July 1-2 - The Maine Event

July 1:   As I mentioned, the breakfast  on this Monday morning at the Hawks House Inn was one of the most pleasant that I’ve enjoyed on this trip.  Enjoying my coffee, and taking my repast, I could watch the birds coming to the many feeders that Steve maintains in his back yard.

I left a little early to make certain that I made it to Rockland, in time to catch the Vinalhaven Ferry.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned while living in Washington State, it’s that the Ferry will not wait, and that during the busy season, you need to make a reservation to ensure that you make your boat.

I highly recommend the Hawk House Inn

Of course, I hadn't made a ferry reservation . . . so, I took off around 8:30 to make the one-hour drive from Walpole to Rockland.  The Ferry line here is predicated on getting a “Line Number” which you can make with your reservation.  Customers with vehicles that do not have a reservation leaving the island need to contact the island terminal for a line number the day before returning to secure a space on the ferry for the vehicle.  This includes same day travel without a reservation.

Rockland Ferry Dock

I made it to the Ferry dock in time to be the 18th car back in line (after the folks with reservations), so was fairly certain to make the ferry.  If they had a couple of large trucks, it might be tight, but as it was, I was in good shape.  I could have just done a walk-on for $11, but decided to spend the $30 to take the car, in case I wanted to stay over and drive around the island a bit.

There was time to walk around the harbor a bit. There was what appears to be a Gulf of Maine herring seiner anchored.  The fishermen in Maine call the small boat (which Washington State seiners call “the skiff”) the “Bug Boat”.

F/V Crow

The Ferry landed, loaded and left on time, passing the gaff-rigged schooner J&E Riggin on our way out.

I love the lines of a schooner . . .

Maine is all about their lighthouses, and there are several to be seen on this passage.

Rockland Harbor Light

If you’re into boats, there are plenty of opportunities to see a wide variety on the water.

The Schooner American Eagle

Maine State Ferry M/V Captain Charles Philbrick

We made the 75-minute crossing on a pleasant sea.

There were the usual birds and seals to be seen on the trip.  Never before having been at sea in the Northeast, I was happy to view Black Guillemots for my ABA Life Bird No. 619.  The Guillemots look much like our western Pigeon Guillemots, but differ in that the Atlantic birds have a solid white wing patch, rather than one with a dark bar seen in the Pacific species.

We landed on schedule at 11:45, and I made my way the few blocks to check into the Tidewater Inn.

The old tide race, adjacent to the Inn on the left

This establishment was built about 50 years ago on the site of a former grist mill.  Perched on a bridge, the tide raced beneath the building on its way to Carver's Pond on the other side of the road, turning the mill’s equipment.  Twelve hours later, it rushes back out. The result? Today, the sound of the water varies from a steady peaceful burble to an almost thundering roar taking place just beneath the window of the room as the tide surges from place to place.

The tide race was right outside the window of my room

I went down to the dock around 1 p.m. and met the other birders, including Frank Mantlik who I’d met on the Hatteras Pelagic.

A Darned Good Birder

John Drury was the skipper of the Skua and was quite the interesting fellow, and quite knowledgeable about the birds.  He pointed out many birds and seals along the 9-mile route to Seal Island, where there is a colony of Atlantic Puffins.

We passed several rocks where we had views of Razorbills (my ABA Life Bird No. 620, terns, cormorants, and Gray Seals.

Razorbills look like a Murre with a big schnoz

As we approached Seal Island, we began seeing Atlantic Puffins.  The Puffin was ABA Life Bird No. 621 for me, and I was impressed with how similar they looked (and behaved) to the Horned Puffins of the Pacific Coast.

Immature puffins have darker bills

Arriving at Seal Island, we circled the rock, taking in the views of the wildlife, as well as the Research Camp.

Seal Island is a National Wildlife Refuge, with restricted access

There is a research station for the lucky biologists . . .

Nesting Great Cormorants

Grey Seals are a lot larger than the Harbor Seals I'm used to seeing

A sighting of a Black-browed Albatross caused a little excitement at first, but John explained that the researchers had set up this decoy after that southern ocean denizen spent some time here in 2009.

I had forgotten, when I signed up to go out with John, that this was the trip to take to see the Red-billed Tropicbird, a bird which has shown up here for the past 14 years (!!).  The bird is supposedly a male, as several years ago, researchers put out a decoy, and he commenced to display to it.  But, if he’s looking for love, he’d do much better in the Cape Verde Islands or the Caribbean, where he might actually find a female of his own species.

The Tropicbird roosts behind the boulder in the foreground

Island research biologist Keenan Yakola swam out a couple hundred yards to meet the boat, and visit.  Knowing that we wanted to see the Tropicbird, he swam back, and circled around to where he could get a view of where the bird had been roosting, without disturbing it.

You gotta be tough to live in the North East . . .

He gave a ‘thumbs up’ sign from the island, so we decided to wait until 5 p.m., as we had a time restraint to return to Vinalhaven to get folks back to their off-island transportation.

To pass the time, John hand-jigged a few pollock to use as bait for his lobster traps after the tour.

At 5:04, we were just about to take off, when the Tropicbird came out from his roost beneath the boulder.

