Exploring the Bold Coast and Looking for Lighthouses

April 16, 2016

I was a little late leaving on my first road trip up here in Maine and did not make it to the eastern most spot in the United States for sunup. But I was just a little north of where it is in the contiguous United States and took more of my sunrise pictures between that place, in Robbinston, Maine, and a little further south. Sunrise is just before 6:00 A.M.

Sunrise just south of Calais along Highway 1 South

Clouds formed at sunrise making it last longer

This was the first of scores of boats, mostly anchored

A pullout let me catch this scene

I bought The Maine Atlas and located three lighthouses within about sixty miles of the refuge, all south on Highway 1 or a few lesser roads that go along The Bold Coast. I never saw signs for the Whitlocks Mill Light which is just south of Calais, but easily found West Quoddy Head Light. I had also planned to go hiking and bird watching at the adjacent state park, but the wind was blowing a gale and I needed a heavier coat, a warm hat and gloves, all of which I'd left at home.

West Quoddy Head Light

I went back up to the town of Lubec and explored that small and currently hibernating town. I made lots of stops and darted out into the cold wind to get pictures, then rushed back to warm up in the car. 

One of many of the churches I admired on this trip

Lubec is still a fishing town and the harbor was full of boats

I found the sign for an International Park. AND I could see a lighthouse across the bridge. So I went over there for about five minutes, just long enough to snap a few pictures. When I came back, I found I had to go through customs and produce my passport. Thankfully, I had it in the car. Then, as I checked my facts for this blog, I realized did not know the name of the lighthouse in Canada. AND I had also missed a view of the Lubec Channel Light which is in the middle of the Lubec Channel. I'll have to go back for a picture of it someday.

The lighthouse on the Canadian side of Lubec

View of Lubec from Canada

I made an unplanned turn into some Conservation Land and took the next two pictures there. 

Not sure what these red-stemmed plants are

But they really set off a grove of birches

A view along the Bold Coast

I saw thousands of crab traps 

One of four species of birds I noticed - the others were robins, one kestrel, and ring-billed gulls

Another church style

Could not take this church without the power lines but yet another style

I had to take this too close and backlit but I'm amazed at all the church styles up here

By late morning, I had gone as far south as I had planned and started home by a different route so I could visit Reversing Falls Park, south of Pembroke. I was glad I was a women or I would probably still be lost. I had to ask directions twice since there are no signs for it on Highway 1 and the signs for it are way higher than normal, so I missed one of them. I spent the afternoon there, so I”ll tell you all the details in another blog.

Then on the way home, I carefully watched for the Whitlock Light, but could only find a very poor, backlit view of it from a picnic point. When I got home, I found that is the best I can do, so I'll stop there when it will at least be lit by eastern light. This light started out as a light on a tree and the small lighthouse is in trees.

This was a beautiful day and I had lots of fun, even though my plan to eat out was foiled by closed restaurants. I was glad I had salad makings and a roasted chicken I'd cooked on Friday. 

If any of  you have suggestions of places I should go visit, please put them in the comments. And thanks in advance for your comments. 

Learning New Jobs in a New Place

April 11, 2016

I got to Moosehorn NWR in Maine on Friday, April 7.  This gave me time to spend the weekend cleaning my room, a bathroom, and a kitchen and getting my car unloaded and mostly getting my stuff stored.

I'm  stoked about this assignment. I really like the Acting Refuge Manager, had a wonderful time with the forester, Mike with whom I'll be doing the Vernal Pool Survey and had Murray, another staffer found me a coffee grinder when I mentioned I found I'd misordered my coffee and had beans and no way to grind it. And my main boss gave me a fantastic list of jobs I'll be doing or helping with including:

• Run the woodcock routes - this is a breeding bird survey
• Do bee surveys
• Check impoundments for beaver damage and other clogs
• Help with the birding festival
• Help with bird banding
• Help with bat monitoring
• Help with the Fishing Derby
• 
  

The only negative thing I've encountered is that I don't have wi-fi.  But I will be able to use the computers at work once I get my security card, so I don't think even that will be too bad.  I found another negative on Tuesday - my alarm got me up and then I noticed the stove and microwave clocks were an hour behind my ipad and computer clocks. I had to go in and take the settings off automatic time set, based on my location.  The computers think I'm in Canada. But that was easily fixed and I plan to sleep an hour later from now on.

