ME - a REDWING in Portland!

 

Redwing (1st-winter) - Capisic Pond Park, Portland, Cumberland Co., ME. February 4th, 2021.

Few ABA area birds have haunted me more than two Scandinavian thrushes - Redwing and Fieldfare. Having grown up in the UK both species were familiar winterers, and migrants often occurred in spectacular flights of thousands (literally) during sustained migration watches carried out at my local park in Sheffield. The key period was late autumn but mid-winter flights or 'hard weather movements' would sometimes involve thousands of birds and rival the biggest days of fall migration. Outside of Atlantic Canada, there can be little doubt that the New England states offer slim but realistic opportunities for seeing both species. In fact, I've already narrowly missed chances to see a Fieldfare in Carlisle, Massachusetts (mid-March 2013) and a Redwing in Hollis, New Hampshire (mid-March 2018), both of which directly overlapped with my traditional spring migration tour in Israel. Needless to say, when I learned (last Saturday) of a Redwing being seen incredibly well in a city park in Portland, Maine, I became distinctly 'edgy' and waited patiently for a pause in family commitments before heading out towards the Maine Coast.

February 4th saw me join a modest group of no more than ten birders at Capisic Pond Park, Portland at about 09:45 am. Early reports from birders leaving the site had been favorable offering plenty of room for optimism. The day was warming up nicely with periods of bright sunshine and conditions simply 'felt' good. It wasn't long before the Redwing flicked from ground level up through the undergrowth but stayed faithful to its favored thicket. It put on the most fantastic show devouring Multiflora Rose berries right in front the assembled birders. After 20 minutes or so I was surprised to find myself alone with the Redwing, nothing short a surreal experience given its 'mega' status and not something I'd envisaged on the drive out. But there was the Redwing in plain sight, feeding and soft-singing only feet away with no one in the audience but myself! It seems that my field companions had already seen what they wanted to and moved on to chase the other rarities present within the park. 

While trying to assign Redwings to sub-species in the field isn't recommended and might not be reliably possible, the dark brown upperparts with an olive tint, the dense blurry streaking on the underparts and the brown rear flanks appear to favor coburni, the Icelandic breeding form. 

Breeding, migration and winter range of Redwing Turdus iliacus in the Western Palearctic. 

Courtesy H. Shirihai and L. Svensson from the Handbook of Western Palearctic Birds, Volume 1. (2018)

While I was aware of other rarities being seen in Capisic Pond Park, I hadn't appreciated that they'd be such a compelling draw for visiting birders. But, having already had views of the Redwing that couldn't be bettered, I wandered off to check for the previously reported Dickcissel and a Black-headed Grosbeak, finding the Dickcissel with ease and eventually having satisfactory views of the Black-headed Grosbeak. The latter was perhaps the most tricky of the three rarities present within the park and just happened to be my first in the New England states so was well worth the wait. 

Black-headed Grosbeak - Capisic Pond Park, Portland, Cumberland Co., ME. February 4th, 2021.

Dickcissel - Capisic Pond Park, Portland, Cumberland Co., ME. February 4th, 2021.

Capisic Pond Park, Portland, Cumberland Co., ME. February 4th, 2021.

It's hard to imagine that a  Redwing was lurking the hedgerow to the left when this shot was taken - and nary a birder in sight!

On drive the home I thought about how obliging the Redwing had been, seemingly quite content keeping company with House Finches, Song and White-throated Sparrows. In fact, given the quality and crispness of the New England winter light, I doubt if I've ever had better views of a Redwing anywhere! 

As always, gracious thanks to the finders of these fine rarities. While I was hopeful of simply seeing the Redwing, the close, intimate experience that I had with this bird was way beyond anything that I could have expected. Thank you!

ME - the Great Black Hawk

Great Black Hawk (immature) - Deering Oaks Park, Portland, Cumberland Co., ME. January 16th, 2019. 

Great Black Hawk, not a species that would have been on my radar for vagrancy to New England and yet this individual has settled down for the winter in an urban park in Portland, Maine seemingly having little trouble dealing with the extreme cold, snow and ice. The excitement around the black hawk's initial discovery in early August was huge before it promptly disappeared after spending a few days around a neighborhood in Biddeford only to reappear again in Portland in late October! After moving around and then disappearing once more, it was eventually pinned down to Deering Oaks Park in Portland where it allowed hundreds of birders to catch up with it from late November.

Naturally, I followed the story with interest but for some reason just couldn't work up the motivation for the three hour drive from Northfield until early January. That day, January 6th, Josh Layfield and I ventured to Portland and promptly dipped on the hawk, despite four or five hours of concerted effort with other birders around the park. It was simply nowhere to be seen. But in the early part of this week, a series of positive reports sparked my interest once more and I decided to make the solo trek back to Portland. Within an hour of arrival, a lovely couple from Gilsum, New Hampshire located the black hawk mantling a Gray Squirrel and were kind enough to wave me over. And there it remained for the next ninety minutes or so completely demolishing the Gray Squirrel. Watching this large raptor remain in the same spot for the best part of two hours was intriguing to say the least. It seemed oblivious to human disturbance - passers by, dog walkers, and then even the local kindergarten came out and set up camp to play in the snow no more than thirty meters from where the bird was stripping the squirrel! It completely ignored all the action going on in its immediate surroundings and just got on with the business of feeding. I admit to being very surprised at just how comfortable the black hawk was around people and its urban environment in general.

It's really intriguing to wonder just how this tropical species, breeding no closer than northern Mexico, would end up attempting to spend the winter in Maine? And even more intriguing to think that it's almost certainly the same individual photographed as a potential first ABA record on South Padre Island, Texas by Alex Lamoreaux back on April 24th!

Update January 20th: sad news via Facebook - it would appear that the Great Black Hawk was found in distressed condition and has been taken into care and transported to rehab at Avian Haven (www.avianhaven.org/). I'll be offering updates as and when more news comes in.