As the season spins us closer to the holidays, we find ourselves creating lists and checking off items once they’re done. Purchase such-and-such (preferably locally made) gifts for our loved ones (check). Finalize who’s coming to the holiday dinner (check) and what we’ll have on the menu (check). Count birds for this year’s Christmas Bird Read More
birding
Tundra Swan Makes Rare Visit to Maine
For the last two weeks, Maine has been graced by one of the most graceful birds: a swan—in this case, a Tundra Swan. Tundra Swans nest in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Canada across to Alaska (there is also a Eurasian subspecies often referred to as Bewick’s swan). Birds nesting from the northern crown Read More
Good Shorebirding Luck Continues
A few weeks ago, while in the area, we took the opportunity to check out the birding at Wharton Point in Brunswick. We pulled into the little parking area that overlooks Maquoit Bay and quickly noticed the tide was just off high tide—perfect for shorebirding, as they would all be feeding in the constrained area Read More
Long Goodbyes, Short Hellos
With the gradual shift to cooler early evenings these August days, we’ve been enjoying sitting out on our porch, our dog happily sprawled out beside us, sniffing the air. We’ve been listening and scanning the powder-blue skies and the patchwork green of the lilac bushes, crabapple trees, maples, ashes, and other vegetation. Almost every night, Read More
Weird Bugs and Vagrant Birds
We’d been hearing about a pretty cool bird lately that appeared in the unlikely town of Dayton, Maine. The bird, a Tropical Kingbird, which has very few records for Maine, is both beautiful and intriguing, and so we wrote about it in our weekly column in the Boothbay Register (you can read that particular column Read More
Drawn to the Marshes by a Force Unknown
Was it an unconscious reaction to the excessive heat? Were we mesmerized by the memory of the “tick-it, tick-it” calls of rails we’ve heard in years past? Whatever it was drew us recently to two marshy lakes to look for particularly interesting birds. These two areas happen to be local birding hotspots for us and Read More
A Great New Place to Bird
If you’re like us, you like to combine your birding with discovering a new, spectacular place. A few weekends ago, we achieved that goal when we led a birding outing for members of the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) to the Perham Stream Birding Trail, located in Madrid, Maine. Madrid, in case you’re a Read More
Something Fishy Going On
A week following a spring storm that left much of Maine blanketed in snow, we found ourselves at our son’s Bates rugby match vs host Bowdoin College. The wind had a bite to it, but the pitch was gleaming green. Soon, it, along with the players, turned muddy brown, and the air was filled with Read More
Robins in Every Yard
Before the big spring snow, on a recent morning walk around our neighborhood with our dog, Loki, spring seemed to have arrived overnight. “Pip-pip-pip”—the calls of American Robins seemed to sound from every yard. The lawns were just starting to regain some green among winter’s leftover brown matted grass but the robins didn’t care. They Read More
