All birders are easy-going, noncompetitive people.
I’m kidding, of course. We’re Americans. We can make a contest out of anything. For instance, Kristin Lindquist is a birder from Camden. In January 2009, she and I discovered we both were at exactly 296 on our Maine bird lists. That is, we each had seen and listed 296 different species in the state over our lifetimes. Kristen proposed we race to 300. I agreed, and I soon took the lead by sighting a gyrfalcon in Orono on March 13, 2009. Only a couple of hours later, she snagged a rare bird in southern Maine.
Kristen won the race, but we kept up the tally for a while — I even pulled ahead for a few months. However, I’ve fallen completely into despair. She’s at 332. I’m 10 behind and falling fast. It’s stuff like this that creates celebrity birds, and Maine has had a handful of celebrities so far this year.
Celebrity birds are rarities that have strayed into Maine. For those who make it a personal challenge to see as many birds in the state as possible, distance is not a problem. Celebrities can attract quite a crowd — even paparazzi. With the proliferation of digital photography, shutterbugs can line a roadway in hopes of a good celebrity shot.
This year’s bout of celebrity fever started in January, when a mew gull was reported in Owls Head. It’s the smallest of the white-headed gulls in North America, and its breeding range covers much of Alaska and nearby Canadian provinces. It spends the winter along the Pacific Coast but has been known to wander. It is practically unheard of in Maine, yet this celebrity hung around a certain set of lobster pens for more than a month.
In late May, a ruff turned up in Weskeag Marsh in South Thomaston. The ruff is a large sandpiper, about the size of a greater yellow-legs. During breeding season, the male is quite colorful. Its nesting range stretches clear across the top of Eurasia, and it’s even been known to stray across the Bering Sea and nest in Alaska. Most winter in Africa. A few spend the cold months on the Eurasian continent and the Indian subcontinent. The ruff is known for vagrancy, and it has turned up in Maine before. As wetlands have been drained in Europe, their numbers have declined. Fewer are turning up on our shore than they did several decades ago.
In early June, birders were astonished to find a pair of king rails in Wells. It’s the largest member of the rail family, dwarfing the sora and Virginia rails that are found throughout Maine. King rails are found in freshwater marshes, usually near the coast. It nests in the Mid-Atlantic States and winters from North Carolina to Texas. King rails have appeared in Maine before, but they’re rare. Having two rails canoodling in the same marsh increased their celebrity status — like Taylor Swift and whoever Taylor Swift is dating now.
For the second year in a row, a little egret has returned to Maine. Little egrets are wading birds that look much like snowy egrets but with astonishing head plumes that would make any egret envious. It has been spreading westward across Eurasia, reaching the British Isles only in 1989 and beginning to nest there in 1996. It remains a rare visitor to our shores, except for this one celebrity bird that has been thrilling birders in marshes adjacent to Maine Audubon headquarters in Falmouth for two summers. It may be the most photographed celebrity bird again this year.
Despite the rash of other celebrities, the reigning champ is a red-billed tropicbird that has returned to Maine for the 12th year in a row. The tropicbird is tern-like but larger, with long streaming tail feathers and a huge red bill. It is an acrobatic flyer that dives on fish and squid. You can see one around the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador. Or, if you’re lucky, you can see Maine’s celebrity tropicbird on Seal Island, south of Stonington. Odds are against you. He’s more reclusive than Johnny Depp. I missed him on the Isle au Haut Ferry trip out to see the puffins last Sunday, but another puffin-watching boat got good looks five days earlier.
You’ll note that all of these birds are found closer to Kristen’s home than they are to my home in Hudson. No wonder she’s winning — not that we’re competitive or anything.
Bob Duchesne serves as vice president of Maine Audubon’s Penobscot Valley Chapter. He developed the Maine Birding Trail, with information at mainebirdingtrail.com. He can be reached at duchesne@midmaine.com.