Editor's Column Robin's Thoughts and Rambles Hello! I think I've become the modern day Johnny Appleseed. It's not unusual to see birds out of the corner of my eye while I'm working. There are hanging feeders and suet, a small platform feeder on the back porch and another on the snow bank just outside the window. Piles of seed wait in the driveway for the birds that don't like to land too close to the house. Chickadees and nuthatches flit back and forth all the time. A chickadee caught my attention two days ago. It lands on the seed pile, sorts through the sunflower seeds until it finds the right one, and then it does something I hadn't seen. It flies under my vehicle and lands on an unknown part. It's there so briefly I don't think it's eating the seeds. I think the bird is tucking the seeds away some where under there. Two red squirrels are working diligently for the "Sunflower Trail." It's time to take the Shop Vac outside and lift the hoods on our vehicles. I'll know for sure by mid summer. If there are sunflowers growing on the side of the road between my house and Waite General Store or my house and the high school, I'll know how they got there. I'm thrilled with this week's edition. Thank you all for chipping in! The reports and photos are great. I tend forget that I am surrounded by thousands of acres of forest. We've been here so long that I sometimes take our beautiful setting for granted. Then something happens and I'm reminded ofhow wild this place can be. Sometimes it's a moose wandering through or the yip of coyotes. Sometimes it's a bobcat in our friends' barn first thing in the morning. Paul went out get a tool this morning and found a bobcat. We have another snow storm coming in tomorrow. I'll get my preparations done before it starts, put a pot of soup on the woodstove for supper and spend a good portion of the day writing out sticks for spring seedlings, sorting through seeds and looking at trays of seeds I planted today to see if they've popped up yet. Of course, they won't have because I planted them today, but I'll still look. When I get my fill of mock spring I'll make a list for Sunday's sledding party. Hot chocolate, hot dogs, rolls... propane... and I'll get right back to enjoying winter. Have a great week! Sincerely, Robin Follette, Editor/Publisher Maine Nature News Jan 20, 09 Joan Farnsworth sent this photo of deer feeding under apple trees. It's a beautiful banner! Thanks Joan! KB sent a link to an article in the Sun Journal, Nothing to Grouse About. This story compliments PL's November report of a grouse that followed her while out on a walk. I think you'll enjoy this great story. Linda Seaman's from Stanton Bird Club sent information on Maine Wildlife Park's Winter Admission & Photography Pass. I wish I lived closer to the park. Long-time reporter SH sent a link to a Bangor Daily News article. Frigid weather lingers in Aroostook County. This comment caught SH's attention: In the middle of January 1946 I stepped off the front porch of the Border Patrol camp at the mouth of the Big Black River and the thermometer there said 58 below zero. Three Officers and two Canadians under arrest started snow shoeing to Allagash on the river St. John. After a couple of hours of breaking a snowshoe trail we stopped to make a pot of tea. We found some dry cedar at an abandoned woods camp and could not get it to burn, it just had a blue flicker of flame that was cold but would not burn. After a few minutes we had to get back on the trail as the cold started to penetrate because of our inactivity. Donald McEdward, retired Border Patrol. I asked and so many answered. I'm excited about the number of reports coming in now. Thank you! We have new and "old" reporters this week. It's a great edition! I'm hoping to put on my snowshoes and head into the woods tomorrow. I haven't been out there since late November and I'm eager to see what's happening. I expect to find signs of deer, moose and rabbit. Have a great week! Robin Follette, Editor/Publisher Maine Nature News Happy New Year! I'm still grateful to Frank Whibey, MNN's founder, for creating this year's Astronomical Diary and Meteor Shower Calendar. I've posted the links to the new pages when they've come up in internet conversation. Traffic has increased. And speaking of traffic, the numer one increase in traffic over the past five weeks is our dreaded black fly. And that's all I'm saying about the little beasts in January! You'll notice a change this week. Rather than archive each week's edition and starting fresh I'm going to archive monthly instead.You'll see a horizontal line separating each week's edition. This will save me about an hour a week, more than a full time job's work week over the year. When the archive is uploaded the coding changes for reasons I don't understand and can't figure out. I'll have to make the corrections only once a month now. I hope the change works well for visitors coming in less than weekly. They'll be able to see what they've missed without going to the archive. I could use more banner-type photos please! Enjoy your week! Sincerely, Robin Follette Editor/Publisher | Maine Nature NewsVol. 14 No. 1 January 27, 2009 There is
