Morning Notes on a Winter’s Morn

It’s that first hint of light in the sky when all the world becomes the same flat shade of gray. Just a hint of shapes is happening as trees, bushes and houses start to separate themselves from the night. The birds have not yet begun to move through the dawn, but soon they will be here at my feeders. I shake the cobwebs from my own brain and pour a cup of tea, a morning ritual that I love. Here in Maine on this winter morning, I need all the warmth I can get.

It has been a long, hard winter here in New England. Portland and Bangor have just registered the coldest February on record. Boston is about to break the record for the snowiest winter ever. They just need about 3 inches of new snow, which is headed their way later this week. But, in spite of the snow and cold, the birds have started to sing like it’s already spring. I have seen the male cardinals chasing each other around the yard, trying to establish who rules their territory. The song of the tufted titmouse can be heard even through my closed windows, though I love to open the door and just listen for a moment. On Sunday I saw a male mourning dove puffing out his breast and pursuing an uninterested female across the driveway. She looked a bit terrified as she walked away while he hopped behind her crooning. Yes, love is in the air here in the snow covered landscape of Maine.

 Pale morning light 3-3-15

I took a drive yesterday to go find some birds. The temperature was up and the day partly sunny and I just wanted to get out of the house. However, just as I decided to leave I heard the rush of wind hitting the yard and trees started to bend and wave in the gale. My thoughts of walking along the Androscoggin River Trail were dashed. I decided to bird from the car instead, but the wind kept the birds down, and though I drove all of Rossmore and Mere Point Roads, I only counted 4 species the 30 minutes it took me to drive the six miles.

 Winter Woods on Rossmore Road 3-2-15

This prompted me to drive to Bath where I was able to count birds at the south boat launch on Washington Street, but the North Boat Launch was not plowed out, so I could not drive in. However, I was able to see mergansers, Canada goose, and goldeneyes at the south boat launch along with mallards and black ducks as an adult Bald Eagle circled overhead. The water of the Kennebec looked like liquid steel, but icy cold as it churned in the fast current. At this location the river is affected by the ocean tides and as the tide ebbed, the mudflats on its banks were revealed. In the marsh, the golden tops of marsh grasses waved like little golden flags above the unbroken snow. As I was admiring this, a gust of wind blew grains of snow like sand into the air and pelted me in the face. This is winter birding in Maine. I turned my back against the assault, then jumped in the car and turned on the engine to warm myself. Yes, it was time to go, but I was glad I came. Glad I saw these birds. Glad to get out of the house!

In the time it has taken me to write this, the sun has risen and the sky has turned a shade of pale blue. Sunlight between the trees is casting long shadows with bits of gold on lumpy snow. Today the wind has calmed but the temperature has dropped. I remind myself that we are one day closer to spring. It’s about to get exciting around here!

A hint of dawn 3-3-15 at 6:09 A.M.

Morning Notes

 Dawn on Mere Point 9-19-2014

It isn’t often that I am up this early in the morning and you would think that with this morning’s chill I would want to snuggle back under my covers and stay in my nice warm bed. But for some reason my mind is awake and alert and I want to enjoy the dawn. A sickle moon hangs in a cold indigo sky; a few stars still sparkle in the ever lightening dawn. Though I can see my husband’s breath as he walk to this car to leave for work, we do not have the frost here near the coast that I know probably blankets much of the rest of the state. With a morning temp of only 36 degrees Fahrenheit I have turned the heat on for the second time this week. As I look out my window at the morning sky, a warm square of light spills from the kitchen window over the charcoal colored lawn. I always like this contrast of warm light and cold darkness. It is a fleeting moment as the day wakes up.

When I knew the cold was coming yesterday, I set about taking out screens and shutting storm windows. While most modern houses do know have to go through this fall activity anymore, here on the coast of Maine in this old house it is still a necessary process. I could leave the screens in and just shut the storm windows, but they would block the winter sunlight that streams in and warms the house on sunny days. With all the possible gray days ahead, I want as much sunlight in this cottage as possible!

The bird activity is changing once again in my yard. It’s been rather quiet here the past couple of days. Cooper’s Hawks have returned to hunt my feeders with one perched on the wires directly over the feeder on Saturday. Then, two days ago I found a bunch of feathers underneath the yew tree and one of my smaller feeders knocked to the ground. You do not have to be Sherlock Homes to deduce this story! Last night as I was driving home from my day-long errands to town I saw a lone nighthawk flittering across the sky as I drove south on Mere Point Road. Soon there will be the sound of Canada Geese winging their way overhead. It is time to put away the summer clothes and get out the winter ones. I wore long pants for the first time on Sunday and it suddenly occurred to me that I wore shorts for the last time last week. It’s always easy to remember the “firsts” in life, but we don’t always know when something will be “the last time.”

