The Eurasian Marsh-Harrier (potential 2nd U.S.-mainland record, and, if accepted, first photo/video documented U.S.-mainland record) found by Byron Swift on North Haven Island, Maine, on Thursday, 8/25 was re-found Friday morning (8/26) at the regionally well-known site, Weskeag Marsh, near Thomaston, and very slightly southwest of Rockland, (Knox County) Maine, first re-found by Evan Obercian, and then ‘missing in action’ for several hours, showing again for the larger group gathered from about 2 pm, although not for that long, as the harrier agsin took off and was not refound later in the day on Friday (which also featured some storms moving into that region). Thanks go to Louis Bevier of Maine for a list of New World (i.e., all of the Americas in total, the Caribbean region, and Bermuda) records, as follows: Virginia sight-record-only in 1994; two times on Guadeloupe (Caribbean) in 2002 and 2015; two times at Puerto Rico (U.S. territory) in 2004 and 2006; Bermuda in December 2015 to April 2016; and lastly at Barbados (Caribbean) in 2015. All who might not have visited the ‘new’ site in Maine (Weskeag) should understand that this on a 2-lane road that can have a lot of traffic for what may seem a small ‘rural’ highway, and there are not good areas for pullouts other than the 1 fairly-small lot, meant in part for birders and nature observers. If any birders plan to drive long ways to seek this rarity consider trying to pool, the more so nearest the location - assuming the harrier is in that marsh area again for Saturday or beyond. This weskeag Marsh location is quite close to U.S. Route 1. Also all birders south of that location - all the way south thru at least the Florida Keys, might consider the typical migratory pattern / phenology of the species it’s believed to be, and keep watch over coming weeks; fairly soon would be a ‘typical' time of the year for the species to potentially work its way south-ward. Where else in the new world might this one turn up?
Good luck and safe journeys to any who may try for this rare-in-U.S. raptor. Tom Fiore [N.Y. City] -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
