This weekend Pamela and I drove north to join a Maine Audubon trip to Matinicus Rock in hopes of seeing the Red-billed Tropicbird that has been seen hanging around there since May. (And has been showing up for the last few years.)
We drove up to Maine on Saturday morning and realized that we were going to be in the same neighborhood as when we took a day trip up a few years ago to see the puffins with the Hardy Boat Cruises in New Harbor. Since the weather was nice and Sunday was rather unpredictable (70% thunderstorms) we decided to do their evening Puffin cruise to Eastern Egg Rock again. (No sense in going all the way to Muscongus Bay and not seeing puffins!) We spent the afternoon exploring Damariscotta, a quaint little New England town and had lunch at the King Eider Pub, before heading back to board the boat at 5:30. It's nice to go to Eastern Egg Rock to see the puffins as they had been wiped out from this location in the late 1800's, and through the efforts of Audubon and especially Dr. Stephen Kress, a breeding population been brought back there. You can read all about it at http://www.projectpuffin.org/. While waiting to steam out, I spotted our first of many Black Guillemots in the harbor. Breeding plumaged Laughing Gulls were also abundant.
On the ride out, there were plenty more guillemots, as well as about a dozen immature gannets.And of course, there were plenty of puffins.
We spent the night at the Wiscasset Motor Lodge, about a half hour from the Todd Audubon Sanctuary in Bremen, ME, which was where we were boarding for the all day trip on Sunday.(And also where the famous Hog Island is.) The motor lodge was a wonderful place to stay and I would highly recommend it if you are planning any trips to the Muscongus Bay area. We woke up early, packed some lunches and headed to the sanctuary with high hopes for good weather and seeing the tropicbird. The trip was billed as follows:
Matinicus Rock Trip III
A 32-acre island ledge 25 miles off the mouth of Penobscot Bay , Matinicus Rock is one of Maine 's most important seabird nesting colonies. Atlantic puffins, razorbills, common murres, black guillemots, arctic and common terns, and laughing gulls all gather here to breed and nest. Motoring out of Bremen aboard the Puffin V, we'll meander through the islands of Muscongus Bay , seeing many osprey and bald eagles along the way. With plenty of open-water habitat along our route, we could also see a nice array of pelagic species, including Wilson 's storm-petrels; northern gannets; red-necked phalaropes; greater, manx, and sooty shearwaters; and jaegers. There is a possibility that the red-billed tropicbird that spent part of the past two summers on the island will return. On our re-turn to Bremen we will visit the seabird colony at Eastern Egg Rock, hopefully adding roseate tern to our trip list.
A 32-acre island ledge 25 miles off the mouth of Penobscot Bay , Matinicus Rock is one of Maine 's most important seabird nesting colonies. Atlantic puffins, razorbills, common murres, black guillemots, arctic and common terns, and laughing gulls all gather here to breed and nest. Motoring out of Bremen aboard the Puffin V, we'll meander through the islands of Muscongus Bay , seeing many osprey and bald eagles along the way. With plenty of open-water habitat along our route, we could also see a nice array of pelagic species, including Wilson 's storm-petrels; northern gannets; red-necked phalaropes; greater, manx, and sooty shearwaters; and jaegers. There is a possibility that the red-billed tropicbird that spent part of the past two summers on the island will return. On our re-turn to Bremen we will visit the seabird colony at Eastern Egg Rock, hopefully adding roseate tern to our trip list.
It was a pretty safe assumption that almost everybody on the boat was there to see the tropicbird. The gentleman sitting next to me as we motored out of the bay admitted that this would be his 743rd ABA bird if we got it. He's at that point where he's chasing reports now to get new ABA birds and they get very expensive. (He traveled here from Michigan!) After a few hours we reached Matinicus Rock. There were plenty of puffins, as wells as Arctic Terns, and a few Razorbills. Again, the Black Guillemots were quite numerous, especially on the island. 
A large group of "murre-looking" birds grouped at the top of some rocks turned out to be a group of decoys. Just like the puffins, they are colonial nesters and Audubon is trying to lure the murres back to the island to breed as well by placing decoys like these in visible prospective nesting areas. This method was used to help bring back the nesting colonies of puffins as well.
A large group of "murre-looking" birds grouped at the top of some rocks turned out to be a group of decoys. Just like the puffins, they are colonial nesters and Audubon is trying to lure the murres back to the island to breed as well by placing decoys like these in visible prospective nesting areas. This method was used to help bring back the nesting colonies of puffins as well.Unfortunately, they were the only murres we saw.
After circling the island a few times the announcement was made that we'd be heading back in a few minutes. The tropicbird was never spotted. And that was it. We simply gave up after less than an hour and headed back, with no attempts at checking any other areas. (It had been noted that the tropicbird was also being seen regularly near another rocky outcropping/island but we didn't make any attempts at it.) I have to admit to being a little irritated by this. Quite a few people traveled a great distance for a chance of seeing this bird, and it didn't seem like much of an attempt was made. We were back to the dock by 4:15 (not 5:30 as advertised) and we spent a solid hour or so traveling back along the shore. It seems to me that we could have spent more time at Matinicus looking for the target (and I don't think that people would've minded watching the puffins, terns, etc longer while looking) OR trying another location. I almost would've preferred having the trip cancelled because of weather (and never knowing whether it was there or not) to only going for a short time and giving up. Oh well, can't do anything about it - birds are never guaranteed and we see them at their pleasure.
Oh, and on the way back we did see a few American Bald Eagles. Pam spotted this nice adult on the shore.
