A Look Back to Summer, on a Chilly February Friday Part 1

Its the middle of February here in eastern PA, and while this winter has been exceptionally mild and snow-free, its still winter none the less. So, on this chilly Friday morning my thoughts are of last summer, on my trip to Maine with Brandon, Golden-winged Warbler work and banding and a Deleware Pelagic that finally netted me my long-awaited Pomarine Jaeger.

In June, Brandon and I took a few days off from

banding Gold

en-winged Warble

rs before our vegetation sampling start

ed to visit my family near Brooklyn,

Maine and try and track down a few lifers, as well as some species we hadn't seen in a while.

After a 10 hour

drive we found ourselves at my Aunt June and Uncle Jim's house in Brooklyn, right on a beautiful peninsula jutting out on the Maine coast. This was Brandon's first trip to Maine, and though I had fallen in love with this place as a child, it had been almost 14 years since I had last visited. Despite this fact, it felt right at

home, and it was great to see my family again.

We were only about 20 miles from Mount Desert Island a

s the crow flies, but soon learned that no destination on the Maine

coast was ever closer than an hour or two's drive. We bade farewell for the time being to Aunt June and Uncle Jim, and set out to bird MDI for a few days before heading further up the coast, then to Baxter State Park before returning to Brooklyn for a day or two, then heading back

to Deleware State Forest in PA and our dreaded vegetatio

n sa

mpling.

Birding on MDI was fabulous, and though we had a few target species in mind we birded quite leisurely, and the only lifer we managed to stumble upon was Brandon's first Black Guillemot. I had only seen one of these before, a winter plumaged bird at Barnegat Light in 200

6, so it was a delight to see them in the

ir breeding garb, quite common among the inlets and bays here.

Cadillac Mountain was beautiful, and though we missed targets like Boreal Chick

adee and Gray Jay it was still nice to see and hear species like Nashville Warbler and Ruby-crowned Kinglet that we usually only see during migration. The many Common Eiders and Common Goldeneye out on the bay also gave things a northern feel.

We left MDI and headed upthe coast, towards Cutler and

Machias Seal Island, then Baxter State Park. At Cutler, the boat ride to Machias Seal Island was pleasant, and upon arriving at the island we were treated to close views of Atlantic Puffin, Razorbill, C

ommon Murre, Roseate and Arctic Terns and many Gulls. The small boat to the island could only hold a certain number of people, so I let B

randon go onto the island and volunteered to stay back on the larger boat. It wasn't that bad though, as we took a small row boat around the island while the rest of the group got to check out the breeding colonies up close, and we got to see all of the same species up close out on the water. There were also several "Bridled" Common Murres, a special variation found mostly on the Atlantic coast, where the Common Murres have a

white circle around the eye and a white stripe behind the eye. It was a gorgeous day, the water as smooth as glass, sun shining and cool but comfortable temperatures.

After Cutler, we headed deep into Baxter

State Park, where we camped for a few days and e

njoyed the boreal north woods. We found Brandon's lifer Boreal Chickadees, and though we failed to find targets like Bicknell's Thrush and Spruce Grouse, we were happy enjoying the boreal breeders like Grey-cheeked and Swainson's Thrushes, Ruffed Grouse,

and Blackpoll and Bay-breasted Warblers. We then returned to Brooklyn, and on our last night at Aunt June and Uncle Jim's, had a Northern Saw-whet Owl calling in their backyard. On our last day before departing for home, we took a whale watching boat out of Bar Harbor, where we saw a pair of Humpback Whales up close, as well as a few trip ticks like Greater Shearwater and Wilson's Storm-petrel. A dist

ant storm-petrel was most likely a Leach's, though it was too far to ID for certain. A great way to end our Maine excursion before driving through some pretty wild thunderstorms on the way home. It was tough leaving, especia

lly knowing what lay ahead of us: weeks of hot and sweaty vegetation sampling znd very little bird watching. We left knowing there was still much to explore in the boreal forests and miles of coastline in Maine, and vowed to return as soon as possible.

To Be Continued...