Hanna in Maine.

Male cardinal

Hanna has been keeping us up to date on her trip to see her folks in Maine. Apart from family stuff she has told us all about the local wildlife and places to eat. If you love armchair visits to different places, read on!

"I am sitting out on the deck with my first cup of tea for the day.  I am hoping the birds will get used to me and come to the feeder anyway.  I really don’t want to sit inside on such a lovely day. The wind is gently shushing through the pines, the tide is down and the North Ledges are exposed.

Female cardinal

Mom’s and my mission yesterday was to get over to "Wild Bird Supplies" in Freeport and buy a free-standing bird feeding station that we could put closer to the window where Dad could see it better.  As we pulled up to the shop, a huge UPS truck had gone forward toward the bird feeders, frightened all the birds, and then reversed into a space opposite the front door. Mom decided to move the car as we were parked on what looked like the loading ramp.  We wanted to make room for whatever huge parcels, probably requiring a trolley, that were likely to be coming out of this enormous truck.  A very young and handsome man in the brown UPS uniform stepped out and carried a tiny package into the shop!  When he came back out, Mom spoke to him and explained why we were amused.  Yes, he said, most of the packages he delivered were very small.  Then he got back in his huge truck with a smile!

Lady's slippers

Jeanette, and their very old dog, were on duty in the shop and Mom and I had a good snoop around.  There was surprisingly little to see on their bird tables, but that was probably the UPS guys fault.  I should’ve photographed the list of birds seen both at the table and on the Saturday morning bird watches.  I was curious that all the bird baths displayed inside were wired for electricity.  Took me a minute to figure out that that was to heat the water in winter to keep the ice off!  Jeannette helped us to find what we wanted; a large circular base, a 6 foot pole, and a topper with 3 arms to hang feeders from.  There is another part we want which is a seed-catcher tray which goes on the pole below the feeders.  Its dual purpose being to prevent mess on the ground and catch spilled seeds to attract birds like cardinals who prefer to feed on a flat surface.  Jeannette had the tray but the “flange” was on back order!  Always the flange!

I asked Jeanette to confirm that the bird call I was hearing in the car park was a House Finch and she said it was. I asked the difference between a House Finch and a Purple Finch and she said the Purple Finch has a clearer song, that of the House Finch is a bit more rattley.  Interesting because the Purple Finch has a less striped head than the House Finch and as a consequence it looks like it has been dipped in raspberry juice having a cleaner, clearer look that the red/brown stripes on the House Finches head.  I am sure we have both coming to Mom and Dad’s feeder.  It is interesting being here in spring as there are only a few bird calls I recognise.  In the UK we mostly know which spring birds have arrived by the songs we hear, we don’t always expect to see them.  Here I have to try to memorise the songs or work hard to spot the birds as I have no idea what I am hearing.  The best trick is to think of what British bird they remind me of.  The House Finch reminds me a bit of a Chaffinch.

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I had to be at Fort Andross in Brunswick for a haircut at 1.15 and we needed to find some lunch.  Mom said Bow Street Market in Freeport did great sandwiches.  I have always wanted to have a look in there.  Mom ordered the classic tuna and I tried 3 different salads and some sliced turkey.  The superfoods salad was dressed with a surprisingly sweet dressing and had kale and berries in.  The orzo salad was citrus but over-cooked.  The quinoa salad was the best with fennel and a mandarin juice dressing.  I ate in the car while Mom drove us the back way to Brunswick.  Lots of mental calculations for avoiding main roads, road works, and traffic because it was Farmers Market Day.

Debbie Lee’s Salon Unique is on the third floor of Fort Andross, a very military looking building on the banks of the Kennebec.  The floor Debbie’s shop is on is for artists and each heavy door off the long white corridor is a different studio.  Debbie was allowed to join the artists because she argues that what she does is art!  I absolutely agree. She had brought her puppy “Cool” to work with her and he was very excited to see more company.  The previous client agreed to take him out for a walk and peace decended.  First Debbie rubbed my arms with a peppermint oil and then massaged my head and neck.  Then she set to work getting rid of all the layers on the outside of my hair and sculpting or carving my much shorted bob so the layers blended in.  All a very enjoyable experience and much happier hair...............

