Every once in a while, birders see something special . . . something unexpected. Yesterday Ingrid and I were at a salt marsh observing the first wave of shorebird moving south. It always amazes me that fall migration begins in July. Suddenly we heard the unmistakable call of a Red-tailed Hawk, the same call that […]
Several years ago I went to a Gull seminar. The speaker walked the audience through the various Gulls found in Maine and how to tell them apart. But in his lecture he made subtle, references to “Gull People”. No, he wasn’t talking about a bad 1950’s science fiction movie . . . “Gull People” are […]
For the last month a Tufted Puffin, a common west coast bird, but almost unheard of on the east coast has been popping up along the coast of Maine for the last month. On June 22 and 23 it was seen on Petit Manan Island, near Bar Harbor. Then on July 1, it appeared […]
Ingrid and I promised each other a quiet evening at home tonight. We’ve been busy with work (her’s not mine), home improvement projects, visitors and road trips. We are both a little worn down and looked forward to steak on the grill and a little Red Sox vs. Yankees Baseball. Then about 3:00 pm a […]
Yesterday morning around 11 am, an area birder, Gordon Smith was driving through rural Brunswick, Maine with his windows open. Stopping at a four way intersection, he heard a bird singing “tsillik, tsillik.” The song was an insect-like, feeble hiccup that he had heard before. Racing home, Gordon returned with recording gear and after analysis […]
On a June 28, 2022, Ingrid and I took a whale watch out of Provincetown, Massachusetts we observed four different types of Shearwaters (Great, Manx, Sooty and Cory’s), Whales (Humpback and Fin), Gray Seals and other sea birds. Here is a compilation.
When Ingrid was young, some of her favorite memories were made on Cape Cod with her family. They spent their summers and many a weekend at a vacation home a short distance from the beach. She loves to tell me about riding bikes to the beach, ice cream, mini-golf and other family adventures. I, on […]
——- A couple days ago (Wednesday) I received an incredible photo from a friend who manages Maine’s offshore islands for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It was of two Puffins . . . one Maine’s adorable Atlantic Puffin and the other . . . a Tufted Puffin!!!! The Tufted Puffin is a west coast […]
Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron’s nest in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Late summer a few appear in Maine after their young have fledged. Yesterday (June 13, 2022), Ingrid observed this Yellow-crowned Night-Heron feeding in the marsh grass around a grocery store in South Portland, Maine. Very unusual to see one so early in the year.
Brunswick is thriving community about 10 miles south of our home in Wiscasset. It has a thriving industrial park and Executive Airport (both of which sprung from installations at a now defunct Naval Air Station); one of the nation’s premier liberal arts colleges (Bowdoin College); and a charming, quintessential New England downtown. And for the […]
On July 11, 2005, or perhaps July 5 (the records conflict), a tourist boat, skippered by Captain Andy Patterson, left Cutler, Maine to see Puffins. While there are many Atlantic Puffin cruises along the Maine Coast, Patterson’s is unique as it offers clientel the opportunity to land on a Puffin breeding Island and walk among […]
The Bates College Alumni Magazine was kind enough to do a write-up on my Maine Big Year. All that tuition my parent’s paid finally paid off. https://issuu.com/batescollege/docs/bates_magazine_spring_2022/44
Filmed May 22, 2022 at Hinckley Park in South Portland, Maine. The Black-crowned Night Heron is one of our favorite birds. Not particularly shy, they freeze in one place for hours at a time and become practically invisible.
Maine winters are long and miserable, so Ingrid and I can’t wait for spring migration . . . where thousands of beautiful tiny warblers begin to move through the State. But Spring 2022 has been slow. Weather fronts and cold weather have delayed the warblers. The early arriving species have come and gone, but not […]
Our Mid-Coast Maine Big Day is over and I’m exhausted. My “much much” younger wife doesn’t seem to be at all weary from 18 straight hours of birding. We ended up identifying 102 species which exceeded our goal of 100 bird . . . but fell short of the 108 we got on a California […]
May 14, 2022 is Global Big Day . . . a day where teams of Birders throughout the world compete to see as many species of birds as possible in a 24 hour period. Last year, 51,816 Birders in 192 counties, identified an astonishing 7,234 species. This year, Ingrid and I will be doing our […]
To celebrate Mother’s Day (this is gonna make me look really really bad), this morning I took Ingrid to a sand quarry located near the Auburn Mall (behind Hobby Lobby to be exact). There, last summer I counted 134 Bank Swallow nests and watched dozens and dozens Swallows moving in and out to feed young. […]
In June 2013, when I could barely discern the difference between a Bald Eagle and a Black-capped Chickadee, Ingrid dragged me . . . ah . . . err . . . invited me to the Acadia Birding Festival in Bar Harbor. The prospect of three days of tromping through mosquito infested forest, had […]
Spring Migration is rolling so time for our Warbler Quiz. Test your know knowledge of these beautiful little visitors. The questions will get harder as we go along. At the end there are no awards, prize money or new cars . . . just the satisfaction that you’ve added to, or confirmed, your knowledge of […]
Ingrid has been a teacher for well over 30 years, a profession she loves and it has wonderful benefits. While she has regular and generous vacations . . . there is no flexibility. April vacation is always the third week of month and accordingly airline prices sometimes triple during that period (as they do […]
Its mid-April, we’re in Seattle and sixty miles away stands Mt. Rainier . . . Clark’s Nutcrackers, Canada Jays, Ptarmigans, and many many more. We’re in the Pacific Northwest for vacation, a vacation we designated as non-birding, but we took our cameras and binoculars along. Our van tour picked us up just southwest of the […]
Last Christmas I was stumped on what to give Ingrid. Earrings??? Nah, been there done that. Clothes??? My taste is awful. A new vacuum??? Grounds for divorce. So finally I decided upon a vacation trip to Seattle. Ingrid had never been to the Pacific Northwest and had always want to visit . . […]
A discussion of Ethan Whitaker’s 2021 Maine Big Year for Bath’s Patten Free Library. Audio, video, audio and photos of some of the record 324 birds that were identified during his adventure. You’ll enjoy hearing about the unexpected and absurd encounters one has while traveling 60,000 miles, crisscrossing the State.
Yesterday, Ingrid and I were birding over at Great Salt Bay, one of our favorite hotspot in the nearby town of Nobleboro. We were seeing an overlap of winter birds that have yet to move north (Northern Shrike and Buffleheads) and migrating birds that have recently arrived from the south (Pied-billed Grebe and Tree Swallows). […]
Maine’s local ABC affiliate, WMTW 8, ran a story on my Maine Big Year and Book . . . Total Maine
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