A Morning Birding at Crystal Spring Farm

by Kris Ganong, BTLT Board Member & Volunteer

On Friday, May 12 at 7:30am a group of 16 gathered at CSF to bird watch with expert birder, Jan Pierson. The morning was gray and cool but not rainy. At first we noticed the plentiful bird song while standing in the parking lot and slowly made our way down the East Trail to a pond. I cannot begin to list all of the names of the birds we saw and heard, but Jan is truly amazing. He can stand quietly listening and then list the birds we just heard. He breaks down their calls to make them recognizable and knows many facts about each bird. Most incredible is how far some of them travel!

We saw male bobolinks, solitary sandpipers in the pond, a scarlet tanager, and a blue bird nesting in a box. We heard an ovenbird and tried hard to catch sight of him. We walked from the pond past the farm buildings and onto the Quarry Trail listening and observing as we went. Jan had a scope which he would focus on a bird and we could get a very good view. Many of us had binoculars and reference books as well.

This calm insightful activity was a wonderful way to start the day. Don’t miss an opportunity to bird watch on one of BTLT’s properties – it was terrific!

This event was part of our annual Spring Birding Extravaganza, a free series of birding events held in partnership with Merrymeeting Audubon, Kennebec Estuary Land Trust, and Harpswell Heritage Land Trust. Read more about this annual series and the upcoming events at www.btlt.org/spring-birding-extravaganza-2017