Weskeag/Thomaston

[Don and Sherry Reimer]

At high tide this morning, a single glossy ibis probing the roadside pools. Also a few shorebirds - both yellowlegs, 1 s-b dowitcher and small flocks of semi-pal and least sandpiper. A momentary pass by a young peregrine. On a Thomaston rooftop, I photographed an unusual American Crow with a super-length curved lower mandible that extended an inch or so beyond the upper mandible. The crow lowers himself to a slightly horizontal posture to scoop up available food items. This crow's unique mandibular tool appeared to work perfectly well for extracting insects(?) from among corrugated metal roofing seams. It also made a formidable weapon when jabbed emphatically at the chests of two competing crows. Ring-billed gull numbers are building around the harbor side, and a leg-banded Montreal gull, F2Z, has returned to Rockland for a 4th year from his Canadian nesting colony.

Don