When I started this adventure back in January, I knew I would have countless experiences that would stay with me for the rest of my life. Many of these, like my time in southeast Arizona and seeing the Sandhill Crane migration in Nebraska, I knew would be exciting before the year began. Others, like the trip to Santa Cruz Island in California or heading out to see the Whooping Crane in Aransas Bay in Texas were opportunities that arose during the year that I hadn’t originally planned. And then, of course, there were things I hadn’t expected, such as the outstanding spectacle of warblers in West Virginia and my fantastic time birding along the coast in Delaware. Among all the expected experiences, there has consistently been one that I have looked forward to the most: seeing Atlantic Puffins in Maine. The puffin tour wasn’t my only expectation for Maine either; back in early March someone asked me when I thought I might hit 600 species for my Life List and what bird I thought that might be, and I answered that I would hit 600 species in June in Maine, and that it would be either Atlantic Puffin or Black Guillemot – I almost batted 1000.
I kicked off Week Twenty-three, and my time birding in Maine, with a visit to the Scarborough Marsh. After parking at the Eastern Trail parking lot I headed out on the trial through the marsh, where I quickly heard the songs of a few of my desired targets: Nelson’s Sparrow and Saltmarsh Sparrow. The sparrows weren’t the only good pickups at Scarborough; multiple Willets called as they flew to and fro, a Least Tern overhead, Great Egrets and a Snowy Egret worked the water, and an Alder Flycatcher sang at the far tree line.
After my walk at the marsh I headed a short ways south towards Biddeford Pool, where at the South Point Sanctuary I tracked down my first-of-year Red-necked Grebe and spotted a few other great birds including White-winged Scoter, Piping Plover, and Ruddy Turnstone. At the nearby East Point Sanctuary Black Scoter and Surf Scoter rounded out my scoter trio, a Great Cormorant sat with a group of Double-crested Cormorant, a Common Loon flew by a short ways offshore, and a large number of Great Black-backed Gulls were spread across the rocks and the water.
The rest of June 2nd was fairly slow; a quick walk along the Saco River Walk didn’t produce much, but a visit to Sewell Woods Preserve yielded Broad-winged Hawk, Brown Creeper, Hermit Thrush, Blackburnian Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, and a handful of other birds. Finally I closed out the day at Pine Point, where aside from Bonaparte’s Gull and Common Tern there wasn’t much there.
On June 3rd, it was time. After waking around 6:30 I began my drive towards New Harbor, stopping first at Singing Meadow Preserve where I spotted Wild Turkey and Bobolink and then going for a short walk at the Crooked Farm Preserve that held a variety of warblers including Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Magnolia Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Pine Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Black-throated Green Warbler. Eventually noon neared and I headed into New Harbor and made my way to the Hardy Boat Cruises dock. Having arrived a fair while early I spent some time birding around the harbor as I waited for the time to board the boat, during which time I first spotted a Common Loon hanging around the mouth of the harbor and then noticed a Black Guillemot, Lifer #598, just 80 or so feet away drifting in the water. When the boat ride finally began I spotted a couple more Guillemot on the way out to the island, and as we reached Eastern Egg Rock I quickly spotted the target of the trip, Lifer #599, Atlantic Puffin. Unfortunately, the rest of my hoped-for Lifers on the trip – Razorbill, Leach’s Storm-Petrel, Great Shearwater, and Manx Shearwater – were all nowhere to be seen, but I did spot my first-of-year Arctic Tern, a Roseate Tern, and some Purple Sandpiper working the rocks. After a half hour circling the island we headed back to shore, and despite the experience having been an objectively fantastic one I felt deflated. Going into the day I was positive I would reach 600 at about 1pm, give-or-take fifteen minutes, and there I sat a 599; 600 would have to wait for another day.
I didn’t get much more birding done on Tuesday – in part because I was demoralized, and in part because I had a blog post to work on, but primarily because I had a bit of a drive ahead of me that I hadn’t planned on. Shortly after returning to shore I received a text from my dad offering to pay for a another boat trip, this time out of Bar Harbor for the more lengthy Bar Harbor Whale Watchers “Puffins and Lighthouse” tour – an offer I gratefully accepted.
Much as with my trip out of New Harbor, I arrived at Bar Harbor early and spent some time birding around the town and harbor. Finally the time came to head onto the boat, and on our way out to our first stop, Egg Rock, I spotted a Black Guillemot and a handful of gulls. There were loads more Guillemots and hundreds of gulls and cormorants. Egg Rock wasn’t the main target of the trip, though, but rather the next stop: Petit Manan Island. As we approached the island a couple birds buzzed by, and the onboard naturalist called out the word I had been most awaiting: “Razorbills!”. Lifer #600, in June, in Maine… I was so close to getting that prediction right. Throughout our time along the eastern edge of Petit Manan we managed to get fantastic views of more Razorbill, some flying by and others in the water. There were also an abundance of Common Murre and Arctic Terns. The rest of the boat ride was fairly low key, though I kept scanning the horizon in hopes of spotting something. All said, while both trips were a good time and fully acknowledging that the simple fact that I hit 600 on the Bar Harbor tour elevated the experience, I have to say that the Puffins and Lighthouse tour with Bar Harbor Whale Watchers felt like a better trip. The two were roughly around the same price range, but while the Hardy Boat Cruises New Harbor tour was about an hour and a half with a half hour spent at Eastern Egg Rock, the Bar Harbor tour was nearly three hours with over an hour spent between Egg Rock and Petit Manan. I would highly recommend either and am sure day-by-day the productivity of either could be more than the other, but just felt the comparison worth making.