another answer for What
Is it?  Owl Kill Site on Caesar Pond. This was the first time my husband and I had ever seen an owl kill site. There were three disturbances in the middle of the pond. The attached photo shows one of the disturbances where an owl may have skidded, and flung itself down to capture a rodent of some sort. The wingspan measures about 42". The entire slide/body depression area measures 6 feet long. See the January 20 and 21 entries of our web site for more photos. Thursday, January 22, Windsor (Map 13) For almost two weeks now, the hairy woodpeckers have been busy in our trees. We have traditionally had a pair nesting and this year, there seems to be another male in the territory. We have seen only one female, and the two males are positioning themselves for her. While they eat in the trees, she gladly visits our suet. Two to one is a good ratio for her! Our ducks have begun to lay: now if we can only get to the egg(s) before they freeze. This last snowstorm on Sunday gave us about 12 inches and it certainly seems to make our foundation warmer with its insulating qualities. PSH QUODDY NATURE
NOTES By Fred Gralenski A note on the Winterberries. First I love RRR's pictures. I wrote about winterberries in Nov. See attached. If Robins eat them, is this why they're of the genus 'Turdus'? (haha! Love it!) Here in the Quoddy region we are entering into the drab time of year. Most of the flowers are past (even though I did see a wild strawberry blooming recently) and the leaves on the deciduous trees have sneaked through their colorful stage and are now either hanging drearily on the oaks and beeches or accumulating on our lawns. There are bits of color around, but we have to search harder among our plants for our visual enjoyment. Some of the leaves in the blueberry barrens are very colorful, and the red of the mountain ash berries, especially along the coast, can be striking. My favorite, however, is in the swamps where I often hang out, and this is the Winterberry. Winterberry Illex verticillata) has many other common names, like Black Alder, Feverbush, False Alder, etc. It is a bush and can grow over 10 feet tall and likes the sun and the damp, acidic soils commonly found along the roads. Although Winterberry is a member of the Holly family, it is deciduous, and it loses its leaves in the fall. This characteristic is handy for us plant gawkers as the berries show up much better without the leaves. Although Winterberry is native to North America, there are many different cultivars that can be purchased. Winterberries are dioecious, that is, there are male and female plants, so if you are purchasing some for landscaping make sure you take this into consideration. The red berries are less than ½ inch in diameter, and, as seen in the picture, grow next to the stems of the twigs and branches. According to my references, various animals and birds eat the berries, but they must be pretty low on the preferred food list because I’ve noticed that the berries seem to last all winter. My herbal references indicate that the leaves of Winterberry, if picked in the summer and dried, make an enjoyable tea. The bark was supposedly used by the Native Americans to reduce fever, hence the name ‘Feverbush’. Watch out for the berries, however. Early medical people, often after consulting local native herbalists, experimented with native plants and wrote up the results. The following is an excerpt of a report written up in the Boston Medical & Surgical Journal (1833) on the effects of eating 20-25 winterberries: "A sensation of acrimony was left in the fauces. (This is an early 19th century way of describing a sore throat). Somewhat nauseous but ate a big dinner at 1:15PM. At 2:00PM vomited and stomach evacuated. Vomited a little bile afterwards. Natural stool immediately after. Felt now free from disagreeable sensations. At 2:30PM a most profuse evacuation of the bowels consisting of their natural contents diluted with an immense quantity of greenish liquid. About 4:00PM a similar evacuation but less quantity. After this I felt remarkable well as though I had lost, as I probably had, ten or fifteen pounds of weight." Thank you Fred! This is great! RF  Camp
Ellis, Saco, Map 4 People away from the coast
never see winter mirages... Wood Island prepares for takeoff
or landing... JBWednesday January 21 Lisbon Falls
