September 8-17, 2024 with Sam Wilson
It hardly felt like fall with 80 degree highs and clear blue skies for the entirety of the tour but we certainly weren't complaining about the perfect weather. A sizable cold front is always nice to have during migration but we had enough light NW winds to send us some nice flocks of neotropical migrants our way. Seas were glassy calm for our pelagic trip out with Maine Audubon out into the Gulf of Maine and continued for a second exciting boat trip out into the Canadian waters of Passamaquoddy Bay.
Our first full day took advantage of southern Maine's mix of sandy beaches and rocky outcrops to find migrant shorebirds. We were fortunate to get great looks at some sought after and sometimes difficult to find migrants like White-rumped and Baird's Sandpiper, both Dowitcher species, and an exciting flyover American Golden-plover. We also targeted some local breeders and were lucky to find a pair of Piping Plovers who nearly ran over our feet! It was great to see the next generation of these endangered birds so close and at this late date, as most of these birds have already begun their journeys south to their winter home in the Bahamas. A couple families of American Oystercatchers at East Point were also a nice surprise, hanging out on the rocks amongst the hundreds of Common Eiders, rafts of these large sea ducks ever-present near rocky headlands. We finished off a big day of birding with some delicious local lobster rolls at a restaurant on the marsh while watching Black-crowned Night-Herons fly in at sunset.
Moving north and on our way to Monhegan Island, we stopped at some inland locations for pond and marsh birds like Pied-billed Grebes and Wood Ducks. Unfortunately, a flat tire stalled our progress, but after a fairly quick tire change we hit the road again! Time had been built in to insure our departure to Monhegan, and we quickly forgot about our vehicle woes after boarding the charming Monhegan Ferry. We had a beautiful passage day off the coast to the very special Monhegan Island. Cape May Warblers greeted us from the island's fir trees before our first dinner at Monhegan House. The cuisine we enjoyed each night at MOHO was agreed to be the best of the trip, with a set menu by gourmet chefs and professional bakers highlighting Maine's diversity of delicious food beyond the lobster roll.
One of the charms of Monhegan island is the lack of vehicles for visiting tourists, the island being small enough to leisurely walk from one side to the other in less time than it takes to watch an episode of Seinfeld. Each morning, we began the day with coffee and some fresh baked goods before an excursion looking for new island arrivals, spotting a slew of warblers, vireos and other passerines. We enjoyed the 'pink pink' calls of Bobolinks, the squeeks of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and zits, zeeps, and buzzes of migrant warblers arriving on the island. After a delicious multi-course breakfast later in the morning (deemed 'second breakfast') we set out again on foot to different areas of the island, finding exciting seabirds like White-winged Scoters, Black Guillemots, Great Cormorants and the procession of passerine migrants fueling up for their journeys into the late afternoon. Raptors were not in short supply, including 3 species of falcons we saw hunting tired migrants on the island. We even witnessed a quick but thrilling chase of a Merlin in hot pursuit of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird! Other bird highlights on the second and third day included Solitary Sandpiper, Philadelphia Vireo, Winter Wren, Black-throated Green Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, good numbers of Baltimore Orioles, and Red-eyed Vireos seemingly everywhere we looked. Monhegan is an absolute delight and the summery weather actually made it quite warm for most of our stay there!
After leaving the island, a vehicle swap, and our own migration north to Bar Harbor, we enjoyed a day of scenic day birding in Acadia National Park. Besides the natural beauty of Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island afforded us both some fun forest and coastal birds. A morning stop in the wetlands of Sier de Monts Spring netted Swamp Sparrow, Northern Parulas, and an extremely cooperative Ovenbird. We moved on to some retention ponds by the highschool for some migrant birds like Solitary Sandpiper and a quick look at Purple Finch. After a lunch on the water at beautiful Southwest Harbor, we went to the seawall, spotting Red-necked Grebe, Common Loon, and local Black Ducks. It was nice to see the road opened here as there had been a powerful winter storm that caused major damage to the infrastucture of these exposed headlands.
The next day was the highly anticipated Maine Audubon Pelagic trip; it was a showstopper! It also may have been the calmest seas I have seen for a pelagic trip on the Atlantic seaboard! Though we didn't have the winds for large numbers of expected shearwaters, we encountered all three jaegers and a fantastic flyby of the beastly South Polar Skua. We encountered both Phalaropes, two tern species, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake, Wilson's and Leach's Storm Petrels, Great and Manx Shearwater, and great looks at 3 alcid species, Atlantic Puffins, Black Guillemots, and Razorbills. Another highlight was the absolute abundance of offshore marine life including Atlantic White-sided Dolphins bowriding the boat, many Long-finned Pilot Whales, and an impressive show of feeding Humpback Whales, Minke's, and a couple of Fin Whales. There was even a bit of tropical meets polar feel, with many sightings of Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) sunning themselves on the surface while streams of Northern Gannets flew overhead.
Our last day we headed all the way Downeast to Eastport - the eastern most point in the US, for a half day boat trip out Passamaquaddy Bay.
We were tipped off by Captain Butch to a possible rarity in the area hanging out by the famous Old Sow whirlpool bridging the Canadian-US marine border, and after sifting through 1000's of Bonaparte's Gulls managed to find a Sabine's Gull! Quite the exciting rarity almost anywhere, this individual was a sharp, fresh looking juvenile that allowed close approach as we spun in the turbulent whirlpool. We capped off the boat trip with point blank Razorbills, Great Cormorants, and simply enjoying the impressive spectacle of Bonaparte's Gulls.
We spent some additional time that afternoon at the paradoxically named West Quoddy Light (eastern most point in US) and a patch of coastal spruce forest where we had a few flocks of warblers moving through the dense canopy. We spent one last night in beautiful Bar Harbor before having to bid Maine adieu.
In addition to birds, we had some great Mammal sightings including:
American Mink, Wood Chuck, Eastern Chipmunk, Red Squirrel ,White-tailed Deer, Harbor Seal, Grey Seal, Harbor Porpoise, Atlantic White-sided Dolphin, Humpback Whale, Fin Whale, (Possible) Sei Whale, and Long-finned Pilot Whale. Herps included Green Frog & Painted Turtle.
Other notable marine life included Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish) and Blue Shark.
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/274126
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/mhg24TRIPLIST.pdf
Sam Wilson