re Fish Crows (and sparrows galore) in Brunswick

[Jan Pierson]

John's good post about hearing Fish Crows on the Bowdoin campus this morning reminds me that I too wanted to mention their presence. We've been hearing them there since getting back to town on Saturday (Mar 29th) and Liz tells me she heard them there at least on Mar 24 before we left for a few days.

A big wave of migrant birds in our yard all of a sudden this morning:

60+ juncos

4 Fox Sparrows (one singing)

15+ Song Sparrows

1 American Tree Sparrow

10+ American Robins

All new arrivals. And as of this past Sunday, Middle Bay in Brunswick is ice-free for, best I can recall, the first time since early December (the longest frozen-bay stretch we've had for many, many years). Spring's a-coming!

Good birding all,

Jan

Jan Pierson
Field Guides Birding Tours
jpie...@fieldguides.com
www.fieldguides.com
www.facebook.com/fieldguides

[Mike Fahay]

At the risk of piling on - I, too spent some time w/ two Fish Crows behind Hanneford's in Brunswick this afternoon.  They were spending most of their time at the tippy-tops of two telephone poles, probing for something, and sometimes carrying off chunks of whitish material.  They also had an interaction w/ an Am Crow, where their mid-air sizes could be compared.  I played a tape, to which they responded with a long series of nasal calls, plus a few 'uh-oh' calls. 

Not only Middle Bay, but the upper reaches of Maquoit Bay are also ice-free (a first for me this spring), and today provided a bonanza of diversity and numbers of waterfowl.  The marsh creek and its banks held a solo No. Shoveler, but larger numbers of Gadwalls, Am Wigeons (there HAD to be a Eurasian in there somewhere), Pintails, GWTeals, and of course C Geese, Mallards and Blacks.  Also a few Grtr Yellowlegs.  All these were vis from the Rossmore Overlook, and none from the landing.  Out in open water here?  a few buffleheads. 

Harpswell Neck was also worth the trip this morning.

--
Maine birds mailing list
maine...@googlegroups.com
http://groups.google.com/group/maine-birds
https://sites.google.com/site/birding207
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maine birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to maine-birds...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.