MACHIAS SEAL ISLAND REPORT
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RALPH ELDRIDGE
Dec 11, 2021, 8:19:31 PM12/11/21
to Maine birds
I arrived back on the island around mid-day Thursday.
Although there was substantially less snow here than could be seen on the mainland, there was a fairly even spread of some 2 inches on the ground.
Getting settled in occupied most of my time until this morning (Saturday) so no birding right away.
This morning I made a brief excursion, trying to beat the incoming rain.
As might be expected, the few terrestrial birds were not very forth-coming.
I located 5 SONG SPARROWS, 2 TREE SPARROWS, 1 probable SAVANNAH SPARROW & 6 SNOW BUNTINGS. 1 EAGLE was foraging around the island for a couple hours but, in spite of dropping down several times, I never saw it find anything in the way of food.
Shorebirds were limited to the expected single winter species: PURPLE SANDPIPERS numbering a rather low of 9.
Water birds were a mixed bag with only 3 DOUBLE CRESTED & 6 GREAT CORMORANTS, 6 HERRING GULLS, 5 GREAT BLACK BACKED GULLS, 4 ICELAND GULLS, 7 COMMON EIDERS and 3 GANNETS. HARLEQUINS were alone ion presenting good numbers, actually well above expected, with at least 145 around the island. (That's 2 to 3 times our normal population.)
Although there was substantially less snow here than could be seen on the mainland, there was a fairly even spread of some 2 inches on the ground.
Getting settled in occupied most of my time until this morning (Saturday) so no birding right away.
This morning I made a brief excursion, trying to beat the incoming rain.
As might be expected, the few terrestrial birds were not very forth-coming.
I located 5 SONG SPARROWS, 2 TREE SPARROWS, 1 probable SAVANNAH SPARROW & 6 SNOW BUNTINGS. 1 EAGLE was foraging around the island for a couple hours but, in spite of dropping down several times, I never saw it find anything in the way of food.
Shorebirds were limited to the expected single winter species: PURPLE SANDPIPERS numbering a rather low of 9.
Water birds were a mixed bag with only 3 DOUBLE CRESTED & 6 GREAT CORMORANTS, 6 HERRING GULLS, 5 GREAT BLACK BACKED GULLS, 4 ICELAND GULLS, 7 COMMON EIDERS and 3 GANNETS. HARLEQUINS were alone ion presenting good numbers, actually well above expected, with at least 145 around the island. (That's 2 to 3 times our normal population.)
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