Category Archives: Birds

Every Day’s a Holiday

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Did you know that just about every day in the year has some holiday or observance attached to it?

Yesterday was the “Ides of March” as in  “Beware the Ides of March”, the warning the soothsayer called out to Julius Caesar. It was also the date of Caesar’s assassination so I guess he really should have taken the warning to heart.

Today’s weird and wonderful holiday is “Everything you do is Right Day”.  (Go away Dudley Do Right!)

I could use a day like that!  Sometimes it feels like everything I do is wrong no matter how hard I try. I’m sure you’ve all felt like that a time or two. Then we get a day where everything you do is Right and my world is back on track! (Would that it were so easy) In any case it’s a nice thought and kind of balances out the bad.

Going back to March 15. Did you know that it’s also Buzzards’ Day?

Buzzard Day is an Ohio holiday where once a year eager residents scan the skies for the return of the bald headed bird. To them this graceful creature signals rebirth not death.

Oh and I missed National Potato Chip Day on March 14 but I’m sure we’ll make up for it on Friday, March 17 when we snack on chips while downing our pints of Green beer. ‘Tis an Irish celebration, St Patrick’s Day, is.

Just a couple of other quick hits…March 20 is National Alien Abductions Day, I kid you not.

Not enough weird holidays for you. March 28 is “Make Up Your Own Holiday Day.” With holidays like National Goof off Day and Chip and Dip day I can’t think of anything I’d want to make up. Someone has beat me to all the good stuff. What about you?

Moose up the Road Apiece!

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Rangeley, a town in Franklin county Maine has a population of around 1200 until the tourists come to town. Rangeley is the center of the Rangeley Lakes Region, a major resort area.

It looks like a June vacation will be an excellent time as far as the weather is concerned. Watch me jinx us by making a statement like that! But really. When I check the average temps the average high in June is 69 degrees and the average low is 47 degrees. Nice sweater weather. Of course they did have a record high of 90 degrees and a record low of 27 degrees. There’s been no snow in June and only an average rainfall of less than 5 inches. But if it rains there’s a bowling alley. We can all go bowling!

I want to go to Maine in June for the moose. The moose is the state animal of Maine. Moose spotting becomes an activity late spring to Mid-summer. Seems to me June falls right in the middle of that range. The best time for spotting moose seems to be early morning or evening and noon to 2 pm. Sounds like moose like to have lunch too!

Calves are born in late May to early June right on track with our June vacation . I can visualize the photos now. Early morning has such beautiful light!

One of the activities I’m thinking about is a Moose Safari. There are both walking safaris and water safaris in canoes or kayaks . I know how to canoe but I’ve never been kayaking. That would be a new adventure. Plus there’s plenty of hiking trails. Also sounds like a lot of waterfalls on these trails.

One location in particular that caught my eye is The Hunter Cove Wildlife Sanctuary, sitting along Route 4 between Rangeley and the town of Oquossoc, the sanctuary offers nearly two miles of looped, flat, hiking trails leading through moose country. The sanctuary, as well as the lakes, is home to deer, foxes, loons and other bird and animal species.

I’m used to wildlife sanctuaries. I visit them in Massachusetts all the time so this might belong on my list.

I’m ready for June to arrive and my Maine wildlife adventure to begin.

Rockin’ Robin

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I saw my first robin of spring today as I was driving into work. It was a fat little guy. Wherever he wintered must have been very good to him.

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I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much either. We’ve had some record warm days lately but the weatherman says we’ve got a return to winter on the way. An arctic blast is moving in from Canada.

But back to my little robin. Do they actually migrate? A couple of years ago when I was frantically running around trying to complete a 365 day challenge (A photo a day) I ran across a tree full of robins in the middle of a snow storm. Had they just come north too soon or do they stay in the area all winter?

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In an effort to get some answers I looked it up on the internet. (I know you can’t believe everything you find on the internet) but I found this information in several different places. Apparently robin’s migrate for food reasons, not temperature. They are big berry eaters until spring thaws the ground when they switch over to bugs and worms.