If you haven’t noticed, I have been trying to get caught up on my blogging, so I hope to write my final post about Birding with Cynthia today. More birds are happening all the time and I hope to get out and explore some new birding spots before the snow flies around here! I got a new hair cut and color yesterday while I was in town doing errands. And now it’s time for breakfast! I hope you come back later in the day to see what we saw on Pine Point Beach in Scarborough!

Links:

• Birding with Cynthia part 1
• Birding with Cynthia part 2
• The Chimney Swifts are Gone-my newest poem

 Update 9:40 AM: The sun is up now and I have already seen a Common Yellowthroat and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in the yard this morning, along with the finches, blue jays, titmice, and cardinals. I do not think the hummingbirds will be around much longer. I noticed that last night's chill has started to wilt the spotted jewel weed they are feeding on.

Morning Notes

 Flowers hanging from my Andover porch 7-16-2011

A soft gray mist rolls over the yard as I sit on my granite steps watching the dog. High in the tall spruce by the driveway three cedar waxwings are preening. I am watching a pair of hummingbirds alternately feeding from the feeder and the wildflowers growing along the edge of the yard. It is a peaceful morning, save for the sounds of construction coming from my neighbor’s house. I find as I sit here on this hard granite step that I am missing my porch from the apartment we rented in Andover over 3 years ago now.

Though it was small, it was MY perch, MY cozy nest, MY lookout on the world. I liked to sit and drink my tea and watch the birds. Having the roof over my head meant I could be out there even in the rain. Having a wall at my back helped keep me warm and out of the wind. It also provided me some measure of privacy and even a sense of safety. Living in Andover was a bit stressful at first, due to an obnoxious neighbor in the front upstairs apartment, but that little porch became me refuge as he did not go into the back yard. I positioned all my bird feeders where I could see them while sitting out there and I would spend hours in my plastic chair with my notebooks, binoculars and camera. While I love this little cottage we are renting, I think it could use a porch!

Morning Notes from Florida

I woke up even earlier today and headed out the door into a blanket of thick fog. Through the mist I hear the garooing of sandhill cranes flying high overhead and unseen. Curtains of mists travel across the grass like small, kindly spirits. I take my steaming cup of tea and stand near the mailbox where the mailbox post serves as an easy rest for my cup so I can raise my bins to my eyes and try to identify birds through the fog.

My brother told me yesterday that one of his neighbors told him with some concern that a strange woman was wandering around and looking at his house. He told them that was his sister, but the neighbor said, NO, it was some safari woman! Stephen reassured them once again that yes, that WAS his sister! Sure enough, it was me, all decked out in my new birding vest and birding hat. With binoculars on my chest and my Nikon D80 dangling from my arm with its 70-300mm lens pointed downward until needed I suppose I must look quite a sight walking around this suburban neighborhood!

Once my tea is gone I walk down to the bridge that spans the canal and just sit and listen to the morning. While the sun does its best to burn through the morning fog I watch and listen to a small bird moving about in the reeds. Suddenly it pops out into view and I am so pleased and surprised to be looking into the masked face of a Common Yellowthroat! So far each day I have been here I have had the pleasure of spotting at least one new bird. This is my first new bird for today. As I walk back to the house a trio of purple martins twitter and call overhead. My brain and body are quite confused for it feels like summer to me, and I am so happy. I am walking around with a stupid grin on my face because earlier this morning I received this text message from my husband:

"37 years ago today I asked you to marry me. Just so you know, I would do it all again! I LOVE YOU and have a good day just knowing I am thinking of you."

Its going to be a good day!

Here's what's on the menu for later today: Babcock Wilderness Adventures


Lift List: 465
Year List: 180
Month List: 88
Florida Life List: 84
Florida Year List: 50


Note: My white morph Reddish Egret turned out to be a juvenile Little Blue Heron so I lost one species for now but I am sure I will see one before I leave Florida!

Morning Notes: The Beginning of December

It’s 6:20 a.m. and the sky is just starting to lighten to a soft shade of gray. A few minutes ago when I stepped out the door I could still see stars shining brilliantly in a clear, dark sky. Though there is a bit of a chill in the air, it still feels soft and welcoming. We have had a few days of high, thin clouds with higher humidity and mild temperatures. I have not had to use neither heat nor air conditioning, but that will soon change as cooler temps are predicted for later in the week with much colder nights. Even here in the desert, winter does come.

I am up early this morning with so much on my mind. Yesterday Chris Rohrer and I went birding at Whitewater Draw in southeast Arizona. It is one of my favorite places to bird, and he and I started our birding year there on January 3^rd. How can it be that it is already December 2, 2013? But it is and before I know it these last few days of 2013 will be gone and a New Year will be upon us. Change is underway and who knows what the New Year will bring.

