Scott's Landing

Little Deer Isle Causeway was purchased in 2004 by the Island Heritage Trust, which has made parking and viewing more accessible. Route 15 to Deer Isle/Stonington crosses a suspension bridge over Eggemoggin Reach onto Little Deer Isle, and then turns sharply left to cross a causeway onto Deer Isle. Birding from the bridge is impossible and there is little room to park on the far side, so birders typically zoom by. However, the causeway can be interesting depending on season and tide. At low tide, the area is mostly unproductive mud flats. At high tide, eiders, loons, scoters, and grebes are all possible.

Surf and white-winged scoters are often seen in the cove along the causeway, and bald eagles historically nest on Carney Island opposite the causeway.

Scott’s Landing is a 22-acre parcel across the street from the causeway beach. It is a mix of abandoned blueberry fields, glacial moraines, marsh, woody wetlands, mature and young woodlands - an above average spot for open area warblers like American redstarts, and another good place to scan for sea ducks. During spring migration, it is a particularly interesting spot, as songbirds will fall out here overnight. Not only can the refuge be teeming with birds that will spend the day foraging, but many more may stage here to make a morning flight back across Eggemoggin Reach to the mainland - a course correction that many songbirds make when the sunrise reveals that they are on an island.