Florida Lake...

A year ago this week I was in Florida on avication, exploring hundreds of thousands of acres of protected lands looking for birds.  Sigh.  Unfortunately, due to budgetary constraints, there will be no such extravagance this year.  Instead, I am determined to enjoy my local surroundings and avifauna all the more.  And though I may not be able to go to Florida this year, I can go down to Florida Lake anytime.  I am fortunate enough to live less than a half mile from this gem...

It's still mostly ice-covered now, but soon there will be American Bitterns 'gump-de-gumping' from it's edges, thousands of swallows skimming it's surface, and Wood Ducks nesting in it's tree cavities and nest boxes...

The lake was named 'Florida' because it's shape resembled the Sunshine State.  It is indeed a shining local example of land reclamation and conservation.  Some brilliant folks had the foresight to acquire multiple land parcels surrounding the lake and turn the whole area into public open space.  Approximately 167 acres were put into conservation with help from local land trusts, the Land for Maine's Future program, and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service  grant through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.  The area is designated by the state of Maine as High Value Wading Bird and Waterfowl Habitat and provides some of the best (and only) habitat of it's kind in the whole area.  There is now a great network of trails and more than 100 bird species have been documented on the property.  Thanks to all these conservation efforts, this is the only type of MALL that can be seen from here...

 

Historical beaver activity contributed to the great wetland habitats found at Florida Lake today.  As a result, there are some really good spots for birds like these Hooded Mergansers to hang out...

 

Apparently beavers are still hard at work creating and maintaining wildlife habitat in the area...

 

Not only do I love Florida Lake but I also happen to have a dream for it.  There exists yet another adjacent land parcel that in my opinion also needs to be acquired.  This would expand the Florida Lake area by about 30 acres.  Unfortunately, this parcel has quite literally been trashed and would need some major clean-up and costly restoration efforts...

I have a vision of beavers returning to this place and creating more and more high value habitat.  This vision includes the Least Bittern, Great Blue and Green Herons I've seen out there being able to forage in cleaner water, the breeding woodcocks and saw-whet owls not having to work around piles of trash, and hearing more than just one Whip-poor-will out there in three years.  This vision includes opening up more acreage for people and wildlife to peruse and enjoy.  Even though we're on the non-oceanfront side of L.L. Bean, I believe if we continue to rebuild it, they will come. 

Can we really put a price tag on the value of conservation lands?  To me they are priceless and worth the costs and efforts to protect.  For my dream to become a reality, a rigorous grant proposal will need to be written, matching funds will need to be secured, an ambitious restoration strategy created, and the right people convinced that taking this project on will be worthwhile for the town and it's residents.  Act locally, right?!   

I'll be needing all the luck I can get on this daunting journey of getting this parcel picked up and protected.  It will certainly be a challenging endeavor...but SO worth it!

NY Wanderings...

A recent trip to upstate NY produced some good early spring bird sightings.  The state fortunately has some sweet National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) that I have been meaning to stop at for ages and finally did.  I like to think my tax dollars go to support places like this...

I was really excited to see some guys that I haven't seen recently like HUGE flocks of Snow Geese...

And what appeared to be a billion Canada Geese chillin' on the ice with over 200 Tundra Swans...

As goes the sometimes dismal luck of a birder, Montezuma NWR was closed to humans.  I wish ALL of my taxes could go to NWR's so that they don't have to be closed on a random Wednesday when spring migration is starting.  Fortunately, they were open for birds and there were at least some fowl hanging out near the closed visitor's center.  It was fun to watch a bunch of small kids looking the ducks up in their field guides and excitedly check off Northern Pintail (NOPI).  Those parents get giant gold stars in my book - recruit the youth!  I never tire of gawking at NOPI even though they clearly know how handsome they are and probably have giant egos for fowl...

Other highlights of trip included giant flocks of raucous Red-winged Blackbirds which means that spring is surely close by...

Red-winged Blackbird madness

And this male Northern Harrier wishing he was big enough to take down one of those geese...

Scoobs of course takes birding very seriously and this money-shot of her sweet face made up for the crappy harrier shots...

When I arrived home I was delighted to hear a Northern Saw-whet Owl toot-tooting so loudly out back that I could hear it inside the house...

Northern Saw-whet Owl toots

I'm hoping to see and hear more spring beauties everyday!

EABL's, PIWA's, and TUVU's, oh my!

After a great dumping of snow brought March in, yesterday morning I found myself flinging my shovel aside to run for my binos and camera when a flock of Eastern Bluebirds (EABL) spontaneously materialized around me...

These two took turns as sentry while the other one preened...