(Map 6) It was 3 below on the back stairs this morning as I headed out for work. When I got to the end of the street a nice mid-winter sunrise was underway. It's interesting to note the position of the sun on these shorter days of the year. In winter the sun is right in my eyes at the end of the street as it rises in the morning while in the summer it is much farther off to the left as it breaks the horizon. SY   January 22, Bristol (Map 7) This adult Northern Hawk Owl has been in Bristol since January 4th. This is a very rare boreal visitor from Canada. Usually, when owls come far south of their customary range it's because they are starving. When their population burgeons competition for food forces them to stray. Most of them are juveniles. Most of them die as they are too young to have good hunting skills, they are on unfamiliar ground and they are weakened from starvation. This one, however, appears very healthy and is an adult. It has been successfully hunting rodents and other birds. Why it is this far south is unknown. Many people have made the trip to Bristol to see it, sitting atop a dead spruce tree on Rt. 130 (1/2 mile south of the consolidated school). Birders, photographers, parents with children in tow have all enjoyed this magnificent owl. This
is the Northern Hawk Owl consuming a female White-winged Crossbill. The
owl had been sitting atop its favorite perch for hours (and my feet
were FREEZING!). It favors a dead spruce that's about 50feet tall and
sits on the edge of Rt 130. There are open fields with spruce wood all
around this tree. Suddenly, the owl took to the air and bolted for the
tree line across the road. It swooped to the ground, rose back to the
tree tops and then back to a phone pole by 'its' tree before going to
the tree to consume its prize. RRR  Sunday, January 25
Camden (Map
14) It's off for another day of skiing. This time at a very special place, not only here in Maine but in the whole Eastern U.S. It's called the Camden Snowbowl and is located on Ragged Mountain in the beautiful Camden Hills Region of Mid-Coast Maine. While other ski areas offer views of a winter landscape that consists of frozen lakes, ponds and snow covered mountain peaks the Snowbowls views look towards the east out over Penobscot Bay and the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The only ski area in the east that has a ocean view.and what a view it is.Towards the northeast are the snow capped peaks of Mount Desert Island while closers by are the islands of North Haven and Vinaihaven. Their rocky shores covered in winter white. Out on the horizon is the high island of Isle au Haut. You look down at Camden and Rockport Harbors and Owls Head is off towards the southeast. There is also a nice close up view of Mount Megunticook, the highest of the Camden Hills and its smaller neighbor Mount Battie. Megunticook by the way is also the highest point of land on the eastern coastline of the U.S. SY  January 20, 2009
 Please email your answer in for next week's edition. *I think the mystery hawk being chased by a crow is a Red-tailed Hawk. LH *Looks like a Red-tailed Hawk to me. Note the belly band. SW  January
11, Bath (Map 6)
These Cedar Waxwings, seen here
gorging on crab apples, were part of a flock of at least 200. The flock
swirled between mature oak trees on either side of a municipal park
which has two crab apple trees where they were dining. They were
beautiful to watch feeding and flying, but made quite a mess of parked
cars! RRR Phippsburg, Totman Cove (Map 6)   Ilex
verticillata, commonly called Winterberry is a shrub indigenous to
Maine. A type of deciduous holly, it favors wet areas and is a staple
of birds and rodents over the winter. Maybe it should be called 'Bird
Berry?' Winter American Robins, Cedar and Bohemian Waxwings love it. RRR   We've had wonderful snow for tracking recently. I found a place in our woods where snowshoe hares have been cavorting. They land first on their front paws, then reach forward with their big hind feet which land ahead of where their front paws went down. In this photo the animal is heading to the left, hind paw prints leading. Scattered about were the hare's little round droppings. When there is an influx of snowshoe hares, bobcats follow as hares are one of their favorite foods. Bobcats turned up in Phippsburg last winter and are presumably still here. JMS  American
robins enjoying
a rose hip buffet on my rose arbor! RRR There is a flock of about 12 here for the winter. We have an abundance of these berries and tiny rose hips along the shore which the robins also love. They pick the berries right out of my holiday decorated planters! RRR Thursday, January 15, Morning-Noon Portland (Map 5) Very cold, but nice and sunny with no wind. While getting ready for work this morning, I noticed dozens of starlings and robins mobbing a medium sized fruit bearing tree across the street from my house. Those waiting their turns, roosted in surrounding trees and roofs. All starlings and robins were very ruffled up in the cold air. When I came home from lunch, the birds were still at it. I'm pretty sure I saw a few other bird species trying to get their share of dried fruit, including a mockingbird. I've seen robins in this area almost every February but I don't believe I've seen them this early in the winter in these numbers. PC Friday, January 16 Orono (Map 23) Bitterly