Quoddy Head State Park

Posted on July 26, 2016July 26, 2016 by Dusty Roads

A short drive from Lubec and we arrived at Quoddy Head State Park.

Quoddy head

Once again everyone was excited about the birds. I was out of step as I was excited about the landscapes. This is truly spectacular Maine Coast country, a real example of “Down East”.

Maine Coast

Right off the parking area was a trail that followed along the cliff tops before jogging into a peat marsh.

A Walk In The Woods

The birders were stopping along the trail to listen to bird calls and look for birds. I was busy trying to capture the essence of the place.

The Birders

The peat marsh was open space with a boardwalk. There were lots of little signs along the boardwalk describing the plants and flowers. There were lots of pitcher plants but that was bout the extent of my flora knowledge.

Pitcher Plant

Still it was pretty in a stark kind of way. The sky was still overcast so the light was soft, no shadows.

Peat Marsh

After our hike we rendezvoused back at the parking area for a picnic lunch.

Quoddy head Light

We wrapped up with a brief visit to the light house. Quoddy Head is the eastern-most point in the US, the first place the rising sun can be seen on US soil.

Lubec Sand Flats

Posted on July 23, 2016July 23, 2016 by Dusty Roads

Day 2 of the great Audubon adventure and the first full day of birding.

Breakfast was at 6 am. Better than 3:30 but still not my normal wake up time.

We all piled in the 2 vans for the short drive to the Lubec Sand Flats. The weather was overcast and threatening to rain. It made me glad I’d decided to buy some rain gear at Bass Pro Shops for this trip.

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It was low tide when we arrived and the clam diggers were already at work. They drive right out to the water’s edge. A Bald Eagle perched on a rock . The clammers drove right past the big bird but it didn’t seem to phase him. Maybe this is a routine?

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No one from our group seemed excited about the eagle except me. I love bald eagles. What had my fellow team members excited were all the little birds. Right off we saw swallows. The guides identified tree swallows, cliff swallows and barn swallows.

This is just one shot of the trees where the birds were flying around. I count 6 birds. Do you? I’m beginning to see this birding thing can be quite challenging. Not quite like sitting in the backyard and counting blue jays.

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After taking our time watching the swallows we walked across the sand flat to a swale. There was a little puddle and lots of bushes. We spent quite a bit of time there watching little sparrows and other little birds flit about. The birders had spotting scopes so when one would sit long enough we’d all take turns getting a look.

Shortly before we left to pile back in the vans someone spotted a black duck. Can you see it? That was my view.

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The enlargement below is the actual duck.

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Next Stop, Quoddy Head State park.

Chasing Puffins Again

Posted on September 27, 2015September 27, 2015 by Dusty Roads

Some of you may remember that back in 2012 I went on a “Quest” to photograph those clowns of the sea, Puffins.

I went to Maine, joined a boat tour and headed off to Machias Seal Island. It was cold, the sea was rough and just about everyone on board (except me) got sea sick, but I did see Puffins. That trip showed me how hard getting that “Nat Geo” picture was going to be.

Those birds are small and the ocean is large and you can only get so close to an island with waves crashing against a rocky coast.

Then I went to Alaska in 2013. That trip promised Puffins, eagles, bear, moose , caribou, otters, sea lions and on and on. Our timing was a bit off and although we saw some of these animals whales didn’t breach for us, the bears were in the distance, just waking from hibernation, and there were no Puffins or otters.

Since then, wrapped up in a new job (career?) I’ve been really busy and not thinking about much wildlife photography. In spite of having a new camera and an awesome new lens, I haven’t been out roaming the woods much.

So now another opportunity has presented itself and I jumped at it. The Mass Audubon Society is planning a trip called Puffins and Peatlands in July 2016. As soon as I heard I called and made my reservation. This trip we are to actually to set foot on the island and there are blinds set up to allow close up photography. Be still my heart!

I’m really excited, then they sent me the itinerary. Oh Oh. I’ve been less than athletic since my fall off the airplane two years ago which started the downward spiral of health problems. Although I’m feeling much better these days my knees still hurt,my left hip is arthritic and my back still hurts occasionally.

Their first consideration. You must be able to walk on beaches and through spruce forest where exposed roots and rocks can provide difficult footing for 1/2 to 1 mile in length. I used to be able to do that but can I still? Some days walking to my car is a challenge.