Continuing my Friday saga!  (It is now Sunday so how much will I remember?)

After my haircut, I told Debbie Lee about meeting Marianne at Bohemian Rose.  It came up that Marianne was officiating and styling a wedding in Georgetown at the Grey Haven Inn on Saturday and it turned out that Debiie Lee was styling hair for the same wedding!

Susy gave me two choices for a nature walk, both north of Bath.  One was Squirrel Point which has a light house and is probably also the place where Susy and Katy picked up ticks!  I opted for Green Point on the confluence of the Kennebec and Eastern River, north of Days Ferry.  North of Bath is very rural and agricultural.  We pulled off the road into a small car park and stepped through the gate into an old apple orchard.  Pink and purple flox was growing in patches under the trees.  There were butterflies, and crickets and birds singing.  Susy spotted a young groundhog rustling through the grass by the path.  There were little yellow warblers with a distinct black beak and eye and chestnut coloured stripes on their breast.  Yellow warbler!

The orchard changed to swamp with an edge of pine trees.  Red-winged blackbirds called in the swamp and it was in this area on the way back that I heard and saw a Baltimore Oriole.  Black and bright orange, it could not be mistaken for anything else.  The swamp changed to an isthmus between the 2 rivers and then opened to a pine covered, granite outcrop.  Walking was level on a wide un-made up road (great for tick avoidance!) as at this point there had been a house.  Now there was a log cabin that looked like it might be a visitor centre, it was closed, a container trailer from Department of Natural Resources, a bbq, and an outhouse with a phone mounted on the outside wall.

Past the cabin, Green Point sticks out in the Kennebec. There is a clearing surrounded by trees.  Susy said she and Phil had disturbed a large bird every time they had walked there and we too saw an Osprey flying away from us.  It was windy and cool on the point and we were ready to head back when we noticed we were being circled by 4 or 5 enormous birds.  We’d get glimpses of them as they passed low over the tops of the trees.  I could see mottled bellies and jumped to the conclusion they were Ospreys, but Susy spotted their skinny necks and ugly heads and correctly identified them as vultures!

From Green Point we drove to Days Ferry which is a beautiful waterside village.  Some magnificent homes.  Phil says it is especially beautiful at Christmas when all the houses are tastefully decorated"

We spotted a bird table in front of someone’s house that had a turkey underneath.  He was very slim but quite colourful and I took him to be a young Jack.  Is that what they are called? Susy very obligingly pulled up so I could get a good view and we saw American Goldfinches, Hummingbirds, Blue Jay, and the best of all a Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  Rose and black, like the Oriole, unmistakable!

After a stop at Cumberland Farms Gas station for a pee we headed home.  It was getting quite breezy and cool.  Phil joined us for supper.  I made slimming world sweet potato and baking potato chips, and burned some asparagus in the oven.  Susy made a magnificent salad with beautifull sweet corn in it, and Mom made her special steak provided by Ray from veggie corners.  Mom heats a cast iron skillet until it smokes, then scatters the bottom of the pan with rock salt and throws in the room temperature steak.  It then goes into a 500 degree oven on the very bottom shelf for 6 minutes each side.  Absolutely delicious.


Fantastic day!  Went to Green Point on the confluence of the Kennebec and the Eastern River, north of Bath.  It has an old apple orchard, swamp, pine woodlands.  Saw and heard:

A swift like bird that hovers over a field?? American Kestrel?
Baltimore Oriole
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Yellow warblers
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Turkey vultures
Osprey
Red-winged blackbird
Blue bird
Robins
Small woodpecker
Chipping sparrow
Turkey
gold finches
possibly song sparrows


The remaining photos include bunchberry dogwood, which is the emblem plant of the north woods in spring and closely related to dwarf cornel in Europe.

The trees with the holes in are sporting the damage caused by the USA's largest remaining woodpecker, the Pileated. The bigger Ivory Billed Woodpecker became extinct in my lifetime sadly. How could we let that happen?

The lady in the blue top is Hanna's mum, Nancy Kist.

 The tree with the bark and half of the wood removed is the creation of a family of porcupines and the nest box was built for Eastern bluebirds, but is occupied by tree swallows.

The picture that makes me most jealous is of the lobster roll and salad from Erica's Seafood Shack.