Yesterday at Whitewater was a soft, gray day. It took us over an hour just to drive the two and a half mile road into Whitewater Draw since we kept stopping to count birds. All along Coffman Road we saw sparrows, doves, a couple of kestrels, a covey of Gambel’s Quail, and surprisingly, a pair of Bendire’s Thrashers! There were so many birds to see out both sides of the car. We would drive a few feet, then stop, then drive somemore. At times Chris would get out of the car, but I stayed inside and scanned the grasses and scrub bushes for more birds. By the time we got to the entrance to Whitewater draw it was almost 10:30 a.m. and we had counted 19 species of birds! But that was just the beginning. By the time we left Whitewater Draw seven hours later we had counted 48 species of birds, with a few yet to be identified. After a full day of birding we ended up with a current trip list of 62 species on our first day of December birding! It will take awhile before I have pictures to show you, but I can tell you it was a fun day. Yesterday’s birding added 8 species to my Cochise County Life List; 13 species to my Cochise County Year List; and 1 species to my Arizona and United States Year List with the addition of a White-throated Sparrow I found in a brush pile near the Owl Roost Area. Note, we did not enter this restricted area but walked the perimeter peering into the willows hoping for an owl. We never found any but we did find the White-throated sparrow along with four Northern Flickers and a family of Pyrrhuloxias!

In the evening the sun briefly slipped from behind the cloud bank and turned the grasses golden. The Sandhill Cranes which had dropped in waves earlier in the day continued to arrive with a loud garrooing. Thousands of them filled the sky and lined the shore of the ponds. The birds that had been grazing in the distant farm fields now lifted off and resettled in the water. You cannot imagine what it looks or sounds like. It is one of those things you just have to be there to experience.

The sun is up and now I can see that we still have a few high, thin clouds, though mostly the sky is a pale blue. While it’s currently 45 degrees F, it is suppose to warm into the 70’s once that sun sails up from behind the Rincon Mountains.  More bird blogging coming soon! Time to count my yard birds!

Happy Monday everyone!

Whitewater Draw January 3, 2013 Post

Note: All photos are cell phone pics I took yesterday while at Whitewater Draw

Morning Notes: The Day Before Thanksgiving

There’s a pink blush to the cloudy skies as I wake up this morning. A light wind is blowing and the overall effect is quite dramatic. It makes me want to run and toss my head like a wild pony! It makes me feel wild.

It’s the day before Thanksgiving and I have come downstairs early to start getting ready for the holiday. There is so much to be done: floors to wash and pies to bake, but first I am taking a few minutes for myself to think and to write. I miss writing. It is what I love most. So often I get caught up in the birding and the photography and I feel like I have left some of the writing behind, so please bear with me as I take a few moments to express myself!

I am a person who likes to feel connected. I have found it difficult lately to keep up with all my birding adventures. Chris Rohrer and the birds keep me on my toes! Because of this I can see that my blog has taken a different turn as it has become impossible for me to post these adventures as they happen. Things are out of sequence and that just bugs me, but I have had to let it go in favor of attending to the things that are most important, like spending time with my husband or my grandson, and counting the birds!

Yes, I count the birds on a daily basis at my house. I have now come to believe that this is the most important birding thing that I do. While racing around the state to see birds is fun (and I am not about to give it up!) It’s the daily bird count that I do that matters most. I also count the birds I see along familiar routes I drive and at my local grocery stores and shopping malls. With more and more people getting into eBird, there are plenty of people eBirding the favorite birding haunts. But dozens of checklists coming in from Sweetwater or Madera Canyon does not a complete picture make. While these locals are the bright and shining threads of a tapestry of birds, the birds at your local park, your school yard, or in your neighborhood and backyard are what fill in the blanks and make up the complete picture of bird populations. Having this complete picture is what eBird is all about. So while you are cleaning your house today or baking pies, take a few glances out the window at your feathered friends and be thankful that you have them. Then write down the time you started watching the birds, record the species you saw and the number of each species, then write down how much time you spent overall watching the birds (even if you stopped for an hour or two and then came back to it) and submit that info to eBird. It’s just that easy!

As for me and my blog; don’t worry, I am not going anywhere! However, in order to keep up to date with what is going on I will be posting a few more of these Morning Notes or Notes from My Nest just so I can keep you up to date on what is happening. Morning Notes will be notes I write first thing in the morning just to let you know what is going on that morning or what is on my mind. Notes From My Nest will be more of an overview of what is happening in the backyard or in my life. Meanwhile, Artsy Fartsy Fridays will continue, as well as my regular birding adventures. I hope you like these new features. Now, it’s time to go bake some pies!

• November Days-my newest poem
• Kneaded: A Collection of Family Recipes-my newest blog
• What’s THAT in the Grass?-yesterday’s post
• Notes from My Nest 

 Sunrise in my neighborhood 11-27-13

P.S. Scroll down for yesterday’s post. More bird stories and pictures coming later today!