The Captain William Fitzgerald Preserve in Maine is a Grassland and Pine Barren that used to be runway extension for the old Brunswick Naval Air-station.  I guess the idea was a plan undershooting (or over shooting the runway would land in this large empty field.

When the base closed 10 years ago, the 66-acre parcel became the Captain Fitzgerald Recreation and Conservation Area, and one of the few remaining sand-plain grasslands left in Maine.

Locals only seem to use it for blueberry picking but it is a terrific place to see Vesper, Field and Clay-colored sparrows; Prairie Warblers; early migrators like Pine and Prairie Warblers  . . . and sometimes a few  surprises.  

My first visit of the Spring yielded an Eastern Towhee, many field Sparrows . . . and surprising Lesser Scaups.

[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”379″ display=”pro_mosaic”]