This visiting chook seems like a practice whistle blowing from the highest of a tall conifer

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And the hits simply carry on coming. A various thrush visited a feeder in Milford for a number of days on the finish of January.

Add this one to the rising listing of birds that shouldn’t be in Maine this winter, however are.

The various thrush is comparable in dimension, form and conduct to an American robin. Its vary is confined to the Pacific Northwest, besides when it isn’t.

I’ve loved a number of encounters in Oregon, Washington and Alaska on the west aspect of the Rockies. I’ve had the pleasure of their firm in Montana and Alberta on the japanese slope.

I’ve additionally seen two in Maine. A dozen years in the past, I used to be summoned to a home in Old Town to verify a various thrush visiting a feeder.

Varied thrushes have a popularity for wandering. They can get away with it as a result of, like all thrushes, they’ve a versatile food regimen. They depend on bugs hiding in leaf litter throughout breeding season, however subsist on nuts and berries in winter. They’re not shy about visiting feeders when hungry.

Not to be outdone, I’m conscious of a minimum of two Townsend’s solitaires which have wandered into Maine. In breeding season, they keep west of the Mississippi River, usually in scrubby alpine forests. They, too, can roam a bit in winter.

I want I might hear both of those two birds sing in Maine. The music of the numerous thrush is uncommon and haunting, paying homage to a practice whistle blowing from the highest of a tall conifer.

A noticed towhee has been hanging round Fort Foster in Kittery all winter. In summer time, the closest noticed towhees are discovered alongside the western fringe of North and South Dakota and most of New Mexico. Credit: Courtesy of Bob Duchesne Credit: Bob Duchesne

The Townsend’s solitaire is such a vocalist that it will possibly compete with northern mockingbirds. The birds can burst into prolonged music any time of yr. I watched them sing in Oregon final October, they usually merely floored me.

Other western birds are visiting Maine this winter. A hepatic tanager, usually discovered close to the Mexican border, remains to be in Stockton Springs.

A noticed towhee, which nests on the far aspect of the Mississippi, is loitering in Kittery. Ditto for a minimum of two western tanagers. A lark sparrow is in Corinna. Lark sparrows nest as close to as Ohio, however wander repeatedly.

A black vulture made headlines after being rescued in Bar Harbor. The chook was taken to the Acadia Wildlife Center.

All these birds are uncommon, however some are extra uncommon than others. Birds that enterprise outdoors of their regular ranges are referred to as vagrants or accidentals. They roughly fall into two classes.

In the primary class, some birds are merely susceptible to wandering. The various thrush, Townsend’s solitaire, western tanager and lark sparrow present up in Maine periodically, regardless of the gap.

This nice black hawk has change into fairly a celeb in Maine, having proven up in August and been rediscovered in Portland’s Deer Oaks Park in November. Bob Duchesne Credit: Bob Duchesne

The black vulture didn’t journey far. Its vary extends from the deep south all the best way into southern New England. They don’t migrate a lot, and plenty of will be discovered overwintering in Connecticut.

Though nonetheless uncommon, black vultures are drifting into southern Maine extra typically. Another was reported in Portland final week. I believe they’ll change into Maine residents inside the subsequent decade or two.

Yeah, local weather change.

In the second class are birds that shouldn’t be right here ever. The hepatic tanager, native to the Southwest, suits this class. So did the notorious gre at black hawk in 2018. The extra notorious Stellar’s sea eagle is much more inconceivable.

Some birds are blown off beam. Weather-related misdirection primarily impacts species in migration.

Some birds have a navigational screw unfastened. Genetic defects can throw off a chook’s compass, inflicting it to veer off beam, typically dramatically.

The Steller’s sea eagle is noticed consuming a duck in Boothbay, Maine. Credit: Courtesy of Steven Ditzler

Some species are pioneers. Individual birds typically roam outdoors their regular ranges, maybe as an evolutionary technique for colonizing new locations when their conventional locations change into degraded.

Unfortunately, that exploring intuition normally doesn’t finish nicely for the pioneers. But sufficient birds could survive to learn the species.

The pioneering technique is most obvious in birds that interact in post-breeding dispersal. Before their fall migration, some species will first wander in all instructions on the finish of nesting season.

The greatest native instance is supplied by nice egrets. They nest in southern Maine, however as soon as the children are off the nest, they unfold northward in late summer time previous to heading south for the winter.

Although most vagrant exercise will be defined by science, we’ve had many extra wanderers than traditional this winter.

Are these birds responding to local weather change, or simply irregular climate? Alternatively, are Mainers merely getting higher at figuring out bizarre birds after they present up?

The reputation of birding and bird-feeding continues to extend. Maybe we’re all simply turning into extra expert.

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