How did we get this lucky? The main of Maine barely bounded on this morning’s pelagic trip out of Bar Harbor, and the 150 or so participants who joined us on board the Friendship Five had both great views of the birds and a pleasant trip on the water: not something to be taken for [...]

Ann, Elizabeth, and I decided to explore a new area this morning, Reid and Popham Beach State Parks, both near Bath. It’s beautiful country down there, and while we waited for the gates to open at Reid, we enjoyed boreal specialties including Blue-headed Vireo and Blackburnian and Black-throated Green Warblers just above our heads. Inside [...]

A fun day with a great group on Maine’s Schoodic Peninsula left us wondering whether Spruce Grouse was the Montezuma Quail of Maine, or Montezuma Quail the Spruce Grouse of Arizona….
Today’s highlight actually came after we left the boreal forest and its specialties for blueberry “barrens” at the north end of the peninsula. These artificial [...]

Why do I always want to write “Arcadia”? This part of Maine is indeed idyllic, but on a warm, bright Sunday in June, anything but Edenic: I’d forgot how crowded these eastern national parks can get!
Our scouting today was a lot of fun anyway. The Hemlock Road produced good looks at American Redstart, Ovenbird, Chestnut-sided [...]

Another fine day of scouting, this time with Bill and then with Toby. We visited Acadia mostly for practical details (where are the accessible restrooms, which trails are wide enough, and so on), but we did see some nice birds even if just incidentally, including the first “natural” Peregrine Falcon aerie I’ve ever seen, a [...]