Maine Outdoor Journal

On Wednesday evening, Jeannette and I were honored to host a talk and book signing by David Allen Sibley, featuring his revolutionary new Sibley Guide to Trees. It was a great success – we somehow crammed about 85 people into the store! – and the stack of 100 books we started with rapidly dwindled.














I, like many of you, were surprised to wake up to a little light snow on Thursday morning. A weak trough offshore was spinning some light snow and/or rain showers into the coastal and central parts of the state, amounting to over an inch in some inland areas. In Pownal, we had a nice, thick coating on the ground, but about ½” accumulated on the porch. I’m just happy it wasn’t any more as our new snow blower has yet to arrive!

My winter-like walk through Hedgehog Mountain Park in Freeport yielded very few non-resident birds: 8 Dark-eyed Juncos, 3 American Robins, 2 Song Sparrows, and 1 American Tree Sparrow.

Friday morning’s visit to local patches was equally quiet, with Florida Lake yielding 6 American Robins, 2 Dark-eyed Juncos, 2 Hooded Mergansers, 1 Song Sparrow, and 1 Belted Kingfisher among the residents. Two playful and curious River Otters entertained me and Sasha however. Then, at nearby Hidden Pond Preserve, a single truant “Yellow” Palm Warbler was amongst odd company – 7 American Tree Sparrows.

After not being seen on Wednesday, the three Pink-footed Geese were refound in the farm fields along Woodville Road (off of Winn Road) in Falmouth. This is the first time that they have visited these fields, which are occasionally part of the routine of the rest of the geese.

The strong northerly winds - as the developing coastal low strengthened and pulled away - will likely escort more lingering birds out of the area, and will also likely trigger at least some changeover in the local goose flock composition. Those winds have certainly cleared out the Cousin’s Marsh salt pannes, which held exactly zero shorebirds by Thursday afternoon.

Therefore, on Friday, with the snowfall of the previous day - including a decent accumulation of 4-6 inches in the farm fields of Central Maine – coupled with two days of north winds, I expected to see some ebb and/or flow of geese from the area's fields. Happily, the trio of Pink-footed Geese and the single Cackling Goose continue through the day on Friday.

After my morning visit to Florida Lake and Hidden Pond, I made a loop around all of the area's goose-tastic fields this morning, passing through each location once or twice. Here are the results:

1) Thornhurst Farm, North Yarmouth, 9:15-9:20am = zero geese
2) Greely Road fields, Cumberland, 9:25-9:35 = 3 Canada Geese in flight, high overhead, heading SSW.
3) Winn/Woodville Road, Cumberland/Falmouth, 9:40-10:05am = At 9:47, the three PINK-FOOTED GEESE flew into the pond off of Woodville Road. At 9:58, they took off and returned to the back fields, joining 76 Canada Geese. More birds could have been present in the gullies
that were out of view. 1 drake Hooded Merganser was in the pond and 10 Horned Larks were in the field across the street.
4) Tuttle Road fields, Cumberland, 10:11-10:14 = zero geese.
5) Greely Road, 10:16-10:21= zero geese.
6) Mayhall Road, Gray/New Gloucester, 10:37-10:44 = zero geese.
7) Thornhurst Farm, 10:51-11:07 = 316 Canada Geese, 1 CACKLING GOOSE, and three Snow Buntings.

Anyway, in the must-read department – in addition to the Sibley Guide to Trees, of course! - is Al Gore’s new book, “Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis” which has just hit the shelves. Newsweek recently featured this excellent project by one of our most well-known climate crusaders.

And, here’s a review of the book from Grist.

And, finally, a related article, provocatively entitled, “The Real Reason the Climate Bill is Going to Suck.”