My living quarters - the car is way back and it's a lot bigger than it looks

One of the best things about the refuge is that I'm only six miles from the town of Calais (make sure you say "Callus"). I hope to make some of the trips in by bicycle when it is a little warmer and not raining. I ended up working 11 hours on Monday because it took me over an hour to get to an on-line test and then a couple of hours to take it.  I ended up going into town around 7:00P.M. I had to stop to let a mother moose with yearling twins cross the road.  She should soon be kicking them out and having another baby.  It was dark and rainy, so I could not get a picture.  But I'll try to capture them soon.

We are across the St. Croix River from Canada - this here's Canada

Ring-billed gulls are here in large numbers

This seems to be another stream entering the St. Croix

This small town has several churches.  I think this is the most beautiful

This is the free library in the town and in whose parking lot I spend my on-line time

I've been so busy getting moved into my quarters that I only took time off to come online and shop - had to start over on groceries and had a lot of missing things I needed to make my life work. But a lot of the refuge is visible from the road to town.

This seems to be one of the main habitats on the refuge

I think the red stems are raspberry bushes

Birds are few and far between, although the robins have been here for about three weeks and some of the woodcock have arrived. Otherwise, juncos, pine siskins, morning doves and pileated woodpeckers have made themselves known.  I spent two days figuring out this breeding bird - had to come back with the camera as the binocs were no giving me a clear enough picture.  And I've seen one harrier but no ospreys, although there are at least three of these nesting towers in one view.

Nesting bald eagle

I may not be posting too reliably for the next week or so until I have time to have some adventures.

And I'd love to pick your brains.  What are some places I should put on my bucket list in Maine, especially east Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Please just use the comments.

A Visit to Fallingwater

April 3, 2016

One of the places my daughter, Kim, suggested visiting while I was at her house, was Fallingwater. It is the only house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that is intact and complete with the Kaufmann family  furniture, pictures, and other artifacts. Time magazine called it Wright's most beautiful work and and the Smithsonian has listed it as one of the Twenty-Eight Places to See Before You Die. I had attempted to visit it about eighteen years ago, but arrived on a day it was closed and I was only able to access the grounds.  So I was excited to go.

We had about an hour and a half to drive to get to it, and while we were driving, we ended up in heavy snow. But the snow stopped and the day was partly cloudy with the sun and clouds fighting for dominance, making for difficult shots. We reserved a tour,  then found we could switch to an earlier tour, so only had to wait about twenty minutes.  Originally, I had wanted to get there early, and photograph around the site, but when the weather was so cold and the day predicted to be partly cloudy, I planned to mostly photograph after the tour.

Entrance off the parking lot - the central building is the ticket window

I found the water recycling interesting and green

View back up the trail that leads to the house

Soon our tour number was called and we went to meet our guide and group, which mostly consisted of young Asians.

First glimpse of the house from the path

First stop

The tour guide collected us just before the bridge over Bear Run Creek and told us that we would not be able to take any photographs inside the house.  So you will have to go there for yourself to see the fabulous interior.

This house was designed to blend and complement the area it was in and the habitat, especially the creek and waterfall, was incorporated into the house.  The house is built of rocks to mimic the rocks on the ground and also in the creek bed. The floors are waxed to look like underwater rocks, while the stacked rock columns are left "dry". There are places in the house, where the natural rock outcrop rises from the floor. There is a hatch area, made of framed glass, in the living room which can be fully opened to the sight and sound of the creek.   And the family could walk down the steps directly into the creek.  All the bedrooms have glass walls and windows that can be opened to hear the falls.

The house interacts with those moving through it.  This was especially apparent in the downstairs bedrooms where you come in from a narrow dark hall to the very bright rooms that have glass walls.  The ceiling also comes way down as you come into the room, forming a very comforting level above the open wall. The colors are very simple and organic.  The walls are light ochre throughout and the trim is Cherokee red. Even the built-in couches and occasional tables were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The kitchen, however, was not designed by him because he considered it only a work space. I think the family and their cook designed it to the cook's taste.  (And by the way, the cook is the last person still alive who lived in the house - she is 102.)

