ESTESBOG

 

Mother Nature was friendlier during my second week, giving me two full days of sunshine and a chance to do a little serious birding with my long-time mentor and friend, Don Mairs. We spent one of those days in the central Kennebec River Valley and the second in Sunkhaze Meadow National Wildlife Refuge. Between the two days we checked out both boreal and eastern deciduous habitats, lakes, marshes, rivers, and hayfields. One striking contrast between Maine’s wet northern habitats and high plains riparian woodland is the huge variety of nesting wood warblers. All warblers observed were in adult spring plumage, so the young were still in the nests at that time. Don’s excellent field speakers and I-Pod served us well in calling soras into camera range and pulling some of the more shy species into the open.

Birds:

 

Canada goose

Mallard

Wild turkey

Common loon

Pied-billed grebe

Double-crested cormorant

Great blue heron

Turkey vulture

Osprey

Bald eagle

Broad-winged hawk

Red-tailed hawk

American kestrel

Sora

Killdeer

Spotted sandpiper

Ring-billed gull

Black tern

Rock pigeon

Mourning dove

Chimney swift

Ruby-throated hummingbird

Belted kingfisher

Yellow-bellied sapsucker

Downy woodpecker

Hairy woodpecker

Northern flicker

Olive-sided flycatcher

Yellow-bellied flycatcher L

Alder flycatcher

Eastern phoebe

Great crested flycatcher

Eastern kingbird

Blue-headed vireo

Warbling vireo

Red-eyed vireo

Blue jay

American crow

Common raven

Purple martin

Tree swallow

Bank swallow

Cliff swallow

Barn swallow

Black-capped chickadee

Red-breasted nuthatch

White-breasted nuthatch

Eastern bluebird

Veery

Hermit thrush

American robin

Gray catbird

Northern mockingbird

Brown thrasher

European starling

Cedar waxwing

Nashville warbler

Northern parula

Chestnut-sided warbler

Yellow warbler

Magnolia warbler

Yellow-rumped warbler, myrtle race

Black-throated blue warbler

Black-throated green warbler

Pine warbler

Palm warbler, yellow race

Bay-breasted warbler

Blackpoll warbler

Black-and-white warbler

American redstart

Ovenbird

Common yellowthroat

Scarlet tanager

Chipping sparrow

Field sparrow

Savannah sparrow

Song sparrow

Swamp sparrow

Dark-eyed junco, slate-colored race

Northern cardinal

Rose-breasted grosbeak

Bobolink

Red-winged blackbird

Eastern meadowlark

Common grackle

Brown-headed cowbird

Baltimore oriole

Purple finch

American goldfinch

House sparrow

 

Mammals:

 

Beaver

Eastern chipmunk

Gray squirrel

House mouse

Red fox

Red squirrel

Whitetail deer

 

Herptiles:

 

American toad

Bullfrog

Common garter snake

Green frog

Wood frog