Local birding report

In late November my son and I slipped over to Scarborough to seek out the previously reported American Coots. This bulky chicken-like bird that swims like a duck is more closely related to the secretive rail and has red beady eyes, a white pointed bill and “shield” highlighted by a dark reddish callus upon its forehead. They also have huge feet which they use to patter across the surface water, building speed with the furious beating of their little wings before taking flight. With only a handful of known breeding sites this waterbird is an uncommon local breeder in parts of southern Maine and is more often seen during fall migration.

On December 1 from the rocky headland of Two Lights State Park I watched a flock of eleven hardy Harlequin Ducks, including two extravagantly adorned males, foraging for mollusks and crustaceans along the exposed coastline below. Descending down closer to where the Harlequin’s were feeding, I could just make out the squeaky calls that give this duck its nickname, “sea mouse.” Interestingly, when Harlequins move inland during breeding season pairs of these ducks can be seen flying low, following every bend in the river as they retrace paths back to the northerly mountain rivers where they were born. Other mentionables in Two Lights included two Horned Grebes, a male Long-tailed Duck, several Buffleheads, a Northern Gannet, a lone Common Raven and a Song Sparrow.

December 9 brought a small influx of slate-colored Black-eyed Junco’s and a passing, Red-shafted Northern Flicker to our backyard. Also of note, this is the fourth winter in a row that two Carolina Wrens and three Eastern Bluebirds have decided to spend the winter with us. Additionally, a leucitic female Cardinal that first showed up over a year ago still visits our backyard regularly and on December 10 the first Red-breasted Nuthatch of the season appeared on our suet.

Regarding owls, I had several nighttime outings in early December where I came up empty-handed. That said, on the evening of December 3 from somewhere within the depths of Crescent Beach State Park’s forest, three soft calls from a Northern Saw-whet Owl were heard followed closely by fleeting flashes from double shooting stars overhead. On December 10 at dusk in Robinson Woods III my wife spotted the ear-tufted silhouette of a horned owl high up in an old Oak tree. To be in the presence of Bubo Virginianus is always a humbling experience for there is no other owl in North America that exceeds the Great-horned in courage, weight, or strength.

On a final note, I had built and installed a Great-crested Flycatcher nest box which hung from a wire 18’ up in an Ash Tree. This past summer I caught only a glimpse of a flycatcher going into the box. For months I had waited to climb back up into that tree and see if there was a nest in the box. On December 12 my son and I retrieved the nest box and carefully inspected its contents. Our curiosity was focused on whether we would find a shed snakeskin in the nest as Great-crested Flycatchers are famous for using the molting skin of snakes. The nest appeared very messy and contained lots of leaves, field grass, moss, some string, a few feathers, and a piece of cellophane. On top of that there was a thin piece shed snakeskin!

Thinking that things couldn’t get much better than this discovery we then noticed fragments of egg-shell with the most stunning glossy coloring, ivory to almost pink with intricately scrawled fine lavender and brown pencil-like scribbles concentrating on the larger end of the egg. Great-crested Flycatchers are fairly common breeders in southern Maine where deciduous and mixed forests dominate. We can only wonder whether the flycatchers born in my nest box made it safely to their wintering grounds in the tropics.