But the 2nd consideration is the one that really strikes fear in my heart. “The landing onto Machias Seal Island can be difficult. Participates must be able to get in and out of a smaller boat. We may need to walk over rocks that are wet and slippery.” OH MY WORD! I nearly fell into the fake canal in Las Vegas getting in and out of the gondola. Will I be able to pull this off?

I remember when I quit smoking. I wanted to lean to scuba dive but no one would accept a smoker in the class so I quit. Cold turkey. I wanted to do something and I did what was necessary.

But how do I get my creaky, aching joints in shape? I’ve got 9 months. October – July.

I need some advice quickly!

Let The Owl Prowl Begin

Posted on January 12, 2015January 12, 2015 by Dusty Roads

We pulled out of the parking lot onto a posted dirt road. The first 100 yards or so weren’t too bad but once that ran out you understood why you needed a 4 Wheel Drive to navigate. As we bumped and bounced from pot hole to pot hole we all laughed about the damage we must be doing to the suspension on the vans.

We were traveling along a narrow peninsula that runs from Duxbury to Plymouth. At the tip is Gurnet Light marking the entrance to Plymouth Bay. The homes located out here are all private and access is restricted. The length of the peninsula from the Powder Point Bridge to Gurnet Light is about 5 miles.

We hadn’t gone too far when Dave pulled off the road into a little turnout. He told us all to get out of the van while he ran around to the back to take out a spotting scope. Sally’s van was pulled up behind ours and she was busy getting out another scope. Once they were set up Dave told us to take a look. A snowy was sitting on the bank of ice with the water just behind him. Without the scope it was really hard to see the little fella. Dave confessed that he knew it was there because they had seen it that morning when it caught a duck for its breakfast. He’d checked just before he picked us up to be sure it was still there. It was a long way out but the scopes really made it pop out. My best guess photo wasn’t so hot.

Can you tell which snow chunk is the owl? He’s just left of the building in the background.

Here it is a MAXIMUM ..that gray blotch is the owl. He was much clearer in the spotting scope.

We stayed there taking turns with the spotting scopes until some of the less hardy souls began to drift back to the van. Once about half of us had left Dave announced it was time to move on.

Back in the van Dave was chatting about the owl when he spotted 3 little birds setting down in the grass on the dune. While he was concentrating on that I let out a shout..HAWK!. It was diving right toward us! It wanted one of those little birds for lunch. They took off and the hawk swooped right past us, Dave identified it as a Cooper’s Hawk. That was exciting. Almost as good as seeing the Snowy.

A bit further on we stopped and piled out of the van again. This time the spotting scope showed us a flock of snow buntings scratching in the dune sand for seeds.

They paid no attention to us and once again we watched until about half of our group had returned to the van. Still no great photo ops except for the scenery but I was having fun.

April Showers bring May Flowers

Posted on May 9, 2012May 9, 2012 by Dusty Roads

Seems that the April Showers have continued into May with an annoying persistence. Oh I know we need the rain. I know that since we had so little snow that we are starting out in a drought (not good) but it would be so nice to have a little sun peek through. One acquaintance asked “Why can’t it rain at night and be nice during the day?” So as I sit here listening to the rain pitter patter on the deck I am counting my blessings that I got out on Monday..the one sunny day we had, and enjoyed some time in the outdoors.

I picked Nancy up about 11 am. We drove to Hingham where I had some business then grabbed lunch at Panera. By 1pm we were free for a few hours. Like a couple of kids playing hooky we kicked around our options. In the end we headed over to Sharon to explore the Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary. This is another of the Massachusetts Audubon Sanctuaries.

There are 20 miles of trails through fields, forests and wetlands. We chose to try the Vernal Pool trail. It looked pretty easy on the map but I think we got twisted around a few times. It was very quiet. There were occasional bird calls but we never spotted the birds.

We did upset a black snake. In fact I almost stepped on it. Too bad it was too fast to catch on camera. All I got was empty trail!

The only other wildlife we saw was a gray squirrel but he was also quite far from us on the trail. I was disappointed that we didn’t see a rabbit or two but we were walking at a steady pace with occasional rest stops for the old lady (me) .That may have been why we didn’t see much in the way of wildlife. We were just tramping along as well as chatting so quiet we were not. 🙂