No More Maine Pics

I just went back and posted a couple of pictures from Sunday June 25th. These are the last pictures to be posted from the Maine trip. Now I am back into the normal weekly grind.

Why Maine?

The week before last I was in Maine. I went to Maine because that was where the American Birding Association's 2006 Convention was held. Bangor Maine to be specific. This picture shows a bunch of buses, with people departing them, at the end of a day of field trips.

For the week, I saw 92 different species of bird, with a whopping 37 of those something that I had never seen before. A pretty good trip.

Herring Gull

Here is a Herring Gull standing on a rock next to the remains of a tasty snack.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

This is a fuzzy picture of a Chestnut-sided Warbler. I took this near Seawall in Acadia National Park.

No, not a bird

Today it rained all morning. Yes, I went on a bird watching field trip in the rain today. The birds are still there when it rains, just harder to find.

This is, I think, a Luna Moth. He was looking very wet and clinging to a piece of tall grass around lunch time.

Lunch

I ate lunch at the Stress Free Moose Pub & Cafe in Greenville. It was indeed stress free. I especially enjoyed the piece of apple spice carrot cake that I ate for dessert. It had come out of the oven that morning and was still a tad warm. It was *very* good.

Where Is Miss Muffet?

This creepy crawly was riding a long string of spider silk across the fire road. I managed to get one shot that had trees in the background, and thus suitable contrast in order to see the spider.

Moose

This is the only moose that I have seen this trip. Oh well.

Moosehead Lake from Rockwood

Today I drove out to Moosehead Lake to do a little exploring. This picture was taken from a tiny little town named Rockwood, on the western side of Moosehead Lake. That hunk of rock on the left edge of this picture is Mount Kineo. It had been raining, so things are all dreary and gray looking.

To get your bearings via a map, the town of Greenville is at the southern end of Moosehead Lake.

What did I do in Rockwood? Well, I took this picture and then turned around to drive back towards Greenville. There was a fire road near Greenville that I wanted to bird.

Behind By One Day

Tonight I posted a bunch of pictures that I took on Thursday during the boat trip. I set the date of those Thursday pictures so that they show up under Thursday instead of Friday. I found more pictures worth posting than I expected, so it took a lot longer to post them. Now I am behind by a day.

Today I went out west towards Greenville. I took a lot fewer pictures today (it was rainy), but I will not be able to post them until tomorrow.

Tomorrow I am on another field trip (dry land). The destination is much closer to Bangor than the previous field trips, so the start time is later. I do not have to get up until 4:30am tomorrow morning :-)

It is nearly 11pm now, so I will be tired tomorrow morning. But, after the boat trip yesterday I grabbed a fast-food dinner (last night was the one night where the convention did not feed you), came back to my room and was asleep by 7:30pm. I slept until 5am this morning, so that caught me up a bit.

Downtown Bah Hahbah

Back on land. Here is a shot of "downtown" Bah Hahbah.

Hats Are Required

These are researchers on Petit Manan Island. The birds are Terns of various varieties. If I remember correctly, they are trying to establish a nesting colony for Roseate Terns in particular. Looks messy.

Common Murre

This Common Murre was floating near Petit Manan Island. Pretty cool looking bird.

Ya Gotta Love Puffins

A fairly crisp shot of a couple of Atlantic Puffins. Check out Project Puffin. They will even let you adopt a puffin!

Petit Manan Island

This is the lighthouse on Petit Manan Island.

Northern Fulmar

A couple pictures of a Northern Fulmar. We got nice looks at him. He just calmly floated along while the boat slowed down and drifted next to him long enough for everyone to see. They have a funky bill.

Seals!

I think these are harbor seals. They are lounging on Mount Desert Rock, and quite curious about the boat I am on.

Mount Desert Rock

If there ever was an "island" that deserved its name, this is it! Mount Desert Rock is literally a bump of rock that barely juts above sea level. But it is enough to put a lighthouse and a boat house on. And the birds and seals like it.

Greater Shearwater

You have to go out in a boat to see Greater Shearwater (unless you want to rely on a hurricane or something to blow them inland...no joke). There were lots of them to look at on this boat trip. Here is a sample.

Northern Gannet

I managed to get a decent photo of a Northern Gannet while on the boat. This species takes about four years to get their adult plumage. The bird in the photo is somewhere between year one and two.