Caspian Tern, Hills Beach, Biddeford, Maine, July 2017

In recent years Biddeford has been a key spot for sightings of both Caspian and Royal Terns in ME.  And more specifically, perhaps the Hills Beach section of Biddeford has been THE spot in ME for these large terns in late summer and early fall.  Back in July 2014 I made two trips to Hills Beach to try for both Royal and Caspian Terns (along with Skimmers – though I didn’t need that one for ME) that had been spotted there following the passage of Hurricane Arthur.  After dipping on my targets on the first trip, I was successful in finding 2 Royal Terns on my second visit there, though I missed the Caspian Tern and Skimmers.  At the time I reflected that if I could only find 1 of my targets it was nice that I found the rarer Royal Tern.  After all, Caspians are seen there every year.  Plus after two trips to Hills Beach I finally figured out how to successfully bird this spot.

But despite their regular occurrence, 3 years later I still needed Caspian Tern for my ME list.  In fact, Caspian was perhaps the most common bird I still needed for ME (along with others like Connecticut Warbler and Western Kingbird).  Of course Caspian Tern is still a rarity in the state since ME sightings are likely to be of a limited number of birds migrating along the coast to and from small breeding colonies far to the northeast in Newfoundland and nearby Quebec.  Although there are also larger inland colonies in Ontario and upstate NY, plus the sole New England colony on Lake Champlain, it’s unlikely that those birds make their way far to the east on the ME coast during migration.

Right on cue as we entered mid July 2017, the first Caspian Tern report was posted from Hills Beach.  Although it was reported on just one day, it sure got my attention.  And when another was spotted in downeast ME a week later, that was enough of a catalyst to make me start planning my next attempt for Caspian Tern at Hills Beach.  I contacted Mike Beck, a birder and former co-worker who retired to ME, and we planned to meet at Hills Beach the next morning.  Although we wouldn’t be chasing after a specific reported bird (it had been over a week since the last one was reported at Hills Beach), the timing was right for us to try to find the next one.

We arrived at 8 AM and parked along the shoulder of Hills Beach Road opposite Bufflehead’s restaurant in the only area where you can legally park and gain access to the beach.  And with a short walk we were overlooking the sandflats at full low tide.  There were a bunch of Common Terns perched on the flats and flying about, but no large terns were to be seen.  We continued to scan the area, picking out a number of feeding Bonaparte’s Gulls and several small flocks of Dowitchers, but the diversity was pretty limited.

Then at about 8:30 I spotted a larger bird flying out over the water in the distance which was flying like a larger tern.  Could it be a Caspian?  I continued to watch this bird for a couple minutes, and became convinced it was a tern, and it had a heavier more gull-like flight of a Caspian instead of the more buoyant flight of the thinner-winged Royal Tern.  But it was too far away and I couldn’t be 100% sure. 

I returned to scanning over the flats, and not five minutes later I heard a single call of a Caspian Tern coming from somewhere close nearby.  I would have sworn I was about to see it right away flying out over the flats somewhere.  But alas, I never did spot it despite much anxious scanning.  I was sure it was the call of a Caspian, but why did I only hear it once?  And why did we not see the bird afterwards?

Mike and I then walked out on the sandflats to get closer views, and especially to be able to see the area to the east.  We began to find more shorebirds, including quite a number Semi Plovers and Semi Sands.  We also spotted a rare pair of Oystercatchers flying across the flats – only my third for ME.  But we couldn’t come up with any large terns.

A short while later we saw another birder on the flats and were able to compare notes.  He said he too had a larger tern flying out over the water at about 8:30.  Sounds like he saw the same bird I had seen. So that made me feel better about my ID of that sighting, but certainly not the best of sightings.

Since we didn’t see the target bird perched on the flats at lower tide, my strategy was to stay at least until the tide had risen to about mid-tide when there would be only limited amounts of flats still exposed.  In theory, that would concentrate the foraging birds, and hopefully force the Caspian to perch in just a few remaining exposed areas.  But even at mid-tide I couldn’t re-find the Caspian.

As I left the area I recalled in past years that birders have mentioned that they’ve had the large terns flying directly overhead, going back and forth between Biddeford Pool and Hills Beach.  So I wonder if the bird I heard calling was actually over my head and on its way to Biddeford Pool.  Its next calls (if any) would then be behind me so I didn’t hear them.

In any case, certainly not satisfying observations, but good enough to count for my ME list.  As a post-script – the next 2 days a single Caspian Tern was spotted perched on the flats at Hills Beach – potentially the same bird I had, though mine certainly wasn’t nearly as cooperative.

Caspian Tern was the 340th species for my ME statelist, and the 246th species I’ve seen in all 6 New England states.  Given that Caspian Tern has a range that spans much of the continent, it’s not too surprising that ME was the 41st state where I’ve seen this species, not to mention 3 Canadian provinces (see my statebird map and province bird maps below).