2007 Tour Narrative
Our 2007 Northern New England tour sampled the best of New England’s habitats from boreal and mixed forest in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, to the rugged “Down-East” coastline near Machias and Mount Desert Island, to the salt marshes and blueberry barrens near Portland. Along the way, we saw a fine mix of birds including several specialties and an abundance of breeding songbirds.
We began near Portland at Scarborough Marsh where we had fine views of several Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows along with Little Blue Heron, Glossy Ibis, Least Tern, and a few late migrant shorebirds. A short while later, a rest stop in Biddeford produced our only Fish Crows of the trip. We continued on to the 600-acre blueberry barrens known as Kennebunk Plains. This fascinating area held the nicest assortment of grassland and edge species of the tour including Wild Turkey, Upland Sandpiper, Eastern Bluebird, Brown Thrasher, Pine and Prairie Warblers, Eastern Towhee, Field, Vesper, Savannah, and Grasshopper Sparrows, Bobolink, and Eastern Meadowlark. As we headed into New Hampshire’s White Mountains, roadside stops yielded our first Common Loons and, at our first visit to high elevation stop at Pinkham Notch, we were surprised to see a flock of six White-winged Crossbills. What a way to start the tour!
Our exploration of the White Mountains yielded a bonanza of breeding birds, many in full song and all in a refreshingly lush, delightfully aromatic climate. Among the highlights were boreal specialties including Common Merganser, Ruffed Grouse, displaying Wilson’s Snipe, Olive-sided, Yellow-bellied, Alder, and Least Flycatchers, Blue-headed Vireo, Boreal Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Winter Wren, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Swainson’s and Hermit Thrushes, sixteen species of warblers including Nashville, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, and Canada, Purple Finch, Pine Siskin, and several more White-winged Crossbills. Our “sunset tour” to Mount Washington met with dense fog and strong winds gusting to over 50 mph. Needless to say, this made birding difficult and, although we heard at least seven Bicknell’s Thrushes, only one of us got to see one. Our disappointment was softened by hearing several displaying American Woodcocks at the base of the mountain.
The next day we ventured to the northernmost reaches of New Hampshire and Vermont where, along with better views of many of the birds we had seen in the White Mountains, we added Spruce Grouse (a stunning male posed for us at Moose Bog), Gray Jay, Veery, Mourning Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, and Indigo Bunting. We also saw several Moose, a sighting without which no trip to New England would be complete!
Our second attempt at Bicknell’s Thrush produced similar results to the first but at least we had a lovely hike up the Caps Ridge Trail, accompanied by the likes of Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Boreal Chickadee, Swainson’s Thrush, and Bay-breasted and Blackpoll Warblers. This little bit of exercise was a nice way to begin our long ride across Maine to Machias. Along the way, we made a few short stops, most notably at the Belegrade Marshes and saw several Black Terns along with Ring-necked Duck, Pied-billed Grebe, and a variety of swallows.
Our time in Machias was dampened (figuratively and literally) by Tropical Storm Barry which swept up the east coast and brought heavy seas and periods of rain to coastal Maine. The big disappointment was that our boat trip to Machias Seal Island was canceled. However, we still enjoyed birding in “Down-East” Maine and nearby Campobello Island, New Brunswick. Highlights at Campobello included touring the Roosevelt house, a lovely bog trail with Palm Warbler and Lincoln’s Sparrow, and a scenic cove with Black Guillemot and Surf and Black Scoters. We spent a lovely morning at Cobscook State Park and Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge where, among a long list of birds, we especially enjoyed excellent studies of Alder and Least Flycatchers and some sixteen species of warblers including Cape May, Blackburnian, Palm, Black-and-white, and Canada. Between birding forays, we also began our quest for the perfect lobster roll, with honorable mentions going out to the Waco Diner in Eastport and Helen’s in Machias.
At Mount Desert Island, we enjoyed an outstanding diversity of habitats and a relaxed birding environment. Upon arrival, we visited the Precipice Trail head where a stately Peregrine Falcon enjoyed its cliffside view of Frenchman’s Bay. At Bass Harbor Head, our seawatching produced three White-winged Scoters, scores of Common Eiders, dozens of Common Loons, at least 140 Black Guilemots, and both Harbor and Gray Seals. The adjacent forest was distinctly boreal in character and harbored such species as Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Magnolia and Black-throated Green Warblers. We were also visited here by a noisy Pileated Woodpecker. At Soeur de Monts, we explored a completely different habitat — deciduous forest — where we found such species as Eastern Wood-Pewee, Great Crested and Least Flycatchers, and Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Blue, Black-and-white, and Mourning Warblers. Our boat trip to Petite Manan Island and “The Ballpark” produced sightings of Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, Northern Gannet, Laughing and Iceland Gulls (the latter very rare in Maine in summer), Common and Arctic Terns, Razorbill, Black Guillemot, Atlantic Puffin, Harbor and Gray Seals, and Harbor Porpoise. We particularly enjoyed seeing the seabird colony at Petite Manan, having not visited Machias Seal Island. Aside from its birding attributes, Mount Desert Island offered some of the most spectacular scenery we’ve seen anywhere along with some fine cuisine (Stewman’s in Bar Harbor wins the lobster roll contest!).
Updated: July 2007