The 5th would serve as the close of my time in Maine, and I didn’t spend all that much time birding. The day got off to an unfortunate start as, somehow, I had set my alarm to silent and slept right through it. Further complicating the issue, my destination for the day was close to two hours away, and for whatever reason I had thought it was roughly a third that when looking at Google Maps the previous night. These two generally minor issues combined to result in me not arriving to Saddleback Mountain until close to 10am, and with how early dawn came in Maine 10am might as well have been the mid-afternoon.
My target at Saddleback Mountain, a ski resort that held some hiking and biking trails for the summer, was Bicknell’s Thrush – one of my last remaining “inland” Lifers east of the Mississippi. In order to get to where the thrushes would likely be I had a heck of a hike ahead of me, and being a ski mountain the “trail” was effective just a straight-shot up a steep slope. It was slightly hot, slightly humid, and more-than-slightly mosquito-infested. The mosquitos, as annoying as they were, paled in comparison to the swarms of gnats and dozens of deerflies that circled and harassed me the entire way up the mountain minus the occasional brief respite created by the breeze picking up.
All these issues would normally be very tolerable to me if the birds were active – but given that it was practically midday, they weren’t. When I eventually got closer to the peak the activity picked up slightly and I listened closely for the song of the Bicknell’s Thrush, but while I heard Winter Wren, Swainson’s Thrush, Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrow, Northern Parula, Magnolia Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, and most excitingly my first-of-year Boreal Chickadee, the Bicknell’s was not to be. When I eventually made it back to my car I was totally beat, and I spent the rest of the day first relaxing and then driving.
The destination of my driving on Thursday was New Hampshire – specifically Mount Washington. In addition to being home to the highest recorded windspeed in history, Mount Washington also hosts a privately owned-and-operated Auto Tour Drive for those interested in sightseeing. Intense fog severely limited visibility, but fortunately for me the sight I was primarily interesting in seeing wasn’t the scenery but instead of the smaller, more thrush-y variety. On the way up the mountain I heard singing Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Winter Wren, Boreal Chickadee, an assortment of warblers, and… Bicknell’s Thrush! I first heard one, then spotted it, and about a half-mile farther up the mountain heard two more! Lifer #601, a nice insurance buffer to ensure I stay in the 600’s if any of my current Lifers get lumped at some point in the future.
Once I made it back down the mountain I went for a brief walk at Pinkham Notch and then went for another walk on and made myself lunch at the rest stop near the Wildcat Ridge Trail. I closed out my day at the Dahl Wildlife Sanctuary, there picking up Bank Swallow, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Veery, and a few other birds.
Saturday the 7th was a rainy, dreary day and I didn’t spend long birding, in fact not even submitting a single checklist until late in the afternoon at Quincy Bog before I made my way close to the border between New Hampshire and Vermont, where I planned to get started on birding Sunday.
My time in Vermont was kicked off with a visit to the Rodgers Lot Town Forest. I was impressed by the diversity at the seemingly insignificant little property, which hosted birds like Alder Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Veery, Hermit Thrush, Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, and most notably Mourning Warbler. My next stop, the North Branch Nature Center, yielded a small assortment of birds including Broad-winged Hawk, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Northern House Wren, and Northern Parula. The Berlin Pond held Canada Goose, Wood Duck, Mallard, Hooded Merganser, and Common Loon on the water and singing Brown Creeper, Baltimore Oriole, Nashville Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Pine Warbler, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak were all heard around the woods surrounding the pond.
The rest of my first day in Vermont – and my time in Vermont as a whole – would be plagued by a widespread lack of cell service that made it challenging to find places to bird combined with, in my limited experience, there not really being that much diversity in places to bird. But the rest of my time in the state, including the slow and surprisingly-challenging climb to 100, will have to wait for next week. In the meantime, as always, Happy Birding!
eBird Trip Summary:
First and foremost - thank you to anyone who chooses to support me in this insane adventure of mine. When I initially had this idea and began planning I didn't even consider the possibility that others would want to support me, but I am extremely grateful to those who have reached out to do so. For those who are interested in supporting me, I have set up a Patreon, which can be accessed by clicking the logo to the left (or you can send me a message via the contact page). Again, thank you for your incredibly generous support!
All Patrons will receive my "Daily Notes" 12-36 hours after the end of each day, and Patrons subscribed to the "Sponsor" tier will receive monthly postcards, mailed out between the 25th and end of each month.
For anyone who wishes to support me without using Patreon, clicking the "$" Icon will link you to my Venmo as well. There is also an option on Patreon to purchase my Daily Notes Collection for a one-time $10 payment without becoming a paid member, which will give you access to the Daily Notes without having to subscribe to a monthly subscription. For those who it requests the last four of my number for, it's 1403.
Following recent suggestions I went ahead and created a GoFundMe in order to help ensure I can keep this adventure going and afford the costs of gas, vehicle maintenance, and food (including, with enough support, some more diversity in my diet). The GoFundMe can be accessed by clicking the image link with the coin going into the donation box. (If anyone knows how to add a custom icon on Elemetor to make the Venmo and GoFundMe Links their respective logos, I'd love to hear how to do it!)
Thank you again to those of you who have supported me so far, it's tremendously generous and greatly appreciated.
Follow me on my journey to see 100 species in every Lower-48 State during 2025, experience some of the incredible places and events in American birding, and meet and bird with as many local birders as possible along the way.
Posts will be made every Wednesday (I will try to have them out by 5pm, but situationally they might be a bit later) and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
