BUT...
Our Maine trip presented both the TIME and the OPPORTUNITY for some quality bird watching, and I took advantage. Right on our balcony, the owners of the house were nice enough to put a bird feeder for me to keep an eye on as I was knitting. Our first visitor was this guy, below. An Eastern Towhee, which I had heard before, but never seen. Hello, Mister Towhee!
His song is easy to distinguish - he says "Drink your TEA" over and over.
We were also visited often by American Goldfinches. So pretty, especially the male (below), who is a lot brighter in color than the female.
Downy woodpeckers frequented the feeder, sometimes trying to peck holes in the posts. The daddy bird is the one with the red spot on his head.
This is Alvin. He was very crafty, and would leap onto the feeder, hang upside down, and steal the bird seed. There was also a Simon, who did the same thing. I didn't see a Theodore. But he may have been in the back yard eating blueberries. Much easier than all that leaping and hanging and stealing.
Here is a nice chickadee in the tree by the house. I like chickadees so I took his picture. There were a couple of hummingbirds, too, but they were too quick for my shutter-finger.
In Acadia, we heard Hermit Thrushes, but didn't see any. We knew it from its song, only because Daphne has a stuffed hermit thrush that sings the exact same song. I could take a picture of it (the toy) and add it here, but that is sort of cheating. We also heard barred owls outside our windows one night. "Who Cooks for YOUUUUUU?"
We saw a variety of water birds on the trip. Ducks and gulls and things. A possible merganser, but we were too far away to know for sure. This is a cormorant drying his wings. Or practicing his Karate Kid moves. You decide.
AND HERE IS A LOON!!!!!!!!! I love loons. They are crazy. My absolute favorite non-owl bird.
Birds (and chipmunks) were not the only critters we saw on the trip. When we were sailing, we saw porpoises and these harbor seals:
And driving around town, we saw Belted Galloway cows. They all look like this, with white stripes around their middles. Cows are awesome.
Wildlife was not limited to Maine. We saw a fox in New York, and this toad, who lives on Kev's parents' back porch.
And in Massachusetts, we saw a pair of pileated woodpeckers.
At some point, we saw a turkey, but I can't remember where we were. So much wildlife! I can't keep track!
Finally, there was THIS guy:
Um...yeah. He was part of the decor in our vacation house. Creepy, huh? Not a fan of taxidermy.
I really should get back to paying attention to birds. I think I will get some seeds and fill our feeders when it stops being too hot to leave the house.
I should mention that while Kev and I were off enjoying the Mid-Coast of Maine, Daphne was having the time of her life with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in Massachusetts. She got to do ALL kinds of cool stuff. Every day when I called, she said it was the Best Day Ever. I'm pretty sure she didn't miss us at all. We missed her, though, and by the time it was time to go pick her up, I couldn't get there fast enough.
Special thanks to D, P, R, and K for showing her an awesome time and letting us get a little much-needed break. Daphne had a blast. We are happy to return the favor any time.
That about sums up the trip, I guess. It was pretty amazing. Great food, great activities, birds, knitting, and quality Kev-time. Can't ask for much more than that. I hope it isn't another whole 10 years before we can do it again.
Scenes from our quick stop in NY and our visitors from Texas coming soon. They brought us the coolest-shaped gift ever, so stay tuned for that.
1 comment:
That Belted Galloway cow is about the best thing ever.
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