Ever since I was bitten by a radioactive spider, I’ve had superpowers. Not superpowers for fighting crime or making money — nothing quite so useful. No, my superpowers are limited to finding unusual woodpeckers.
The black-backed woodpecker is a rare resident of Maine’s spruce forest. It has a fondness for grubs and beetles that hide under the bark of dead and dying conifers. Other woodpeckers drill holes directly into the bark to get at such delicacies. Black-backed woodpeckers chip from the side, stripping patches from the tree. They are specialists that thrive on disturbed areas, usually spruce groves that have been damaged by fire, timber harvesting or beaver dams.
The problem with these woodpeckers is that they tease you mercilessly. They leave lots of clues to tell you where they were, and where they might still be, but they seldom show themselves. Since they are rare, birders relish finding them. Fortunately, because of my superpowers, I find them more often than anyone else in Maine. Yes, you may take that as a challenge.
I was recruited by Maine Huts and Trails to do a birding event at the Flagstaff Hut last weekend. Right after Saturday morning breakfast, we hustled outside for a quick walk around the lodge. I got lucky. A boreal chickadee was keeping company with some black-capped chickadees behind the building. Although these brown-headed chickadees reside in the region, I wasn’t expecting one in a stand of balsam. They prefer spruce.
After the formal walk, we said our goodbyes. Several hardcore birders joined me for further explorations. The Flagstaff Hut trailhead is on Long Falls Dam Road, on the back side of Bigelow Mountain and Flagstaff Lake. Just beyond the trailhead, spruce becomes a more constant part of the landscape. By my calculations, this makes it the closest boreal spot to southern and central Maine — a place where gray jays, spruce grouse, boreal chickadees and black-backed woodpeckers can be found. Birders would likely visit the area more often if they knew about it. Shhhh! That secret is not to leave this room.
Carrying Place Road is a spur off the Long Falls Dam Road that requires more of my attention. I always have good luck there, but I have never been able to dedicate a full day to exploration. On Saturday, I noted the telltale signs of a black-backed woodpecker along one stretch, and I was rewarded when a female came in to a nearby tree minutes later. It lingered only a moment, then flew off abruptly, leaving me with the confused emotions of exhilaration and disappointment. I vowed to find another.
Back on the main road, I came upon a patch of trees that was clearly getting mauled by a black-backed woodpecker. My spidey sense tingled. When recently stripped of bark, underlying wood patches look reddish. As the exposed wood ages, it turns gray. These particular patches were gleaming red. Furthermore, pieces of bark were lying on top of the snow, indicating that the bark had been stripped since the last snowstorm, just days before. Eureka.
However, this woodpecker did not appear along the road, and I sure as heck wasn’t going to wade through 4 feet of snow to go find him. Another time, maybe. The moral of the story is that Maine birding can be just as much fun in winter. We have native birds that are coveted by folks from away. We have Canadian breeders that invade Maine in the cold months. We even have organized birding events.
There’s an owl prowl coming up on Tuesday, March 17th. Participants will meet at the Caribou Bog trailhead on Taylor Road, off Forest Avenue in Orono at 7pm. Call Maine Audubon at 989-2591. On Friday night, the Penobscot Chapter of Maine Audubon holds another of its famous indoor lectures at the Sea Dog Brewing Company in Bangor. At 7pm, Maine Master Naturalist Jody Telfair-Richards will talk about how our appetite for coffee from the tropics may be killing our birds, and some things we can do to help. Hint: shade grown coffee.
Another winter highlight comes up next Saturday, March 21st. For the last several years, the Island Heritage Trust has teamed up with the Isle au Haut ferry to cruise out of Stonington for harlequin ducks and wintering waterfowl offshore. I’ll be the spotter again this year. The last several trips have been spectacular. Call 348-2455.
I refuse to concede to a winter that shows no signs of ending. I’m going birding.
Bob Duchesne serves as vice president of Maine Audubon’s Penobscot Valley Chapter. Bob developed the Maine Birding Trail, with information at mainebirdingtrail.com. Bob can be reached at duchesne@midmaine.com.