Valerie and I spent a week in mid-September vacationing in Maine. We visited Acadia National Park for the first three days of our trip, and the remaining days were spent on Monhegan Island. The weather was fantastic for the entire week, in fact we got a early taste of October like temps on Thursday morning when the temperature got down into the mid thirties. The birding was pretty slow up around Acadia, but we were there primarily to take in the awesome sights of Acadia. Monhegan was a different story....birding was the main objective. We ended our stay with about 85 species, but I must confess I was a little disappointed with the number of birds. We had a lot of ones and two's of this, and a few threes and four's of that.... no huge numbers of Warblers, Vireo's, Sparrows or even raptors. However, it's still Monhegan and it remains one of my favorite places to bird in New England.
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| American Golden-Plover. Juv |
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| Acadia National Park-view from Cadillac Mt. |
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| Jordon Pond-Acadia |
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| Bass Harbor Lighthouse |
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| Sunset on Cadillac Mt |
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| Black Guillemot - Port Clyde |
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| Harbor Porpoise- |
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| Bald Eagle |
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| Lark Sparrow |
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| Blue-winged Teal- Ice Pond. |
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| Sunset at Trailing Yew |
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| Lobster Cove |
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| Spotted Sandpiper-Lobster Cove |
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| Monhegan Island celebrated 400 years this past July. |
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| Valerie at Blackhead |
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| Our first Rainbows on the Island |
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| Prairie Warbler-one of two...put on a great show. |
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One of the highlights of the trip were the dozens and dozens of Monarch Butterfly's migrating through Monhegan.
Certainly not the numbers I used to encounter, but it's a nice start considering the really low numbers back home. |
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| Warbling Vireo |
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| Philadelphia Vireo |
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| Certainly a great addition to the late afternoon activities. |
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| Red-eyed Vireo- Surprisingly, very few for mid-September. |
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| Rusty Blackbird-Ice Pond |
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| Merlin-Ice Pond |
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| Imm Red-headed Woodpecker. I've only had a few of these guys over the years. |
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| Cape May Warbler- about 6 birds put on a nice show for a couple of days in the large spruce trees on the way to the Dock. |
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| Yellow Warbler |
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| Northern Parula |
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| Thankfully just a Pirate Flag...No Pirates! |
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| Overlooking the village |
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| Baltimore Oriole |
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| Wilson's Warbler |
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| We will return! |
