Local birding report

As the humid, dry conditions of July wore on many of the forest songbirds seemed to have become discouraged from song. After months of wooing and raising broods, bedraggled bird parents’ feathers appear unkept and shabby making identification even more challenging. Still conspicuously calling in late July were Hermit Thrushes, Eastern Wood-pewees, Great-crested Flycatchers, Eastern Kingbirds, Red-eyed Vireos, Gray Catbirds and Robins. While flycatchers are not considered songbirds, the Wood Peewee’s plaintive song of three sliding notes is simple and true. If you find yourself in the woods in August listen for their whistled twilight song.

Additionally, while fishing with my son on July 18 along the bank of Great Pond, a new family of four Eastern Kingbirds appeared on a snag overhead and launched into their metallic-sounding chatter and chase. Also, on the late afternoon of July 21 a single Eastern Towhee was singing along Charles Jordan Road and on July 24 just before dusk I heard the lush, flute like song of my first Wood Thrush of the year somewhere along the woodland fringes of Crescent Beach State Park.

Late July through August marks the time of year where shorebirds start to pass through Cape in significant numbers. On July 24 I counted forty Semipalmated Plovers heading towards Richmond Island. On July 27 along the salt pannes of Sawyer Road I almost overlooked a dark colored heron that appeared from a distance to be a Glossy Ibis. Nearby I could make out the throaty murmuring noises coming from a foursome of foraging Glossy Ibis. As I refocused my attention on this single dark colored bird in question my binocs revealed a distinctive slaty-blue medium sized heron with a white belly and a bright blue patch of skin around part of a long beak – it was a Tri-colored Heron. Fortunately a Snowy Egret was close enough that I could compare and contrast the heron with the egret. Formerly known as the Louisiana Heron, the first known breeding pair of these herons in Maine was not until July of 1977. Described by Peter Vickery as “a festively-adorned treat in Maine’s southern coastal marshes,” this rare heron is known to sometimes breed on Stratton Island, just off our coastline. Interestingly, Stratton Island is the northern edge of this bird’s breeding range which has expanded along the eastern coast from North Carolina to Maine from 1940-1970, and likely as a result of the increased nesting habitat made available as the Intracoastal Waterway was constructed. Other shorebirds seen on along Sawyer Road that day included Short-billed Dowitchers, Semipalmated Sandpipers and two White-rumped Sandpipers.

On July 29 along the same stretch of road I stumbled upon another uncommon migrant, the Little Blue Heron. When I first laid eyes on the bird I thought it was the Tri-colored Heron I had seen a few days prior. Fortunately, I was able to observe the bird working the edges of the Spurwink with a Snowy Egret, which, again allowed me to gauge the bird’s relative size and attributes. I also checked eBird and noticed that fellow Cape birder Ingrid Whitaker had earlier reported seeing a Little Blue Heron! Said to appear in the hot days of July and August this elegant Little Blue has a blue-gray belly versus the Tri-colored Heron which has a white belly. Additionally, in their first year Little Blue’s are almost entirely pure white and often mistaken for Snowy Egrets. First confirmed breeding in Maine was not until 1971 and yearly surveys taken on Stratton island report having three pairs breeding in most years. I also spied a single Nelson’s Sparrow dashing from one haunt to another.

Additional mentionings from across town include a male Belted Kingfisher and many Cedar Waxwings sallying and gleaning over the Pond Cove brook corridor in Robinson Woods III, Seven Piping Plovers along Kettle Cove Beach on July 29 and an Artic Tern, a Black Guillemot and a Bonaparte’s Gull just offshore from Stratton Island on the last day of July.