Birdwalk Highlights for 4/12: Town Landing, etc, Tour.

It wasn't very nice out. Slushy roads with steadily falling snow slowed down travel, but winds were light enough so the outing began with the always-popular (and fairly sheltered) Town Landing Tour.

Between Freeport and Cumberland, a series of stops yielded a decent tally of waterbirds, both diminishing wintering species and newly-arriving birds. Tallies for all of the stops included 375 COMMON EDIER, 73 HERRING GULLS, 59 LONG-TAILED DUCKS, 57 BUFFLEHEADS, 48 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, 47 CANADA GEESE (mostly inland), 43 RING-BILLED GULLS, 27 AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS, 10 COMMON GOLDENEYES, 9 RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, 12 COMMON LOONS, and 4 GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS.

A BELTED KINGFISHER was at the Yarmouth Town Landing, and a BALD EAGLE was looking for trouble at the Cumberland Town Landing. A total of 3 EASTERN PHOEBES were seen, all tucked into corners at the edge of the water.

Turning inland to check some of the local farm fields turned out to be less productive, but 3 AMERICAN KESTRELS, 3 KILLDEER, 2 MALLARDS, and 1 COMMON RAVEN were added to the day's list. Meanwhile, keeping track of some passerines throughout the morning yielded low totals of 20 AMERICAN ROBINS, 14 COMMON GRACKLES, and 10 RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS among others.