cold this morning. People are not lingering outdoors to talk as usual, but are dashing to the shelter of buildings. Me too, but suddenly I am struck by the beauty this depth of cold has brought and I turn around. The shallow valley of the Stillwater River is filled by an actual vapor cloud, its puffy appearance belying the subzero temperature. The rising Sun streaming though this cloud spreads a reddish-gold tint everywhere surrounding us. Even ice gives off some water vapor, a process called sublimation. So the trees nearest all this condensing, evaporating and recondensing moisture have a diaphanous coating on every branch. It sounds like a cliché but the effect truly is best described as magical. Even the humble street storm drains have a beauty this morning. The "breath" of very humid and slightly warmer air from below has formed "frost feathers." By now I am chilled to the bone but rewarded by the opportunity for memorable photographs. F.W. January 16, 17 Windsor (Map 13) Between 4:30 and 7 AM on the 16th, no thermometer was necessary to understand the depth of the cold. The trees and ground were snapping and popping as it got colder. In Windsor, on the hill where we live? --- 13 below (and our thermometer is really too close to the house for real accuracy). I noticed the official Augusta airport temperature was the same. Many lower spots were colder. First birds active in the AM were crows and jays. A slight southwest breeze didn't really seem to warm things up. On the morning of the 17th, (Saturday) about 7 below with a slight northwest breeze and clouds. Makes me wish more than ever for some snow cover to keep our foundation a bit warmer. One positive benefit? Many insect pests, including squash bugs will have a low survival rate because of the lack of cover... PSH January 17, Augusta (Map 12) Heading into Augusta, from the east, where Togus Pond meets Route 3, we were surprised to see a car slow, then hit a bird lightly. The bird flew off apparently unharmed -- it was a gosshawk intent on some prey: soaring and circling after the impact. PSH  Friday, January 16
Lisbon Falls, Topsham, Brunswick (Map 6) It was 16 degrees below zero on the back stairs this morning and being on a little bit of a hill helped as in the lowers parts of town it was around 22 degrees below. My travels to work each morning take me through Topsham on Bridge Street and the Topsham Heights neighborhood. There are two very unique bridges on this street that span the Androscoggin River. First is the Historic Swinging Bridge.A walking bridge that back in the day was used by the mill workers of the Heights to cross the river to get to the Cabot Mill on the Brunswick side. Next up is what is known as The Black Bridge. It's a railroad trestle on top and a wooden automobile bridge on the bottom. This area of the river never freezes and with the very cold temperatures Artic Sea Smoke was rising from the waters surface. I am told for Sea Smoke to form the outside temperatures have to be 30 to 40 degrees colder than the temperature of the water.I took a quick walk out on the swing bridge and took a couple of pictures, one looking down river towards the Cabot Mill and the other looking up river towards the Black Bridge of the sea smoke. I must say that even though it was bitterly cold it was fun walking across the bridge in the sea smoke. I then stopped on the Black Bridge and took another shot looking down river. SY   Saturday, January 17 Lisbon Falls
(Map 6)
Well things are starting to warm up a bit. It was only minus 12 on the back stairs this morning. Spent part of the day in South Portland for a training put on by the Maine Dept. of Marine Resources Strandings Program. It dealt with the upcoming puping season for Ice Seals. Ice Seals are the Harp, Hooded and Gray Seals. Let's hope not but in the coming weeks some of these are sure to show up along the coastal beaches. If you should ever come across a stranded seal, whale, dolphin or porpoise you should call the Maine Marine Animal Reporting Hotline at 1-800-532-9551 and someone will respond and do an assessment of the animal and then a decision will be made on whether to transport the animal for rehab.  Back
in Lisbon Falls, I strapped on the snowshoes and headed outback for a
walk in the woods. It was not long before I came
across a large flock of turkeys. All 12 of them walking single file in
a row. I now see why their trails are so well packed out.It was then
time to check out the old apple tree. The snow under the tree was
covered with deer tracks as they had been eating the apples on the low
hanging branches. From there I followed the trail the deer had been
using through the woods and passed a large hemlock with a lot of its
smaller branches on the ground, the results of a mighty hungry
porcupine. There was also a nesting cavity about 20 feet up the
tree.The deer trail then lead to the local watering hole, a small
spring that will not freeze over even on the coldest of days.