There must have been over a hundred AMGO's (American Goldfinches) chattering and zoooping and potato-chipping away overhead in the trees when I noticed a tiny rogue picking low on a trunk in a very un-finch-like way.  It was this little Pine Warbler (PIWA) all bedecked in yellow spectacles and looking really damn cold...

This is the second PIWA I've seen here this winter, but thanks to my sister loaning me her old camera, I was able to actually get some better photos than I got of the last PIWA that came to visit...

The yard was a cacophony of cardinals, Purple Finches and chickadees all turned up to 11 and singing their "springs a'comin" songs.  The early-bird Hermit Thrush even made another appearance but was in no mood to be photographed.

The woodpeckers were not to be outdone - two Pileated's swooped through and I was almost scalped by a pair of Hairy's.  Then these first-of-the-year Turkey Vultures (TUVU) flew by and I almost went blind trying to get a picture of them as they cruised off into the sun...

Even though it's freezing rain now and I have both wood-stoves cranking, I was intoxicated by the sounds of spring in the 'back 40' yesterday.  I wonder when the woodcocks will show their little peenting faces...bring on spring!
 

Beachsleepers...

Who doesn't love the beach?  The birds are great, the tides are predicted, and there is a heightened sense of finding wondrous treasures at any moment.

And who doesn't love owls?  Owls are awesome to see anytime and anywhere.  But sleeping owls?  Those seem to be extra adorable, and sleeping owls on the beach are even better.  I was birding a beach on Block Island about 15 miles off the coast of Rhode Island when I had one of those moments of uncanny sixth sense birders randomly get.  I just had to look at that little hole up on the bluff behind me...

Low and behold, there was a slumbering lifer in there!  This sleeping Barn Owl was clearly in the hands of Morpheus as I spied on him from 50 feet below...

Previous to this encounter the only BANO I had seen was this headless one that washed up on a different beach...

Speaking of dead things on the beach...on a different day birding Block Island, I was trying to get Scoobs to pose for a picture but she wouldn't stop making this face (which for you non-doggers means "stupid human, there's sumpin' not right here")...

 

Nuala was clearly trying to tell me something along the lines of "quit counting gannets and look where I'm looking".  Just compare the set of her ears and eyes in the photos above to these normal shots of her contemplating the Atlantic...  

Well, I eventually did look where she was looking, and feeling foolish, saw this GIANT male Gray Seal (Halichoerus grypus) on the beach about thirty feet away.  Thankfully Scoobs knows better than to take on those rocks and we have the whole Jedi-leashless-dog thing going on.  I think it's funny that the Gray Seal's scientific name basically means "hook-nosed sea pig".  I also think 'grypus' would make a good name for a dog...

 

I watched our friend through my binos over the course of an hour, at which point in my biological opinion I figured him for dead.  The thing was massive, and right there - this is what my dog was trying to tell me.  Duh.

Talk about sea monsters, the males average 800 lbs, grow to 10 ft, and can live up to 30 years.  This fellow had to be pretty close to that and was not just huge but obviously old.  He was gray faced and haggard, scarred from previous undersea battles that frighten me to even contemplate.  I watched to see if he was breathing, staring at the parallel nostrils on this roman-nosed rarity, gawking at the sheer bulk of him.  

I remembered coming across this Atlantic White-sided Dolphin a few months earlier, but that beachsleeper was clearly dead...

And while the whole dolphin scene was kinda ooky, I admit it was fun to watch Fish Crows steal the eyeball...

I continued birding while Scoobs laid at the base of the scope, the seemingly lifeless beast of a sea mammal on the beach to our west.  Before heading out, I wanted one more picture of this behemoth creature and took a few steps closer...I was pretty convinced he was a goner and I'd be getting a closer forensic inspection, but life as a wildlife biologist is always full of unexpected, humbling lessons...

 

It suddenly snorted and inhaled deeply, the sounds of an ancient life returning from the deep.  It's rheumy-cataract eyes slid open and my heart stopped.  Only in the presence of a wild mountain lion have I been so scared (but that's another story...).  I scrambled back to the trail and packed up my gear pretty quick, making sure Scoobs was headed up the trail as the seal slowly woke up and then heaved his mass across the rocks and into the waves.  He stopped when he got into the water and looked back at us with those milky old-man eyes.  Is was as though he were a bit confused to see us, and I hope he was napping deeply and hadn't hauled out on this secluded beach to expire...either way, I felt bad that I disturbed him.   

It's incredible the things you see and learn on beaches.  There are usually some interesting ducks and shorebirds to skulk and if you're really into it, loads of gulls to sift through and ID.  The sound of the ocean lulls me into a state of peace and somehow re-balances my perspective on life... 

Now if I could only catch a glimpse of my nemesis bird, the Snowy Owl, on a beach like everyone else seems to have done this winter...