Day 19.173: Belgrade birds

Our first sighting after we left Norway was somewhere en route to Belgrade. We saw a Baltimore oriole and then saw that it was feeding a fledgling. 

Baltimore oriole

Young Baltimore oriole

Here are some birds we saw in Belgrade (apart from the previously mentioned Sandhill cranes and the mystery bird that turned out to be a wood duck. 

Loon with chick

Red-winged blackbird

Gray catbird 

Purple Martin

Purple martins

Brown-headed cowbirds 

Day 19.172: Ordway Grove

After lunch in Norway, we walked up the street to Ordway Grove - a small area of old growth forest with some huge pine and hemlock trees. Exile #2 was hoping we would see a Blackburnian warbler there but although we heard at least two, they were likely out of sight in the very high treetops. 

I’m glad we were forewarned that the entrance isn’t especially obvious. 

Red squirrel

Red squirrel

Downy woodpecker

Downy woodpecker 

American robin

Yellow-bellied sapsucker

Yellow-bellied sapsucker

Common self heal

Day 19.171: Birds at Shepard’s Farm and Witt’s Swamp

As I mentioned yesterday, we heard many more birds that we saw and photographed even fewer, but this is what I managed to capture:

Song sparrow

Eastern bluebird

Broad-winged hawk

Broad-winged hawk

Chipping sparrow

Red-shouldered hawk. This one was calling in a way that sounded like a herring gull

Likely a pine warbler. We heard them in any case

Eastern phoebe

Eastern phoebe

Juvenile hairy woodpecker (note reddish crown rather than patch on back of head as the adult males show)

Black-and-white warbler

Red-breasted nuthatch 

Red-breasted nuthatch

Black-capped chickadee

Day 19.170: Shepard's Farm Preserve

Our first stop in Norway was at Shepard's Farm Preserve. It's a park with sculptures adjoining trails to Witt's Swamp. Here are some photos.

The trail names and signs have fun with the name of the swamp:

We saw some birds and some interesting plants which I'll save for another day, but the birds we only heard may have been the highlight of the trails. We heard an Eastern wood pewee, black-throated green warblers and oven birds and were serenaded as we looped around the swamp by winter wrens, but the most magical moment was standing on a trail in the woods with at least two hermit thrushes calling around us here is a tiny flavor (sound only):

Day 19.169: Exile #2's Sunday Column #557

Exile #2 writes...

Norway turned out to be a fun little town, with a surprising number of artists’ studios on its Main Street, plus a number of nice cafes and restaurants. One was called Pizza XChange and something about the vibe of the town, or maybe because it was on the same block as the town’s cooperative market, it had us wondering what might be considered an acceptable exchange for pizza.

This building, however, intrigued us the most. The US is home to many societies: Freemasons, Shriners, Elks, Odd-fellows and more, I’m sure, but we’d never come across a Weary Club before. I couldn’t help wondering if their membership had increased lately...

Weary Club of Norway, Maine

Day 19.168: Sandhill cranes and a blurry mystery

Today, Exile #2 and I had a day out. We set off arounr 8 am, spent the morning and first part of the afternoon in Norway (a town in Oxford County) and then took a detour to Belgrade (a town in Kennebec County) before returning home at around 6 pm. 

The reason for our detour was to see if we could succeed where I had failed a few weeks ago and see Sandhill cranes. We arrived at the boat launch to find that other birders had caught some fleeting glimpses recently from there, but after a while without luck, (we did see other birds including the blurry mystery below) we gave up and decided to leave. We allowed ourselves a quick stop at another vantage point nearby but there was no sign from there either. Exile #2 spotted something and we both took a closer look despite thinking it was not likely to be anything interesting, and then, as we were looking through binoculars and camera, two large birds flew into our field of  view. 

Success!

Here is the blurry mystery. A distant water bird that looks vaguely like a northern pintail, but that seems unlikely so it remains a mystery for anyone who is interested to attempt to solve.