Not far past here there was a scrape left by a deer on a small tree. I
put out my trail camera, walked around a little more and headed home
just as the sun was setting. SY Sunday, January 18 Rangeley (Map 28) Snow bunting. KB  January 20, Talmadge (Map 45) Small
birds have been
eating amaranth seeds. I've seen their tracks but
missed the birds so far. RF  January 13, 2009 December
28, Showhegan (Map 21) First, my attention was drawn to the woods beyond our back yard by numerous rows diving over and over again into the trees. Finally a movement allowed me to spot the object of their attention---a goshawk. It sat a while longer, flew closer to our yard and then away. A day or two later we spotted a flock of Bohemian waxwings in our flowering crabapple tree. Lastly, we had several visits to our suet feeder from a male red-bellied woodpecker. A month earlier a female red-bellied woodpecker was here. Two years ago a pair nested in this area but had not seen any since. J.F. January 6, Corinth (Map 32) While I have not had any luck (yet) getting birds to visit my feeders (which we installed late in the summer past) I have both heard and seen crows in the distance since we moved in, but that was about it. However, right around Yule we noted one had landed and was walking about in our back field and the last few days I have spotted them on the ground near the house, pecking at things unseen by me through the window. I had half an old roll in the fridge and I broke it up and threw it out the first day I saw them nearby, but I scared them and they flew off. I was heartened when they were there the next day, and presume they found the bread. Much of the birdseed has blown from the feeders (I do need to restock them!) onto the snow and I am not sure if they are pecking at that or what. I had a similar "problem" when we first put up the feeder outside our previous home in NC; NO birds at all for the longest time, then I noted a few crows, fed bread to the gulls a bit and it was after that the smaller ones -- songbirds -- started showing up. I hope the same pattern is followed here. JJ   January 6, Phippsburg, Small Point (Map 6)An Atlantic
White-sided Dolphin, also known as a Striped Dolphin, washed up on a
Phippsburg beach. It was deceased. Nonetheless, researchers from the
Maine Department of Marine Resources, Marine Mammal Stranding Program
took measurements, teeth counts, tissue samples and other
data. The cause of death of this beautiful animal was not
immediately evident. Hopefully, the data will explain the mystery. In
spite of winter's cold, blustery winds, ice and other difficult
conditions, the researchers respond to calls for all marine mammals,
dead or alive. This includes whales, seals, dolphins, porpoises and sea
turtles. They can be reached at the hotline number, 1-800-532-9551.
Please remember: if an animal is alive, do not approach it
for its safety and yours! Call the Stranding Program. This
type of dolphin is the most common species of dolphin on the Maine
Coast. Though this was the first one of 2009 that the researchers have
catalogued, they receive numerous calls about them every year. This
animal was 7 feet long and estimated to weigh about 400 pounds. It had
lots of scrape marks, new and old from the teeth of other dolphins.
They travel in large groups and the mouthing is a social activity,
sometimes aggression, sometimes mating. The raking marks were not
thought by the researchers to be related to the cause of death. Robin
Robinson   January 6, Freeport (Map 6) Saw a group of winter robins today in some backyard bushes. SY January 7, Bar Harbor (Map 16)I had a real treat yesterday afternoon. A Brown Creeper has been hunting on tree trunks outside my office window lately. I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and looked out expecting to see the creeper. To my surprise and delight it was a gorgeous male Red-bellied Woodpecker! Crimson crest blazing in the late afternoon sun! I haven't seen one for over 20 years, so it was spectacular. Got excellent long views of his lovely ladder-back, white rump and black tail from the back and then he flew to a branch slightly above my window and hopped towards me. So I even got to glimpse the beautiful red blush on his belly! He was inspecting all the holes in dead branches and then flew down to the ground and began pecking at and eating snow. Don't know whether he found food down there or was just thirsty. I know Red-bellieds have been seen regularly in Hancock County lately, as they've been making their way north, but I was shocked to find that the 1980 range map in Peterson's books shows their NE extent in New Jersey. Quite a range extension in less than 30 years! LH  Saturday
January 10 Locke Mills (Map 10) Another day of skiing, this time at the Mount Abram Ski Area. It was the perfect mid-winter day with no wind and a bluebird sky. Temperatures started out around zero and rose to the mid teens by noon. There is enough snow now in the western mountains that even the natural snow trails, the ones without snowmaking, are now open and have been groomed out nicely. As with most ski areas in this region the views from the summit look off in a northerly direction. In one spot you look out over snow covered North and South Ponds while in another the views stretches off towards the Mahoosuc Range and Old Speck, the 3rd highest mountain in the state. Can you name the 2 mountains that are higher than Old Speck? In a more northwesterly direction the views are of the smaller unnamed mountains of Western Maine and