We were still riding the excitement of the Vermilion Flycatcher at Hog Island when a new bird showed up that blew our minds yet again: Maine’s first FIELDFARE. This Eurasian thrush was found on the morning of 19 April 2017 by Jeff Cherry in Newcastle. Many thanks to Jeff for quickly alerting the Maine Birds listserv and reporting to eBird — that got the word out and allowed many people to start making plans to get out to see this “MEGA” rarity.
Jeff first found the bird in a yard along Sheepscot Road, near Sheepscot Village, around 7:30AM but had left that area when he checked again at 8:00AM. There were eyes on that yard and an adjacent field (which had several American Robins in it) throughout the morning, but Louis Bevier finally relocated the bird from a vantage point further north around 1:30PM. This new location was at the Sheepscot Community Church, looking across the road, over a pond. A flock of robins including the Fieldfare were on the distant slope. They remained there, occasionally flushing into the trees and out of sight before returning to the field, until around 2:30PM.
This map should help clarify the areas where the bird was seen. Please use caution when birding along Sheepscot Road — it has poor visibility around hills and corners, and has lots of fast-moving traffic.
Updated sightings of this bird can be seen on the Maine-birds Listserv or eBird’s Maine Rare Bird Alert. To help collate the records going into eBird, we’ve created a ‘stakeout hotspot’ for this bird as well, available at: ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L5720892
Good birding!
-Doug
