By Stan DeOrsey
The Merrymeeting Audubon walk on Sunday June 9, 2019 to Morse Mountain was, let’s call it interesting. Far and away the most noticeable were the mosquitoes! They were all out for revenge for some reason. But there were birds. We found a Junco gathering nest building material just off the parking lot. And the Blackburnian Warblers were singing constantly, and some were seen, but high in the trees. When we reached the beach (no mosquitoes there) we found six Black-bellied Plovers, one in nice spring plumage. We also found Piping Plovers but did not approach at all near them.
On the walk back we stopped at the mountain top … a nice breeze kept the mosquitoes away. The view was wonderful including a snow capped Mt. Washington. Good company and a few special birds almost made up for the mosquitoes!
Birds seen and heard included:
Canada Goose – with young
Common Eider
Double-crested Cormorant
Mourning Dove
Black-billed Cuckoo – very quickly
Black-bellied Plover
Piping Plover
Spotted Sandpiper
Herring Gull
Black-backed Gull
Seals – maybe 50 on the island rocks
Snowy Egret
Glossy ibis
Osprey
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Blue-headed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Brown Thrasher
Cedar Waxwing
Purple Finch
American Goldfinch
Chipping Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Ovenbird
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
(Unfortunately, no photos are available.)
The eBird checklists can be seen at the following links:
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S57235315
