Extreme Birder: One Woman's Big Year

July: Maine Meandering and Nevada Nemesis

J u L y Maine Meandering and Nevada Nemesis new bird species seen this month: 45 totaL bird species by the end of the month: 649 pLaces birded: Maine,Texas, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico July 3 My trip to Maine was definitely a success. We heard (and briefly saw) the main goal bird, Bicknell’s Thrush, on the evening of July 1, a long day. After extended delays en route, in the very early morning the plane had arrived in Portland. By the time I found a cab, checked in, repacked for the camping trip, and got into bed, it was about 2:30 a.m. Derek Lovitch, my guide, arrived at 6:00 and off we went. Our first stop was in the Scarborough Marsh area, where we quickly got our goal, Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow, and Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow. We had great views of both sparrows. The marsh was hopping with earlymorning life. After the marsh, we went to Pine Point for Roseate Terns, about as common as the Common Terns, and they came very close to us. I had not seen these beautiful birds in the United States before. We went to Rotary Park in Biddeford, where male Blue-winged Warblers had been reported, another bird on the want list that I had given Derek. We walked the mowed, wet, grassy trails listening for their distinctive songs but found only American Redstarts, Ovenbirds, Chestnut-sided Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, American Robins, an Indigo Bunting, Red-eyed Vireo, American Goldfinches, and Black-capped Chickadees. My feet got very wet, but I was embarrassed to complain about such a minor inconvenience in the face of my need for a Blue-winged Warbler. As we came through an open area dotted with clumps of trees, just before circling back to the car, we finally heard the very welcome song of a Blue-winged Warbler. When we found the singer, however, it was not a Blue-winged Warbler but a male Lawrence’s Warbler (a hybrid of Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers). Derek was extreme birder 128 The mother Spruce Grouse looks around at the intruders on Saddleback Mountain, Maine (july 1). One of the Spruce Grouse chicks darts along after its mother (july 1). januarY 129 ecstatic, and I was very depressed (but understood his enthusiasm for the rare hybrid). It did not count as a new bird for me. I was grateful, therefore, when Derek noticed that the Lawrence’s Warbler’s companion was a female Blue-winged Warbler. At 8:30 we headed toward Rangely, the town nearest the Saddleback ski slope that we were scheduled to climb for the Bicknell’s Thrush. Although I knew from Derek that it was possible to play a tape of a Bicknell’s Thrush to lure it to a road, we had decided to backpack into a less public area to find the birds without disturbing them. We had sandwich wraps for lunch in Rangely after stopping unsuccessfully to look and listen for Mourning Warblers at habitats that seemed to have potential. About 2:30, we began our hike up Saddleback Mountain with our full backpacks. Along the route Derek regaled me with tales of successful and unsuccessful trips with other birders who had hired him to climb the trail for the Bicknell’s Thrush. I was worried that I would be the subject of his future tales of failures to reach the top, so I was greatly relieved that I managed to keep going past the “bunny slope” that had nearly felled an earlier similarly heavy-laden hiker. It wasn’t too bad, so long as I took the time to rest every now and then, and to breathe. I have just climbed Saddleback Mountain in Maine (july 1). Photo by Derek Kovitch. juLY extreme birder 130 What kept me going to the top was a female Spruce Grouse that was taking a gravel bath in the middle of the path up the mountain. When she decided that she should get off the trail as we approached with our cameras, three of her chicks appeared from nowhere and tumbled over the grasses to follow her off into the spruces. I didn’t quite sprint the rest of the way up the slope, but I was ecstatic and my load definitely felt lighter. The weather was potentially stormy that night (but currently lovely), so we chose a...