Local birding report

As the days grow shorter and neotropical migrants are well on their way to wintering haunts, birders begin to eagerly anticipate a report issued every autumn for the last twenty-three years called the Winter Finch Forecast.

According to the 2023-2024 report, this fall and winter look to be a promising flight year for one boreal finch in particular, the Pine Siskins. The research states that due to a poor White Spruce crop in much of the boreal forests, large numbers of Pine Siskins have been heading southward. At migration monitoring stations in Tadous-sac, Quebec there were daily reports of thousands of siskins passing through starting in mid-September.

A goldfinch in disguise, the constantly atwitter Spinus pinus is similar in size and shape to that of our resident American Goldfinch but its bill is longer and slimmer. A siskin’s body and head are distinctly streaked much like a sparrow – capped off with subtle golden colored edgings running wingtip to tail. Listen for these nomadic finches in your local patch of pine trees - their wheezy, whispering trills fill the air as a flock springs out from a sheltered nook, swirling back and forth and round-about.

As for my own historical sightings in Cape, in January of this year I had a single bird mixed in with a flock of Goldfinches in our yard and last year I found a small band of siskins within the old pine grove within Runaway Farm. In early November of 2020 a flock of thirty Pine Siskins stuck around our tube feeder for nearly two weeks.

According to this forecast Red Crossbills are also expected to turn up in widespread areas across the east this winter. Males are brick-red and females are mostly yellowish olive. Both have unique twisted bills that cross when closed. Their specialized bills give these boreal finches an advantage over other finches when it comes to breaking into unopened seed cones.

Interestingly, the distinct regional differences between Red Crossbills such as flight calls and bill shapes have resulted in ornithologists rethinking these different groups as “types” rather than subspecies. In most cases Crossbills will only breed with their own type, a term scientists call assortative mating. To date, ten North American and more than a dozen Eurasian types of Red Crossbills have been identified and it is possible that we will see more types recognized as full species soon. The most often heard calls from Crossbills come while in flight. Listen for their short, dry jip and slower, richer toop calls. Interestingly, according to my records, over the last five years I have not yet seen or heard a Red-crossbill in Cape Elizabeth.

On a related note, I had been wondering how the wildfires from this past summer had impacted boreal birds. The author of the report Tyler Hoard made comment that the effects were minimal because much of the conifers that burned had experienced a significant cone crop the year prior to the wildfires. Because bumper crops do not occur every year for the same tree, the overall impact that the fires had on food sources was limited.

Additional notes from the yard and field include, on the morning of October 27 I was lured to the bedroom window by a peculiar call described by some as a loud “puckering kiss.” As I waited patiently, a rich yellow-green warbler with a glossy blue-black crown spot emerged from the lower section of an overgrown Lilac bush and perched perfectly still on a branch no more than three feet from where I was positioned. The black cap atop this little fellow’s head was the giveaway, a Wilson’s Warbler and a late in the season traveler at that. Although Wilson’s Warblers rarely sing during migration this bird, who is characteristically full of perky restlessness and song, launched into a hurried Goldfinch like trill followed by a slightly harsh, low-toned chut.

According to Peter Vickery’s “Birds of Maine,” the Wilson’s Warbler is fairly a common but never numerous warbler who mostly breeds in northern and down-eastern parts of the state and is seen only on occasion in late October into November.

I was again drawn to my bedroom later that morning, this time by an odd scratching noise. Upon entering the room, I immediately noticed that there was a Carolina Wren sitting atop the lampshade on my bedside table! The bird must have come through a slightly ajar window in the bathroom. Carolina Wrens are ever curious characters who love to explore. Although I did not want to deprive this little fellow of his adventures, I opened the window and, with a cock of its tail the wren went flew out and was on its merry way.

The following morning of October 28 along Crescent Beach State Park I noted lingering Yellow-rumped Warblers and secretly singing White-throated Sparrows along with two Immature Bonaparte’s Gulls and a pair of Red-necked Grebes off Richmond Island. There was also a report on this day of a female Indigo Bunting discovered within Two Lights State Park.

At about this time every year my mind starts to drift to thoughts of one my favorite owls, the Short-eared Owl. For me, the buoyant, mothlike flight of a hunting short-eared Owl exemplifies the poetry of motion. Listed as threatened in Maine, this diurnal owl that is about the same size as an American Crow, nests on the ground and is an uncommon to rare breeder across open habitats in Northern and Eastern Maine. Short-eareds are most often seen between October and late December with small numbers of these owls wintering along our coastal plains.

One of the most widely distributed owls in the world, this bird can travel long distances over vast expanses of open ocean. In fact, I have seen the Hawaiian version of this owl, called a Pueo on Maui and on the Azorean Island of Sao Miguel. Locally I last saw this owl on the Portland International Jetport in 2021 and along the Scarborough marsh in December of 2018.