Once again, the Birds of Casco Bay tour with Seacoast Tours and Freeport Wild Bird Supply, offered up a “Shorebird Special” for our summer trip together. We again focused on the narrow, dredged boat channel of the Royal puts us in close proximity to shorebirds foraging along the water’s edge, affording close-up views – instead of straining through a scope through heat shimmer!
Departing from the South Freeport Town Landing, we motored past Winslow Park, rounded Mosier Island and up the Royal River. Ospreys were abundant (30+) throughout the trip, and we had a total of 3 Bald Eagles, including great views of two perched conspicuously along the Royal. As usual, Herring, Great Black-backed, and Ring-billed Gulls were abundant, with numerous ledges full of Double-crested Cormorants and rafts of Common Eiders. Laughing Gulls (125+) were also common today, but not a single Common Tern was encountered this year.
While in the Royal, we enjoyed great looks at shorebirds up close and personal along the river channel, including several mixed groups of Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, and side-by-side comparisons (especially of feeding style) of Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs were enjoyed. A couple of Spotted Sandpipers were seen as well. Unfortunately, today, the masses of shorebirds, including Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers were just too far into a mudflat with far too much very shallow water between us.
Scattered Snowy Egrets were punctuated by a total of four Great Egrets, while the occasional stately and stoic Great Blue Heron was spotted here and there throughout the bay.
Heading over to Upper Green Island, fresh juvenile Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls from the small colony here were compared, but no oystercatchers this year. Meanwhile, throughout the day, we kept one eye to the sky and checking every ledge in the hopes of relocating an American White Pelican that was seen the day before in Maquoit and Middle Bays.
We didn’t hear of any reports this am, but Captain Peter and I decided we wanted to search, so we decided to check the mouth of Maquoit Bay, at a similar tide to when the bird was first spotted the day before. As we were heading that way, I spotted what a appeared to be a very large, very pale, and very slowly-flapping bird in the extreme distance, over and to the east of Lower Goose Island, heading due south. Unfortunately, it dipped below treeline (suggesting it was passing between the Gooses and Harpswell Neck) before all but one person got on it. We motored off the south of the Gooses, but never saw it or anything else suggestive again. We then checked the ledges around Little Whaleboat to no avail. I really don't know what besides the pelican it could have been, but alas, it was far too far to confirm, and so we will never know! (Edit: after the pelican was seen around the bay on the following day, we received a photo of the pelican on the water at Upper Goose Island, shortly before our UFO!")
However, this diversion brought us to the American Oystercatchers after all! Two birds (at least one was an adult) were foraging along the water’s edge here. Could this be the Upper Green Pair foraging afield before returning to their kid(s) hiding in the grass on the home island? Was this one adult with a fully-grown fledgling? Or did the pair fail to breed this year? So many questions! Five or six Ruddy Turnstones (our 9th shorebird species) were also present, suggesting this is definitely a worthy place to check in the future.
While we were not exactly on time in our return to Freeport harbor, we at least put in a good effort to find the pelican, enjoyed some migrant shorebirds and other bay denizens, and basked in the unbelievably glorious, still day we were fortunate to be on the water for.
