Migration of birds sparks vow for ’04 More time to be spent in observation

Autumn in Maine is wonderful, despite the migration of most of our breeding birds. Their departure serves as an incentive – and a challenge – to spend more time outside next spring and summer, observing their behaviors and activities.

I could spend my time berating myself for not taking advantage of the opportunity, for instance, to assist a University of Maine graduate student in his study of songbirds. Not only am I an extremely inefficient manager of time, I am unlike most (if not all) birdwatchers in that I hate to get up early in the morning. Only rarely have I done so to go out bird watching.

OK, there -I’ve admitted it.

However, as I have said, there is still next year. Even this year all is not lost, for migration brings birds not ordinarily found in Maine practically to our doorsteps. And, of course, raptors are easily seen on favorable days at certain locations. Cadillac Mountain, here I come!

I’ve been privileged to enjoy personal views of a few wild raptors: I’ve had at least three close encounters with broad-winged hawks and got to spend two summers watching a pair of merlins breed and raise a family. I’ve also watched fledgling kestrels exploring their new, wider world. Their seeming looks of comic bewilderment were accentuated by remnant downy tufts sticking out at odd angles from underneath newly grown feathers – an unforgettable and endearing sight.

Then, of course, there is the peregrine falcon showcase up on Precipice Trail in Acadia National Park, although I didn’t get down there this summer.

My goal next summer is to find and observe other breeding raptors, such as the red-shouldered hawk.

This hawk is beautiful. It has gorgeous russet shoulder patches that contrast sharply with its back, wing, and tail feathers, which exhibit a black and white checkerboard pattern reminiscent of a loon’s. The feathers of its chest and stomach are finely barred and orange-red in color.

When viewed from below during flight, the tips of its wings have a characteristic “window” – an area near the base of the outer flight feathers without pigmentation that allows light to pass through. These patches are crescent-shaped and very distinctive.

Finding a pair of red-shouldered hawks during the breeding season could be quite a challenge, for they prefer to nest in large tracts of mature deciduous-coniferous forests. In smaller, broken woodlands they are outcompeted by red-tailed hawks and great horned owls and have declined over the years because of this.

Red-shouldered hawks are partial migrants; only the northernmost populations of these birds migrate south for the winter. It’s possible that a few could winter in the extreme southern part of Maine, along the coast. In contrast, the broad-winged hawk, which I wrote about in last week’s column, is a complete migrant.

Differences among birds such as these continue to fascinate me, as well as prod me to see and explore them. Life is full of wonder, after all.

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