He gave us about a half hour of great views, bathing and harassing the terns.  The Red-billed Tropicbird was a “Lifer” for 5 of the 7 of us on board, and was my ABA Life Bird No. 622.

He's on the wrong side of the Equator!

But he's a good-looking bird, nonetheless

Tropicbird in Maine--

despite your lonely summers,

you keep coming back.

      a Haiku by Kristen Lindquist 

On the way back to Vinalhaven, we saw the usual suspects, and were treated to the sight of a Minke Whale blowing not far off our port beam; of course, I couldn’t get a photo.

John has a good eye for spotting birds, whale blows, seals, etc.

Todd & Meg were staying at the Tidewater, but I didn’t see them after we docked.

Vinalhaven is a busy little harbor

Two other birders, Matt & Walt, had to catch the afternoon flight off the island.  I returned to my room, and went to supper at the Nightingale, where I ended up sitting to a ‘local’, Glenn, who was a contractor and had just bought a lobster boat; the Cahill (named after the fishing fly).

I went to bed to the sound of the water flowing past my window, with great memories of the ‘pelagic’ trip to Seal Island.

July 2:  I was awake fairly early on this Tuesday morning, so had coffee and rolls for breakfast at the Tidewater’s loft, then walked out to Lane’s Preserve to do a bit of birding.

I always take an interest in the meeting places of this Fraternity

I walked through the village, out to Boston Road, and took a turn around Lane’s Island Preserve.

The word "Picturesque" seems appropriate for this part of the country

The Lane Family cemetery

I returned to the Tidewater via Boy Scout Point and Armbrust Hill Town Parks.

A good place to walk . . .

 . . . but you need to park somewhere else!

The trails go through some pine and deciduous woods, and I was struck by how many of the pines had these odd 'burls'.

I'll have to look up what causes this

On my way back to ‘downtown’ I again ran into Frank, and also met Jeff Kietzmann who was going out on the Skua this afternoon.  I’d also met Jeff on the Hatteras pelagic trip.  It truly is a small world.

It was a pleasant morning's walk, serenaded by Songsters

There were a number of broods of the Common Eider along the shore in many places.

I found a copy of ABrief Historical Sketch of the Town of Vinalhaven: From Its Earliest KnownSettlement, printed in 1889 on the occasion of the town’s 100th anniversary.

Among its first few pages, there is a description of the bird life from the early days:  “There are numerous small islands and ledges in the vicinity, which are often visited by our sportsmen after sea-fowl, which are not so plenty as formerly.  These birds were very abundant in the early days of settlement here, and was one source of supply upon which the inhabitants relied for sustenance.  One manner of capturing them aside from the usual mode of shooting, was called “duck driving,” and was certainly novel and exciting, though it would not be considered sportsman-like in our day.  A brief description of how it was done may not be out of place here.  For several days in the month of August the birds could not fly, as they were then shedding their feathers, a fact which was well known to the settlers, and at such times a sufficient number would get together in boats, and proceeding to the rendezvous of the birds, would form a circle partially surrounding them, and in that way they were driven into some cove or creek, up onto the shore, where they were overtaken and killed.  Capt. Reuben Carver has informed us that his father was one of a party that captured 2,100 birds in a single drive.”

After checking out of the Tidewater, I went to brunch at the Homeport Family Restaurant, where I had a lobster roll.  Hey, I’m in Maine - I need to have lobster at least once, right?

Leaving the Fox Islands

Power to the People!

The ferry trip back to Rockland was uneventful, other than a pretty amazing lightning storm off to the north.

I never could capture a bolt of lightning in a photo

Thunder clouds above Rockland Harbor

My goal was to try again for the Bicknell’s Thrush, so figured that I’d try on some mountain walks in Canada.  Now that it’s past Canada Day, I wanted to avoid the Fourth of July in the States, so pushed north toward Houghton, wanting to make some time and distance.  I was tired, and had thought about, but didn’t, push the extra hour and a half up toward Presque Isle, so just drove across the border into New Brunswick and checked into the Howard Johnson’s.  For supper, I drove into downtown Woodstock and ate at the River Restaurant.  Not a bad little place to eat.

A "Dark Cahill"

After supper, I checked the eBird reports to see what might be in the area, and was chagrined to see that I had totally spaced out about the Little Egret being seen on the Maine coast, and that there was one of these vagrants only an hour and a half from Rockland.  Heavy Sigh!  I’m not going to back-track at this point, so picking up that species for a Lifer will have to wait for another day . . . or year . . .  At least I saw the Tropicbird!

July 2:

Vinalhaven - Rockland Ferry eBird Checklist is Here

Vinalhaven Grimes Park eBird Checklist is Here

Lane’s Island Preserve eBird Checklist is Here

Vinalhaven – East Boston Road eBird Checklist is Here

Vinalhaven Village eBird Checklist is Here

July 1:

Brimstone Island to Vinalhaven eBird Checklist is Here

Seal Island to Brimstone Island eBird Checklist is Here

Seal Island eBird Checklist is Here

Vinalhaven to Seal Island eBird Checklist is Here

Vinalhaven Village eBird Checklist is Here

Rockland - Vinalhaven Ferry eBird Checklist is Here

Rockland Harbor eBird Checklist is Here

Hawks House Inn eBird Checklist is Here