Greater Bangor bird event offers some surprise sightings

Audubon members love watching birds, and they love applying their skills to a good cause, the Christmas Bird Count. Over the years, numbers of birds show changes in the landscape, and perhaps changes in the climate.

Southern birds such as mockingbirds, cardinals and Carolina wrens have extended their range into the Bangor area in the past 20 years, and this change is well-documented in the Christmas Bird Counts.

The Orono-Old Town Christmas Bird Count was held on Dec. 16, and more than 40 people participated. Some drove back roads, stopping to walk in the woods or look up and down the Penobscot River.

One birder walked 11 miles looking for birds in the fields and forests, and along the Stillwater River, finding two big flocks of Canada geese, and a pair of the rare Barrow’s goldeneye.

Another group traveled 7 miles on foot and about 15 miles by car, finding pine siskins, a shrike and a mockingbird.

Another group of birders, traveling mostly by car, found a brown creeper, a small bird with a curved bill. It creeps up the trunks of big trees, probing the bark for insect eggs or pupae.

Happy to have found an uncommon bird, this group headed next to the Penobscot River hoping for another prize – Barrow’s goldeneye. They drove along the river, stopping to look upstream and down, but found only common goldeneyes. Those are good to count, but not as exciting as a rarity.

Days are short in December. This group had looked for birds in the woods and along the river – and time was running out. One last area remained to check – some big fields in the northwest part of Bangor.

A big bird hovering over a field was spotted from the car – a prize of a bird – a rough-legged hawk! The driver hastily parked the car; people scrambled out with their binoculars for a better look. For most, it was a “life bird,” a bird seen for the first time in their life, a cause for joy and excitement.

This bird was a first-year, light phase male, hatched in the Arctic tundra, moving south for the winter. If he finds lots of meadow mice in those Bangor fields, he might spend the winter there, and delight other birders as he hovers over the grass and snow.

For information on Fields Pond Audubon Center, call 989-2591.