then off towards New Hampshire's Presidential Range and Mountain Washington. Now there are 2 reasons why the ski area views are always off towards the north. First off having your slopes on the northern side of the mountain helps to hold the snow longer as it is colder side and out of the direct rays off the sun. The second reason has to do with an event that took place over 10,000 years ago. The glaciers. If you look at just about any hill or mountain you will see the northern side of the mountain always has the more gradual slopes while the southern side is for the most part rocky and steep.So can you name the 2 higher mountains? The 2nd highest is Sugarloaf and the highest is Katahdin. SY    For the past week my trail camera has been down at the end of the street in the 3 year old cut down. I could not think of better time to get it than to snowshoe down tonight under the Full Wolf Moon. Along the way there were a number of turkey tracks. So many they had even made their own kind of game trails. There were also a number of deer tracks and that of red and gray squirrels. One set of tracks looked very cat like and were coming and going all over the place. While it could be that of a house cat one has to wonder why a house cat would be out for a walk in the woods even though there are houses nearby. Could it be that of a bobcat? As I was picking up the camera there was a noise not far off in the trees and I thought I must have jumped some deer that were bedding down for the night. To my surprise four or five turkeys took flight off into the night sky. After my heart settled back into my chest I finished taking down the camera and headed home. SY  Sunday,
January 11
Windsor Last night's "Wolf" moon certainly did stir up the animals! The coyotes were quite vocal, our (tame) rabbits were active; the buck was incessantly stamping in his hutch, and many neighborhood dogs were barking into the night. As the clouds came in later, temperatures held at about 13 degrees F and the winds were fairly calm. This early AM, snow began about 4 and the winds began blowing from the northeast. Is there a chance that this new snow will last? Forecasts of cold temperatures during the next few days make that seem more likely. Before this snow started, we had a crusty inch and a half of sleet/snow on the ground: I'd welcome a good snow cover so I'm waiting. PSH January 6, 2009 December
22, Phippsburg, Totman
Cove (Map 6) The birds
are very busy restocking after the big storm. We got between 18-20"
here. There was some blowing during the night, so it's hard to say
exactly. It's a chilly 1 degree this morning, the 23rd. There's lots of
shoveling left to do. We must remove snow from the roof today. There is
a foot of snow up there which will absorb the predicted rain like a
sponge. That creates too much weight to risk. RRR
 January 3, Orono (Map 23) I was on the roof of our home finagling with a new antenna to catch up with the digital tv conversion before the February 17 changeover. It is pretty barren up there: just shingles and some snow. As I was working an unexpected bit of cheerful color caught my eye. There on the surface were some British Soldier Lichen! I can't imagine worse growing conditions but it was there amid the cold and wind, and most important, with very little of nutritive value. Yet demonstrating the tenacity of Life were these tiny living things existing on almost nothing, in a micro environment that must be like tundra. F.W. January
4, Bridgton (Map 4) Spent today skiing at the Shawnee Peak Ski Area which is located on the slopes of Pleasant Mountain. Even while skiing if you look around a little you can see signs of nature. Under the lifeline for the east chairlift as in years past there are number of deer tracks. You could even see some scrapes on some of the trees. Being the sunny side of the mountain and offering protection from the bitter northwest winds deer have called this area home for years. I have even seen them on the trails from time to time. There is also a porcupine den in some rocks under the lift. The views from the summit are very nice. Looking off to the northeast Moose Pond is located at the foot of the mountain. Its larger southern section swept clean of snow by the winter winds while the smaller northern section with its small islands and coves still has a snow pack. The views off to the northwest are just as good. Ice covered Kezar Pond is in the foreground and from there they roll out across the Saco River Valley and into New Hampshire with 6,288 foot Mount Washington (Home of the Worlds Worst Weather) taking center stage on the horizon. SY  January 4, Rangeley (Map 28) While snowshoeing in some thick woods along the Kennebago River, I caught a flash of a large bird fly by.I looked,and had a real good view of a Goshawk just above tree top. He turned swept around me and the fly on. I also ran across some otter tracks, mostly sliding, and some wing marks in the snow right behind some snowshoe hare tracks. Other than that the woods were real quiet, hardly a peep out of the chickadees. KB  On Sebasco Beach, at the head of Totman Cove, the waves of the incoming tide were like molten chocolate. A thick band of broken down seaweed, leaves and other organic detritus was carried in to the beach. The breaking waves made a glopping sound like sloshing mud. The line left on the sand from the previous high tides was nearly two feet deep in places where this debris had been deposited. This is the 'chocolate' debris when it's left behind as the waves retreat. RRR  |