Fall migration is underway.
You can go somewhere to watch it, perhaps a mountaintop for hawks or a mudflat for sandpipers. Or you can just stay home and watch it.
Most songbirds migrate at night. At daybreak, they settle down wherever they are and forage, refueling for the next leg of the flight. You are most likely to find a mixed flock of songbirds, if you’re out looking for them, in the early morning, after a favorable overnight breeze. A tailwind from the northwest is best, but a calm night will suffice.
On such a morning, I’ll step out into my lakeside yard just to see what’s happening. Better yet, I’ll try to find a chore that can be done outdoors, perhaps sitting on my deck, perhaps writing a “Good Birding” column, perhaps right now. Drop-in migrants don’t make a lot of noise, but there’s plenty of eye-catching movement as they scramble around for food.
Of course, to recognize what’s new in your yard, you must know what’s old. For instance, right this minute, I’m watching a palm warbler flit across the lawn. It’s a bird I see in my yard only in migration. It nests in boggy areas, and my yard isn’t that.
Some birds that nest farther north seem to be migrating early. Reports of bay-breasted warblers being seen in southern Maine started weeks ago. Since Maine set records for both heat and rainfall this summer, some birds may have simply given up prematurely. You know the old saying: “If you don’t like the weather in Maine, wait a month. Or two.”
Some warblers may have left Canada early because much of their breeding territory caught fire. But enough about climate change.
Several local spots are good for watching migration. Essex Woods is my favorite. That’s the wetland visible from the highway, below the winter sledding hill in Bangor. Ducks prefer to nest out of sight. But once their family duties are completed, waterfowl often collect in places that appear safe.
Ironically, there’s no safer place than in city parks, where they can’t be hunted. There are often plenty of people around, but they stick to the trails. Ducks quickly figure out that no one is going to enter the fouled, fowled water to bother them.
Essex Woods is also surprisingly good for shorebirds this time of year. Solitary sandpipers aren’t known to nest in Maine, but they migrate from Canada right about now. They love shallow, muddy areas, which certainly describes Essex Woods. I usually find least sandpipers in the mud, as well, and other shorebirds are possible.
Great egrets also show up in Essex Woods in late summer, surprising people. Egrets nest in southern Maine. Eventually they fly farther south to spend the winter, but not before they’ve engaged in behavior called “post-breeding dispersal.” Some detour northward before heading south. This behavior may give birds a chance to investigate new breeding areas, just in case they’re needed in the future.
Egrets roaming into Bangor is no longer a surprise, but they’re now wandering all the way to Lubec and beyond. Bunches of them. Uh-oh. But enough about climate change.
Peek into other muddy places to check for migrating birds. The Caribou Bog Conservation Area is another local favorite. This site was previously known as Taylor Bait Farm, located adjacent to the Orono landfill off Forest Avenue.
Sebasticook Lake in Newport has been famous as a migrant trap for decades. As the water level drops in late summer, it concentrates the fish that diving ducks seek. Dabbling ducks find it easier to dine along the shoreline. Shorebirds gather in the newly exposed mud.
This same phenomenon can happen on any Maine lake with a drawdown in August and September. The muddy edge of the Penobscot River at low tide is inviting, too.
I’d leave my porch and go check the mud right now, but another surprise species is visiting my suet feeder. Red-bellied woodpeckers are a southern bird that is moving north now that Maine’s harsh winters aren’t so harsh. The species was first spotted in Maine in 1958. Twenty years ago, there was a noticeable expansion, but still mostly confined to southern Maine. I suspect another major advance is happening.
I’ve had a few red-bellied woodpecker sightings in my yard over the years, but never during breeding season. Suddenly, I’m hosting a breeding pair of these southern immigrants. They apparently nested nearby.
But enough about climate change.