Some robins will go as far south as Texas or Florida while others will only migrate as far as necessary to find their beloved berries.

As an interesting side note, the articles I saw mention that robins sing when they arrive on their breeding territories. Some may sing in winter flocks but most wait until the breeding season approaches and they have reached their “territory”.

So maybe the old adage about the first robin being the harbinger spring should really be the first SINGING robin.

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Whale Watch #3

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Thursday I awoke to  a real cacophony from the hundreds of birds perched along the roof line, most appeared to be Myna birds. It was amazing the volume of their chirps and calls. I hesitate to use the term “song”. I stuck my phone out the slider and pressed record. I was sure no one would believe it without proof. (I haven’t figured out how to get the recording from my phone to this page, Any ideas techies?)

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Both whale watches from Wednesday had been fun and successful as far as seeing whales but I still didn’t get the photo I was seeking. I consoled myself that even National Geographic photographers sometimes had to wait weeks to get that special picture. If it was easy everyone would do it!

I still had the whale watch coming to me for becoming a member of the Pacific Whale Foundation so I headed back down to their shop to see if they had any open spots. I was seeing whales breaching all around me on every trip, just too far away. It’s just a matter of being in the right place at the right time and that means getting back out there.

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Luckily they had an opening on the 2 pm whale watch on the catamaran Ocean Intrigue.

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I had high hopes for this trip as it was active almost as soon as we took off. We saw a female with two male whales chasing her around. There was a lot of tail slapping and flipper waving. Everyone on board got very excited.

Whale Chase

At times it looked like the whales were climbing right over each other. But no breaching.

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Whales Nose

We moved on to a mother and calf. The calf was very excited by our approach and began slapping the surface with his little tail. It was like he was standing on his head and slapping his tail back and forth.

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So much splashing, So much energy but no breach.

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As the action slowed a bit a hydrophone was dropped over the side. We could hear many different whales as they sang their songs. The naturalist said it was probably about a 25 mile radius.

Mom and Calf

Finally it was time to head back into shore. We passed the 3 whales from the start of the trip and they were still going strong with their chasing and competing. The whales had been closer to the boat this time and certainly we saw some fun behaviors but still no breaching.  My time was running out.

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Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge

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The Kealia Pond area was a pleasant surprise that Sandy & I stumbled upon when were were here in November. It was a beautiful day so it seemed perfect for exploring it a bit more. The walking is easy as the trail through the Refuge is an elevated boardwalk.

The 2200 foot boardwalk is lined with self-guided interpretive exhibits. Even with those a good book of Hawaiian birds will come in handy.

The boardwalk runs between the shoreline and the marsh, at times passing right over the shallow water where you can see loads of fish. Its easy to see why they have so many  birds here. Food is clearly very abundant.

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Today the endangered Hawaiian Stilts were on the far side of the road and out “in force”. I also saw a large heron as I drove in. It looked a lot like our Great Blue Heron but I don’t know if they come to Hawaii.

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Once on the boardwalk I met a park ranger and we talked a little bit. He especially commented on how windy it was and almost on cue a para sail went up towing a wind surfer behind.

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As I moved along the boardwalk I could see that the birds were really out in force.

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The ‘Auku’u, were everywhere. The common name is Black Crowned Night Heron. Sandy and I saw one in November but today I saw 3 as soon as I started down the trail. At every turn  another one showed up.

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The ‘Alae ke‘oke‘o, or Hawaiian Coot, were also well represented. They are a little bird so getting a photo with the lens I had with me would have been futile. They pretty much stayed out of camera range.

I did spot a bird that no one seemed to recognize. It reminded  me of the bittern’s we get in Massachusetts marshes but I’ll have to do some more research to find out what it was.

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It was standing in the vegetation near the washout from the storm yesterday.

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Although there was still lots of boardwalk left, I was starting to get warm and thirsty. I didn’t have a hat and nothing is worse than trying to brush your hair when you have a sunburn on your scalp. Time for a trip to Island Creme for a frozen treat.