Our guide gives us our first information about the house

View of the house from the bridge

Looking upstream from the bridge to a small waterfall

 We ended the tour in what used to be the garage for the house and which held up to eight cars. Now I think only  part of the original garage is roofed and it has been converted into a movie theatre.  We watched a two minute film about the house there.

The garage is high on the hill behind the house and even a little above the guest house. 

After the tour, we wandered around the grounds - and we had a lot fewer places to go than I remembered from my first visit. One of my favorite places was the front entrance which had a little pool below this spigot - some way the water from the hillside was diverted through here, then drained back into the creek. Soap on a chain was provided so people could wash their feet.

Washing spot by front door

The house made a microclimate for this one rhododendron bush and it was the only one blooming

The stacked stone that is use both outside and inside the house, along with a little pool and a statue - this is just before the entrance

The reason the top floor looks smaller than the others is because it is actually the guest house and is situated uphill along a beautiful curving path. It is just designed to become part of the whole house from this view

This is from the spot where the iconic pictures of the house and falls are taken 

The red trim is on windows - that is the Cherokee red - the corner windows open

These steps led back to the entrance - and this is pretty much what the grounds looks like n- native trees and rhododendrons 

The sun was hitting these leaves and showing their beautiful texture

The only blooming plants were hellebores  - this area is about two weeks behind the Pittsburgh area

I would definitely agree, that if you appreciate architecture, nature and art, you should definitely visit Fallingwater.

For a few interior pictures, click here.

On my personal front, I will have arrived at my summer refuge, Moosehorn NWR and turned 74.  Looking forward to another 25 years of fun. - At least I'm demanding 25 year warranties on my surgeries.

A Goodbye Trip by Land and Water

March 23, 2016

My paddling buddy, John, and I were assigned the honorous duty of checking out the paddling trails at Alligator River. I STILL had not encountered any bears there, so I went early to do a personal bird survey and look for bears.

The moon was setting as I got to the refuge and sinking into the pine trees. Then, as the sun came up, it turned the western sky around the setting moon pink.

Several raptors were hunting in the early light.  I saw a couple of red tail hawks,  a Swainson's hawk and a harrier.

Red-tailed hawk

Several times, as I stopped along the driving tour, I  heard the "wheep" of an eastern towhee and finally the light was right to catch one.  I also heard and saw at least fifty yellow-rumped warblers who will also be leaving soon.

Eastern towhee

At several of the stops where I listened and looked for birds, I heard distant Onk-ah-loonk calls of bitterns setting up their territories. At one stop it was very near the car, so I eased a little further down the road to a stand of grass and stopped again.  The bird came toward me and filled up its esophagus, then called. Click here if you haven't experienced that wonderful call.

American bittern calling

I think this is a nutria

I admired how crooked this tree had grown, probably
while in the shadow of a larger tree

This was the closest I got to a bear but I found several piles of fresh scat

Swamp maples added color 

A close view of the maple seed pods

As the sun rose higher, turkey vultures spread their wings to warm up, then started soaring.

Turkey vultures

Several species of butterflies, including a couple of species of swallowtails, were feeding on the blooming Carolina Jasmine and willow blooms.

Black Swallowtail

Carolina jasmine

New leaves

Then it was time to get my canoe in the water. John was late so I put my canoe in I started paddling.  Finally he called me to tell the intern that he needed her to come unlock the canoes as he had the wrong key.  He finally showed up with a visiting woman who had her family with her.  She was part of a program to share how best to do cooperative work with landowners. John paddled with the son while the parents paddled their own canoe. They were not paddlers and the wind was picking up, so we could not do anything put a short paddle in protected waters. (Most of the trails are on wide creeks where the wind can be a big problem. )


I put up wood ducks while waiting for the rest of the group to show up and enjoyed the new growth.

My favorite kind of paddling

Pickerel weed was just starting to sprout

Volunteer John and a visitor

A visiting staffer and her husband as we came back

Even without bears, and with a way too short paddle, this was a beautiful morning.

As this posts comes out,  I'll be on my last day in the Pittsburgh and will be reporting for duty the following Friday.   Can't wait to see my summer home.


I'm linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday.  Click on the picture to see many more blogs on birds from around the world.