We can take a break from the scenery pictures to see a few birds. First, we have a flock of Mallards. Trivia time: a flock of Mallards can also be called a flush or a sord, and a flock of birds on water can be called a dropping of ducks. The internet has so much information!
Mallards are a fairly common sight in the cold ocean water.
Of course, we also see them on the shore.
The mallards did not seem bothered by a Common Goldeneye that was in the same area.
Busy grooming:
And in the water.
Another bird with 'common' in the name is the Common Loon. Remember that this is winter. The plummage of some birds are different in the winter versus the breeding season. The loon is an example.
Busy grooming:
Although they are called common as well, the Common Eider is not all that common. It is considered 'near threatened'. The plummage of these indicate that they are females and possibly juveniles. It was fun to see these three all in various stages of washing themselves. Busy grooming:
A truly common bird is the Herring Gull.
A truly rare bird is the Red-breasted Merganser, although wintertime along the coast is the best time to find them. Anne has dubbed them The Punk Bird because of the spiked 'hair'.
The Hooded Merganser, while uncommon, is seen more often.
Another uncommon bird is the American Wigeon.
Our last featured bird is the Bufflehead. It is a small duck with a distinctive head marking.
This page will finish with a Colony of Gulls and a Horde of Crows. (Yes, it is also called a Murder of Crows.) While not necessarily an uncommon bird, it is uncommon to see them in January in Maine.
We highly recommend the Cornell Lab Merlin app. It is very useful, particularly for those of us who are not actually birders, to identify a bird by either sight or sound.
Updated April 2025