This summer we had an opportunity to see a lot of Maine. We traveled the entire length of it—and it is big! My wife, Pam, was going to a course sponsored by the New England Wildflower Society (NEWS) up along the St. John River. I decided to tag along as I had never been to Aroostook County and northern Maine before. No sooner had we settled into our cabin near Shin Pond (north of Baxter State Park) than we saw a couple of rose-breasted grosbeaks. This bird used to be fairly common in Harvard twenty years ago, but recent sightings have been fewer and fewer. The female grosbeak is similar to a large sparrow, but the male is resplendent with a black head and a bright red triangle of feathers on a white breast—unmistakable. We settled in for the night listening to the call of common loons echoing up and down Shin Pond.
The next day we drove up to Caribou, and I sent Pam off with the NEWS group to look for orchids. I hung out along the road and saw what at first glance I thought was a heron. I followed its glide path down into what turned out to be a small pond. I stealthily crept into the pond through the brush, though apparently not stealthily enough, as I flushed what turned out to be an American bittern that flew about 30 feet across to the other side of the water, giving me an excellent view of it.
The next day we had a long drive up to Fort Kent and then up past Allagash, where we stopped beside the river. When I got out, we saw a bald eagle floating effortlessly in the breezes above the river. The rest of the trip was spent traveling from spot to spot looking for wildflowers, which gave me a great introduction to this beautiful part of Maine. After four days, we drove home, amazed that we had driven over 1,200 miles and never left Maine!
A week later, we caught the ferry over to Monhegan Island. This island, known for its artists and its artist colony, is a great place to bird. Spring and fall migrations are especially interesting on Monhegan. The cottage we were lucky enough to stay in for a week was right on Lobster Cove. Sitting down looking at the surf crashing over the rocks, the first birds I saw were northern gannets. These open-ocean birds nest in Canada (maybe they were already moving south) and usually travel in groups. They are distinguished by their large size—northern gannets have a six-foot wingspan—and pointed white wings with black tips. The spectacular thing about these birds is their feeding habit of plunge diving from great heights into the sea to capture their fish for food.
Although I did hike around the island to enjoy its Rockwell Kent scenery, I actually spotted most of the birds I wanted to sitting on the lawn in front of the cottage, listening and watching the surf crash against the rocks.
Cedar waxwings were plentiful, as well as the usual gulls (laughing, heron, and black backed) and common terns. I also saw black throated green, common yellowthroat, and yellow warblers. A pheasant and her seven chicks (probably three-to-five days old) were a constant presence around the cottage. At one point they ventured to within four feet of me while I was sitting reading on the lawn.
As we were leaving Monhegan on the ferry, I spotted black guillemots on the rocks in the harbor. These distinctive duck-like birds are black with a large white shoulder patch and bright orange-red feet that dangle as they fly. Mid-journey, we spotted Wilson’s storm petrels skimming the ocean like swallows.
We stayed a few more days in Chamberlain, which gave me the opportunity to take the puffin cruise out of New Harbor to the Eastern Egg Rock where the puffins breed. The island is in Muscongus Bay, about twenty minutes from New Harbor, and the southernmost breeding ground for the Atlantic puffin.
Back in the late ’70s, I believe there was only one pair of puffins left on the whole coast of Maine. Through an intensive relocation effort by ornithologist Dr. Stephen W. Kress and the efforts of Project Puffin, there are now 82 nesting pairs on the rocky island. Because it was foggy on our cruise, it was impossible to pick out the birds on the island, but we did see several puffins swimming and fishing in the water not 60 feet from the boat—one of the great sightings in my birding experience.
Traveling back through the fog, I had plenty of time to think that maybe there is hope for this world yet. From what was mainly human interference, the puffins were almost totally eliminated. Now through human intervention the puffins are thriving. In you are ever in Rockland, stop by Maine Audubon to see the Project Puffin film which documents the puffin restoration work and recovery.
David Durrant lives with his wife, Pamela, on East Bare Hill Road at MichelDever farm
where they run their business, Durrant Design, and watch birds—their own peacocks, chickens, and wild birds.
