More of Maine

Hatch year Cedar Waxwing, taking some fresh blackberry

The waxy tips that are the namesake of the waxwings.  This bird had more waxy tips than I had seen before. 

Brown Creeper

The tail of the creeper is similar to that of woodpeckers, they both have strong rachises ideal for climbing up and down trees 

Tail of a Northern Flicker

Northern Flicker of the "yellow shafted" subspecies.  Named for the yellow shafts of the feathers

Bald Eagle eating another raptor.  Look at those talons on the dead bird!

Tide came in, so this was what was left behind.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Red-shouldered Hawk

Blue-headed Vireo

Swainson's Thrush.  Notice the beautiful buffy eye-ring and edges to the dark breast spotting

Baltimore Oriole

A very handsome Northern Parula

Ovenbird, this ones for you Alicia!

This frog was on our trailer, and I didn't have quite the best lighting.  If someone wants to come up with a species for me, that would be great!

Blackpoll Warbler with a radio tag attached

After some requests, these are some early attempts to share the sunsets.  I'll get some better ones, soon

Golden-crowned Kinglet

The most handsome of sparrows, Lincoln's Sparrow.

The other day, Jenny, Jess, and I went for a short hike on the Hollingsworth trail that is here on Petit Manan NWR.  The trail is a short 1.8 mile loop, but goes through some of my favorite habitat.  There are spruces, cedars, jack pines, and tamarack lining the rocky trail, the tamarack either changed or changing to their beautiful yellow-gold hue.  As often happens on the peninsula, fog rolls in, heavy with water, bringing a beautiful ominous feeling.  We reached the shoreline through the mist to find a calm ocean with the tide seeming to be nearly finished retreating from the land.  There was one semi-palmated plover in the small sand flat where the shoreline was now exposed.  It had one disfigured foot and hobbled slightly, as the foot made the leg seem a bit short.  I've never noticed semi-palm plovers that bob up and down the way this one did as it tried to decide if it was safe to stick so close to us.  Thinking that the cove was the final destination on the trail, we made ready to turn around.  The trail continued along the shore to bring us to a completely rocky cliff side with benches set up to enjoy the view.  The fog may have blocked the view, but its oppressive presence created a feeling and view of its own.  There is something to knowing that the view could go for miles, but the fog is forcing the view to be what is simply nearby.  From the bench overlook, we moved on along the shoreline.  The sand flats we came upon also had large tide pools in adjacent coves where the water reaches at high tide.  As we looked onto the protected and calm waters of the large cove, several ducks became visible through the mist.  Clearly mergansers by their narrow and thin bill, but difficult to discern through the fog, and appeared to be very small.  Without hoods, or even discernible crests, they were likely juveniles.  Though they got fairly close, the light and fog really only allowed them to be silhouettes through our binoculars, with faint hopes of color in the bill, and a clearly light belly.  The size and shape eventually led us to identify them as hooded mergansers.  As we enjoyed the shapes in the mist, a flock of shorebirds flew along in front of us, appearing to be made of semi-palmated plovers and sanderlings, landed a ways down the mudflat.  On the return through the rocks and conifers we went through an amazing cedar stand, floored completely by moss and lichen.  The rocky sections of the trial lined by member of the Vaccinium genus, who's leaves are changing to a deep red with yellow backs.  Between this and the amazing jack pines and spruces within the blueberries and rocks, I couldn't imagine a better place.

Bird Free Zone

Most of the pictures that make it up here are birds, birds, and more birds.  However, I have recently been putting a different lens in use for close-up shots of insects, flowers, and textures.  I try to only walk around with one lens at a time so I can focus on one thing at a time, and this has led to a lack of bird photos (where they aren't in our hands!).  I have been able to take plenty of plant and insect photos, but I am not able to give you any sort of reliable species identification!  I will try to give a name if I am interested enough to look it up, or know ahead of time.  Otherwise, I'll let you decide what you would like to try to look up!

I believe this a Red Admiral

Delicious blueberries, still found all around our camping and banding area

Flower in the rose family

Rose Hip, the fruit produced by roses that is high in vitamin C

I'll let you be the judge

Wooly Bugger

Monarch

Thrush, Thrush, Warblers

The first few weeks of mist-netting have been a bit slow, although today the capture rates really picked up.  I unfortunately forgot some equipment at the campsite, so I will be sharing fewer pictures than I had planned this week.  I'll be sure to get them up next time.  We ended up catching a thrush that we couldn't identify to species last week, and I'd gladly take any opinions as to what the experts out there think this bird might be.  We narrowed this down to either a Gray-cheeked Thrush or a Bicknell's Thrush.  It had characters that were indicative of both species, and without much experience with these species, we were leaning more toward the less rare, Gray-cheeked Thrush.

Mandible appears to be a little more than 50% yellow/colored, though not enough to be conclusive for either species.

Some reddish tinge, possibly indicative of Bicknell's Thrush

Purple-ish legs indicative of Bicknell's thrush, though the feet are of a similar color, and should be less purple.

This bird's measurements overlapped with both species, though it was at the very low end of wing-chord for a Gray-cheeked.  I'll let the experts decide.

In addition to this exciting bird, we have been catching some other thrushes and a few warbler species.

Yellow Warbler

 Male American Redstart

Female Black-and-white Warbler

Female Black-throated Blue Warbler for all my friends from NC

Northern Waterthrush

Veery

Palm Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

The sunsets and sunrises are still exceptionally beautiful, and the Milky Way galaxy is clearly visible on the cloudless nights.  Last evening we were closing our nets, and we got an amazing view of Nighthawks flying around the fields near the banding site.  Jess and I have been seeing Nighthawks in the pre-dawn light on our walk down to the banding site to open up nets in the morning.  It took me two mornings to realize that the pair we were seeing looked as though they were dancing around the fields together, chasing their insect prey.  Their bobbing, yet graceful flight seemed almost playful, and they frequently flew within a couple feet of us on the trail.  Their wing-spots light up beautifully in the fading light of dusk, and in the fresh light of dawn, and it has been a joy to watch these birds fly so closely.  In the mornings there are crows that roost near our net number 6, and you can hear how grumpily (and clumsily) our presence awakens them.  There is plenty of crashing in the conifers, and angry cawing most mornings as they are so rudely woken.  Every morning, we can hear the lobster boats and frequently hear the lobster boatmen talking.  Sometimes their chatting sounds so close that we are left wondering if someone is taking a walk through the refuge.  Many morning we are too late to check, but it looks as though Venus may be visible right now, and we are looking forward to checking it out through the spotting scope.