BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 6, 2024
We were 20 miles offshore on a whale watch boat. when a least sandpiper fluttered within three feet of my head. Most birds are reluctant to fly over water, but some find they have little choice. Migrants from across Maritime Canada flow through Nova Scotia until crossing the Gulf of Maine is their only option. Islands are migration traps. Birds caught over the ocean seek landfall wherever they can find it. Monhegan is such a migrant trap that eBird lists 317 species that have been seen on the island. That’s 32 species more than any other location in Maine. Maine Audubon’s East Point Sanctuary at Biddeford Pool in southern Maine is the runner-up, having recorded 285 species. Although it is not an island, it juts out into Saco Bay far enough to act like one. Another island — Stratton Island off Old Orchard Beach — holds the third spot, with a list of 279 recorded species. ~ Bob Duchesne