Surner Birding: Monhegan Island, Maine

I had the pleasure over the Memorial Day Weekend of leading the Hampshire Bird Club trip to Monhegan Island, Maine, The Island is located about ten miles off the coast of Maine and is easily one of the best birding locations in (Spring/Fall) New England.

We arrived at Port Clyde around 1:30pm, unloaded the cars, got the tickets and waited in the rain. The rain was light but steady and would remain so for the next day and a half. The boat ride out on the Elizabeth Ann was about an hour and fifteen long minutes to Monhegan. The seas were rough, (6 ft) and by the time we were nearing port, a few on board were looking a little “Green”.

We checked into the Trailing Yew, unpacked and went over the schedule for the next few days. One thing was apparent on our way to the Yew, there were birds on the Island, “Lots of Birds”. We had landed into a fallout. The next morning we had several Magnolia Warblers just on the stone wall! During are walks we constantly had fantastic looks at everything we encountered. It seems that every trip I’ve been on, there is always one warbler that out numbers them all….this year’s winner was the American Redstart. Redstarts were everywhere! Even on the beach feeding on sand fleas.

Without question the majority of the Redstarts were females or young males. They were so common, that non-birder’s would walk up to us and asked what the little bird was with yellow flashes in the wings and tail…..I would respond, AMERICAN REDSTART…….they would immediately fire back and say, no, no, these birds have yellow not red. I know, there female American Redstarts….oh.

Then we would do this all over again when we ran into the next non-birder.

Back to the weather……it was lousy! Many, if not all of us had multiple layers of clothing and rain gear, mittens and warm hats. This same system that brought us our raw and rainy weather, dumped three feet of snow into upper New York state. However, without this horrible weather we would not have had the birds we did. Besides the Redstarts, we had many Yellow, Magnolia, Canada, Wilson, Yellowthroats etc…all in all we had twenty one species of Warblers, five species of Vireo’s, and numerous Empid Flycatchers. We ended with 109 species of birds and 3 species of mammals.

By late Sunday afternoon the clouds started to break up and on Monday (departure day) it was a beautiful day……and the ride home was extremely smooth.

Scott

Magnolia Warbler- Not as common as the American Redstarts this weekend, but provided everyone with killer looks.

American Pipit- up to four were present throughout the weekend on Fish Beach.

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher- Not normally found on a beach! Part of a large Flycatcher fallout.

Common Yellowthroat

Yellow Warbler-very common and wet.

Chipping sparrow- Not many on the Island, but great views on the steps of the Trailing Yew.

Acadian Flycatcher- Another standout on Fish Beach.

American Redstart- of the dozens & dozens seen during our stay...this was one of the few males we encountered.

Wilson's Warbler- Fish Beach area.

American Redstart-female. This was the most common warbler we encountered during the weekend. In fact, it was so common...many non-birder's stopped and asked us what the small birds were with yellow in their wings & tails. When I told them it was an American Redstart..they said "NO", it had no red on it! I said that's because they are females....."Yellow Starts"