Cape Elizabeth birding report

Migrating at night is a risky business. One way to increase chances of success is for birds to travel in small flocks, constructively working as a team. Many songbirds including warblers, sparrows and thrushes use short, high-pitched nocturnal flight calls to communicate while on the wing. These distinct calls most likely evolved to facilitate collective decision-making, helping flocks of birds stay together and navigate in darkness. Only in the last couple of years has technology allowed us to efficiently record and identify these unseen rivers of northbound neotropical migrants - cuckoos, herons, tanagers and orioles all moving through our night sky.

Nocturnal flight calls are not limited to passerines. On April 18 I heard an eerie sort of hooting far away in the darkness. I ran inside and tried my best to imitate the call to my wife. Still stumped, I stepped outside and listened for a good twenty minutes before I heard the sound again. This time it clicked - an unmistakable call, the ahr-ahrahroulit of the Long-tailed Duck! The male Long-tailed’s yodeling can be heard from long distances and is known to yodel both during the day and when migrating at night. Most vocal of all ducks, Long-taileds gather in large flocks off our shores at night before departing to cold northern water breeding haunts in Canada.

Overall, the last several weeks of April seemed relatively quiet, perhaps because of below average temperatures. There was a significant push of White-throated Sparrows on the nights of April 20 and 21 across Cape. These sparrows were still locally abundant into the last few days of April.

Additional noteworthy first sightings in April include - Chipping Sparrows starting on April 17 and on the 18 my wife and son spotted at least sixty Glossy Ibis flying over the house, perhaps in route to Stratton Island. On April 19 I heard a Barred Owl vocalizing in mid-day in Winnick Woods and later that evening a pair of Barreds Caterwauling in Robinson Woods III.

Also, on April 20 I noticed a small, perched bird high up in an Ash Tree along the fringe of our yard. The finch sized bird sat for ten minutes, watching the other birds at the feeder. Although little more than a black outline against the sun, the bird heads would periodically shift so that the sun cast a bright red glow atop its crest and crown -Haemorhous purpureus. Later that afternoon a total of five Purple Finches, two males and three females were cracking black-sunflower seeds at our feeder. This boreal species has been driven deeper into the woods by the introduction of the more aggressive House Finch in 1939 and its population throughout southern Maine is in decline.

On April 21 within the one remaining shrub along Pond Cove I discovered a foraging Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher. Best described as a regular, but never numerous spring migrant, this tiny, steely blue gem’s notably long gray and white tail was the giveaway.

Additionally, on April 23 I was drawn to the window by what turned out to be a Blue-headed Vireo searching for insects midway up in a mature Red Maple Tree. This same day seven Northern Flickers and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker also had brief stop overs on our property. Later that day I spotted a first of the year American Kestrel hunting over the Sprague fields along Bowery Beach Road. Maine’s smallest falcon is experiencing steep population declines due primarily to the reforestation of farmlands. This colorful little demon with a mustache and sideburns was once called a “Sparrow hawk” both because of its size and because of its appetite for sparrows.

Lastly, on April 25 I heard the high-pitched, lisping call of an Eastern Towhee coming from the depths of Robinson Woods. The following morning while relishing in the arrival of two Red-breasted nuthatches, I caught a glimpse of the towhee before it was spooked back into the overgrown margins of my yard. Cloaked in bold black and warm rufous brown feathers, this oversized sparrow tends to make a lot of racket as it rummages and scratches about in the leaflitter.