Local birding report

Despite bitter temperatures and the lack of irruptive winter finches, 2022 continues to be full of surprises.

On January 10 an exceedingly gracious and kind property owner in Broad Cove reported a very rare Townsend’s Warbler in their yard. According to Peter Vickery, there has been a total of only four records (photographed) Townsend’s Warbler in Maine. I made several trips to try to view the bird and was successful on my last attempt.

Seeing this striking little wanderer from the Pacific Northwest set off a sequence of delightful reminiscences in my mind. I was transported back to the last time I had laid eyes upon this bird. It had been high-up in a Douglas fir tree shrouded in morning mist, November 2012 just as my wife and I were boarding a ferry departing Orcas Islands in Washington.

With a boldly marked black and yellow head and extensive yellow breast, this bird stands out in a crowd. Townsend’s Warblers retain their striking plumage year round and one reason for this may have to with territory defense. Males will fiercely defend territories around trees infested with scale insects. Interestingly, this warbler switches to a nectar-rich diet, favoring “honeydew,” a sugary substance produced by these insects.

In general, these warblers can be found in the mountain forests of western North America from southern Alaska to Honduras.

Townsend’s Warblers primarily breed in the cool coniferous forests along the Pacific coast. Much of the population winters in the Central American highlands, usually in montane cloud forests with a mixture of oak, alder and conifers. The Townsend’s Warbler was named for American naturalists John Kirk Townsend, who at 25 years of age first described the bird in 1834 during an expedition crossing the Rockies. Townsend died in 1851 from exposure to the arsenic in a bird preservation powder that he had developed.

On the morning of January 23 my son and I went to Trundy Point to look for Great Cormorants and we were not disappointed. We counted a total of five of these heavyset, blocky headed seabirds - three birds flying through at close range and two birds drying out on a rocky outcropping just offshore.

Interestingly, the rise in Bald Eagle populations and subsequent depredation of chicks is a primary reason for the precipitous decline in Great Cormorant populations in Maine. This bird does breed in small numbers on a handful of islands along Maine’s coast which is the southernmost extent of the species’ North American breeding range.

Also, just offshore were significant numbers of foraging Black Scoters and Common Eiders, several Red-breasted Mergansers (merganser in Latin roughly translates to “plunging goose”) and a pair of Common Goldeneye ducks. A Northern Mockingbird also made itself known atop the rocky headland.

Other noteworthy mentionings from both my back yard and in the field: as of January 24 two Northern Flickers continue to visit our feeders daily. Additionally, a Brown Creeper has been visiting an old Crab Apple tree in our backyard and consistently forages on the ground. Cedar Waxwings numbers are also beginning to build across town.

On the morning of January 22 I counted twelve waxwings in a cherry tree along Shore Road. Later on the same day while walking along Ferry and Western Beach in Scarborough yielded 14 Common Loons, a Horned Grebe, a Red-necked Grebe and several Long-tailed ducks.

On this same day just before sunset along the Crescent Beach State Park trail a Juvenile Bald Eagle was spotted roosting in an old Oak tree. I was able to determine the approximate age of the eagle by the color of its beak which was largely blackish gray.

Lastly, in late January a Snowy owl was reported on the east end of Chebeague Island.