Eastern white pine watching the three of us while we quietly listened to the Great Horned. Interestingly, not that long ago it was thought that Great Horned owls and Barred owls kept totally separate territories. More recent data has revealed that the territory of these two birds does in fact overlap, and oftentimes extensively.

While the Barred has its staple haunts (mature mixed forests with large tree cavities for nesting), the Great Horned is more of a habitat generalist, with a more diverse diet than any other owl, hawk, eagle or falcon in North America.

Other noteworthy observations for late February and the first three days of March - strong numbers of House Finch (including one leucistic male), White breasted nuthatch and Tufted titmice on the backyard feeders. Slate colored Dark Eyed Junco’s are starting to twitter and trill - perhaps sensing that their time to retreat northward is close at hand. A Pileated woodpecker and two Red-bellied woodpeckers have also been visiting our neck of the woods.

On Feb 25 there were close to 30 Brants in Kettle Cove. The Brant is a rather small goose that breeds further north (high arctic tundra) than any other goose. When these geese do decide to leave their arctic outposts for the winter they will often make nonstop flights at altitudes of several thousand feet!

On Feb 28 my wife and son witnessed the spectacular speed of a Red-tailed hawk diving into our yard to catch and subdue a squirrel.

On March 1 I saw a single Turkey vulture flying over the Rachel Carson Wildlife estuary. The return of Turkey vultures to our skies is always a sure sign that spring is closely tailing.

On March 3 I was certainly surprised to come across a contemplative adult male Bald eagle perched high upon a snag along the banks of a very frozen upper Pond Cove area along what is to be Robinson Woods III.