Except for one 24 hour period where the wind chill hit 50 below, this winter in Maine has been very mild. A few light snow storms, some ice and relatively mild temperatures have made things quite pleasant (all things being relative). The long range forecast seems to be telling us that our good luck […]
As I write this, its been four days since the Steller’s Sea-Eagle has been seen. Birders from around the country continue to pour into Maine, hoping to see our orange billed celebrity. I feel bad as they keep coming up empty. Three times I’ve had strangers point out Greater Black-backed Gulls to me . . . […]
The Brant is a common winter resident of the Mid-Atlantic states but is rarely found north of Cape Cod. But each winter a handful of these cubby little characters show up on a beach in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. I know of nowhere else in Maine that Brants are regularly found. This year, the Brants didn’t […]
The Steller’s Sea-Eagle has now been seen for the last five days. At this writing a couple that drove up from Maryland this morning reports our celebrity bird has not yet arrived (but I suspect it will). Local media has been sending out reporters. I was asked twice if I had any photos I could […]
Just as in his first visit to Maine, last winter, the Steller’s Sea-Eagle is attracting large crowds of Birders from all over the country. I’ve seen him (or her) three out of the four days at a distance and have enjoyed meeting folks from around the country.
For those of you that followed my 2021 Maine Big Year . . . you may remember the most improbable bird of the year (and my entire life) showed up on the last day of the adventure. A Steller’s Sea-Eagle, a bird of the Russian ice was seen 10 miles from our house in Wiscasset, […]
The Common Ringed Plover primarily nests in Greenland and the high arctic of Canada before migrating toward its winter home in Africa. The nearly identical Semipalmated Plover migrates by the thousands through North America. Vagrant Common Ringed Plover individuals are probably missed in these autumn hordes that descend upon American beaches. Yesterday, January 31, 2023, this […]
A Guide to 500 Common Birds in the United States and Canada, designed for kids and anyone who is a kid at heart, Bird Field Guide for Kids opens up the wonderful world of birding to children. Using fun and easy to use spinners, push buttons, and scrolling tables, this app makes bird identification a […]
Ingrid has been a 4th grade teacher for decades and thus has developed immunity to all disease. Even during the worst of Omnicron when most of her students tested positive . . . Ingrid remained healthy. And her super-human immune system extends to the flu, the common cold and probably cat-scratch fever. Of course […]
With the pandemic and the Maine Big Year over . . . Ingrid and I were finally able to get out of the State of Maine . . . some sightseeing and some birding. We got a few Life Birds in the process.
While winter in Maine is long and usually stormy (not so much this winter), its a great place to be a birder. Birds that nest in the high arctic push into the state for a little day light and better weather. One of the winter highlights each year is the return of Snow Buntings . […]
Keeping a year list is one of the great pleasures of birding. Year lists are our New Year’s Resolution to keep birding. Lists reset to zero and you get to start counting Chickadees, Bluejays and Robins . . . one, two, three. The lunatic fringe begins their Big Year efforts on January 1, the sane […]
With this week’s Storm of the Century a mere 24 hours away, Christmas visitors arriving for dinner and a dozen odds and ends to get done . . . I climbed out of bed around 5:00 am and began working my way through the to-do list. Around 8:00 am I headed for to the hardware […]
During April School Vacation of 2019, Ingrid and I were in Arizona to see do a little birding and get a preview of warm spring weather. There we visited the Patton Center for Hummingbirds, a onetime private home, that is now a bird sanctuary known for its visiting hummingbirds. Located just outside, Patagonia, the Patton […]
Who remembers the 1975 spy movie, Three Days of the Condor? It starred Robert Redford and Fay Dunaway. A big hit at the time, I’m not sure it has aged all that well . . . with overly dramatic 70’s music and bad effects . . . but it’s a fun adventure. Anyway, yesterday I […]
Ok, looking for a show of hands . . . how many of you take your phone to the bathroom? I’m not talking about brushing your teeth. I’m talking about that leisurely period, once or twice a day, where we can enjoy some good reading material. This morning, while “reading” I looked out the window […]
Ingrid and I spent Thanksgiving in Jourdanton, Texas with our son Bradley and his wife Tanner. In January, they bought a beautiful home outside of San Antonio and this was our first opportunity to truly visit and learn the area (we had briefly stopped by in February when we were looking for Whooping Cranes). While […]
On September 12, about two months ago, I was birding at Laudholm Farm in Wells, Maine, an amazing forest, meadow, salt marsh and ocean preserve. A robin sized bird flew in front of me. Grayish/black with a white ring around the eye . . . it disappeared into a thicket and I could not find […]
It’s now been six weeks since my fall which precipitated four painful shoulder separations and things continue to improve. I can now use my right arm to do most daily activities, unfortunately many of them still hurt like the dickens. For instance, I pick and choose when to raise my binoculars up to my […]
Yesterday (11/11/22), Ingrid and I travelled up to Rangeley, Maine to walk the length of Boy Scout Road, a three mile stretch through spruce trees, bogs and streams. Boy Scout Woods is a great place to find species that live in the Boreal Forests of the north that one never sees outside of this habitat. […]
One or two Canvasback ducks usually show up in Maine during each fall or winter. But last year during my Maine Big Year I scoured all the likely locations hoping to find one . . . but to no avail. Then yesterday, there were eight Canvasbacks on Cobbosseecontee Lake in Monmouth, Maine. This is a […]
So Ingrid and I are at our condo in Cape Elizabeth (just south of Portland, Maine) and a rare Common Gallinule is reported on a pond in Belfast … a bird rarely seen this side of the Mississippi. My birding has been limited for the last four weeks by my shoulder injury, but yesterday I […]
About three weeks ago I tripped over a root while following a woodpecker through the trees . . . in other words I was looking up when I should have been looking down. The next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground with a dislocated shoulder and what used to be a very […]
Brunswick Landing and Executive Airport is a thriving, commercial park that emerged after the Cold War era Brunswick Naval Air Station was decommissioned. In a grass field located in a few hundred yards from the runways, more often than not, one car find Horned Larks foraging.
With my birding temporarily on hold as I wait for an MRI to determine why my shoulder keeps dislocating . . . sometimes serendipity steps in. This Barred Owl was sitting a few feet from where we park our cars at our condo. Listen to the angry Tufted Titmice and Red-breasted Nuthatches trying to drive […]
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