It’s been a week of errors.
I’m presenting a program on how to identify birds faster and easier for the Penobscot Valley Chapter of Maine Audubon. It’s at Fields Pond Audubon Center at 7 p.m. Friday, March 1.
As I promised last week, this will also be shared on Zoom, and the link to access the free program is on the chapter website.
Then, I promptly posted the wrong web address in last week’s column, outdated by at least six years.
The correct Zoom link is posted at pvc.maineaudubon.org. Now if we can just pull off the technical challenges of hybrid Zooming a live program without error. It worked for last month’s program, and I give it a 50/50 chance, hopefully better.
In mid-December, I tipped off readers to a unique birding opportunity. The largest wintering flock of harlequin ducks on the east coast gathers annually at the south end of Isle au Haut.
For years, the Isle au Haut ferry made a special trip out to see them. COVID-19 put a temporary end to the event, but we decided to resurrect it this year.
A winter boat trip into the North Atlantic might seem daunting. I know of only one other boat in the eastern United States that makes winter birding trips, and that’s in Hatteras, North Carolina.
I was concerned that we might not get enough people.
I was wrong.
The first trip filled as soon as reservations became available. We scheduled a second trip. That filled immediately. We added a third. That sold out.
For the record, my wife said that I was wrong to be worried about filling such a unique trip.
For those who “missed the boat,” may I suggest going on one of the puffin trips the Isle au Haut ferry schedules this summer?
In that same December column. I also mentioned a unique trip with Bar Harbor Whale Watch. A special Downeast Offshore Seabirds & Lighthouse Cruise will leave the dock on Saturday, July 20.
I’ll be co-hosting with renowned whale expert Zack Klyver. Zack is so familiar with whales in the Gulf of Maine that he’s on a first-name basis with most of them.
Well, maybe that’s not so special. Whales only have one name.
When this week started, there were only 26 tickets left. Details are at barharborwhales.com/downeast-offshore-seabird-and-lighthouse-cruise.
Last Sunday was a beautiful, cloudless day in Acadia National Park — a perfect day to lead a group of 14 birders around Mount Desert Island. There were good omens as we gathered at Fields Pond Audubon Center. Five eastern bluebirds chirped happily from the rooftop and adjacent trees.
Hadley Point was the first stop on our way to Bar Harbor. Seabirds were mostly cooperative, giving us reasonable views of multiple species.
I spotted a pair of ducks winging our way, and confidently called out “Black scoters!”
They weren’t. As they drew closer, it became obvious they were American black ducks, not scoters.
Later, in Seal Harbor, I pointed out a black guillemot floating a few hundred yards offshore. Nope. It was a buoy, with frayed rope that looked like feathers and a beak.
Hmmm. If I hadn’t brought my spotting scope along, nobody would have been the wiser.
I was the scorekeeper for Sunday’s Acadia trip, and there are certain to be errors in my tally — birds forgotten or miscounted. When we arrived at Seawall in Manset, the roadside was a pile of storm-tossed boulders, bulldozed from the pavement but still blocking views.
It’s my favorite birding spot on the island. So, at that point, I gave up counting.
Still, the group tallied 34 species, plus whatever I forgot:
American black duck (7), American crow (10), American goldfinch (19), American robin (30+), bald eagle (2), black guillemot (16), black scoter (12), black-capped chickadee (7), blue jay (1), Bohemian waxwing (40+), bufflehead (58), Canada goose (many), common eider (11), common goldeneye (17), common loon (62), downy woodpecker (2), eastern bluebird (5), European starling (4), great black-backed gull (2), great cormorant (4), hairy woodpecker (1), herring gull (many), horned grebe (3), long-tailed duck (18), mallard (8), mourning dove (12), northern cardinal (2), red-breasted merganser (17), red-breasted nuthatch (1), ring-billed gull (2), surf scoter (6), tufted titmouse (2), white-breasted nuthatch (2), white-winged scoter (3).
Not bad. But I think I could have done better.
On Monday night, I drove to Brunswick for a presentation to the Merrymeeting Chapter of Maine Audubon. The projector failed.
That was my week. How was yours?