BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 20, 2024
Maine has great birding wherever you go, but to fully appreciate everything our state has to offer, get offshore. That’s what a boatload of birders from 16 states did last Sunday, coming from as far away as Alaska. Maine Audubon enjoyed stunning weather and glassy seas for its annual trip into the Gulf of Maine. Participants watched northern gannets, Atlantic puffins, Wilson’s storm-petrels, red-necked phalaropes, lesser black-backed gulls. Several land birds whizzed by the boat, including a northern waterthrush, mourning warbler, yellow-bellied flycatcher or scarlet tanager .I’ve taken this trip multiple times over the years, but this was the first time I’ve seen long-tailed jaegers. ~ Bob Duchesne