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Boreal Birding
I recently returned from a 10 day trip in the boreal forest of Maine. Our group stayed in a primitive camp deep in the unorganized territory to the west of Ashland. Temps ranged from the mid-30’s for the first few days down to minus 20 or so. Single digits and low teens were the norm for the majority of the trip. The wood stove at camp really got a workout! Most nights it snowed at least an inch or two revealing the recent movements of winter boreal tenants. Moose, deer, lynx, fisher, martin, red squirrel, ermine, grouse and mice were the tracks we noted daily. As far as birds go, ravens, ruffed grouse, pine and evening grosbeaks, dark eyed juncos, black capped chickadees, hairy woodpeckers, pine siskins, a few golden-crowned kinglets, a single Barred owl and the bird of the trip, the black-backed woodpecker, were all seen. Closer to town where bird feeders and agricultural waste were present had additional species including; common redpolls, blue jays, crows, pigeons, and a surprisingly large wild turkey population.
Now back to the bird/species of the trip. The Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus). A lifer for me, I heard a sharp “pik…pik…pik” call nearby and instantly knew that I had never heard that call in the forest before. I quickly turned on my Merlin® app and was stunned by what it was telling me! A minute later a male (yellow cap on head unlike the female) was bugging around on an ancient fir tree only 10 yards away! I failed to save recordings of its call on the new updated version of Merlin but did manage a few zoomed in cell shots. I then scampered through the dense softwood forest and back to the truck to get a real camera. As luck would have it I managed the above long range shot and was extremely excited about it. My first Black-back image! I love me some boreal forest! I’ll be back in this wonderful ecosystem this coming May chasing warblers along the shores of the Rangeley Lakes!
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