Sight of Bonaparte gulls in action lingers in memory Mergansers, red-necked loons also highlights of trip

A recent trip that Bob Duchesne (of Q106.5 radio) and I made to Acadia National Park turned up some great sightings, one of which was a first for me.

The trip was Bob’s idea; he is in the midst of writing an updated, extended birding guide to Maine, and had started a chapter on Acadia. Inspired to visit some of his old, favorite birding haunts on Mount Desert Island, he invited members of the Penobscot Valley Chapter of Maine Audubon to join him. I was the only one who took him up on the invitation, and was very glad I did.

I always learn something when birding with someone else, but in addition to that, it is always better to have two pairs of eyes than one. Invariably, one person spots what the other misses.

We started out on Thompson Island around midmorning. Black ducks and ring-billed gulls were the most numerous, followed by distant views of several bufflehead ducks, one female red-breasted merganser, and possibly black scoters. Here I learned my first lesson: the birds would have been closer to shore if the tide was high. As Bob explained, this was because diving ducks need to have “some depth under them.” On the other hand, “dabbling” ducks, such as the black duck, don’t need depth; they feed off the surface of the water or by upending to pick items from the sea floor. Needless to say, we had much closer views of them.

Our first really good sighting was at a salt marsh area along Route 3. Thinking I had seen a grebe, I suggested we pull over. The bird was actually a black duck, but as we watched, two hooded mergansers – one male and one female – popped up nearby. Their fan-shaped crests, especially the male’s, which is white, were unmistakable. We had great views since the pair was so close to the road. We remained in the truck, using it as a blind so as not to disturb the birds.

Our next stop at Hull’s Cove produced a greater number of birds. Numerous common eiders rafted midway out into the cove, while several red-breasted mergansers dove for food closer in. The ubiquitous black ducks and ring-billed gulls milled about; behind us in a grove of conifer trees, golden-crowned kinglets flitted and called softly.

The cliffs on the Great Head side of Sand Beach produced two surprises. Out by the point, almost to the limit of visibility (prompting Bob to mutter about a spotting scope upgrade), were a lone red-throated loon and two harlequin ducks. A large aggregation of red-necked grebes near Thunder Hole, as well as rafts of eider ducks, several black guillemots, northern gannets, and three long-tailed ducks followed. The sea was teeming with life!

At the end of the day, Seawall produced a large number of Bonaparte’s gulls and our first really good looks at black scoters, all of which but one were female. At this point a stiff offshore wind was turning frigid. This did not deter the small Bonaparte’s gulls, however. They rocketed along, diving through the air as if for sport. And who knows? Maybe they were having fun.

We left the island with the setting sun, and the memory of those little, tern-like gulls playing with the wind stayed with me throughout the ride home. It had been a great day of birding.

Chris Corio, a volunteer at Fields Pond Nature Center in Holden, can be reached at fieldspond@juno.com