Loren Merrill Photography

02/25/2026

Maine's two smallest alcids enjoying some time together near shore. The black guillemot (back) and dovekie (front) floated into the same patch of water and apparently started up an engaging conversation because they remained close to each other for a good 5-10 minutes before bobbing their separate ways.
York County, Maine. January 2026

02/18/2026

Brain freeze.
This American mink looks how I feel after I scarf down ice cream too quickly.
The little, well-insulated mustelid was diving among the ice flows on a frigid morning looking for some breakfast.

Scarborough, Maine. January 30, 2026.

02/11/2026

Snowy owl on a large granite boulder along the Maine coast. This winter was a slow one for snowies at first, but has picked up steam in the new year. Most of the birds that appear along the New England coast are young birds wandering widely from their summer homes on the tundra. When they arrive on the coast, they will hunt just about anything that's around - voles, rats, squirrels, muskrats, songbirds - but it's likely that much of their diet winds up consisting of wintering waterfowl. This bird spent much of the day napping on bluffs overlooking the water, occasionally looking out at the groups of long-tailed ducks, common eider, grebes and gulls swimming, foraging and bickering below, and then started to get active close to dusk. The image below was taking after the bird became active and started trying out different perches along the edge of the water. These owls hunt during the day but probably have more luck with waterfowl at night when they can sneak up on their prey under the cover of darkness.

*Owl ethically photographed using telephoto lens at a distance that did not disturb the bird.

02/10/2026

Hi Folks! I am the director of the Hog Island Audubon Photography Camp in Midcoast Maine, and we still have four spaces available for this year's session, May 24-29. See link for details on the program. It's an amazing experience in a beautiful area with wonderful people (and food!) --what more could you want? Please share with anyone you think might be interested.

May 24 - May 29, 2026

02/06/2026

Male northern harrier cruising above the dunes at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island. These open habitat hawks cruise slowly over grassy areas looking and listening for prey. Like owls, they have facial disks that help capture sounds (like the quiet rustle of a vole in the grass) and funnel the sounds to their ears.

Plum Island, MA. Jan 23, 2026.

02/04/2026

A pair of female common goldeneyes heading off into the early morning.

Cumberland County, Maine. January 29, 2026.

02/03/2026

Peregrine falcon flying over with a bit of breakfast to go. I thought perhaps I'd be able to tell what it had caught, but no such luck; it had already eaten much of the meal and was just carrying the equivalent of some leftover French fries.

York County, Maine. January 29, 2026.

02/02/2026

Snowy owl perched on a rocky bluff overlooking the ocean. When these winter wanderers head south into New England, they often make their way to the coast where there's an abundance of prey in the form of wintering ducks, grebes and loons. This owl was looking down on common goldeneyes, common eiders, horned grebes, black scoters, and long-tailed ducks, but likely does most of its seabird hunting under the cover of darkness.

Maine. January 2026.

02/01/2026

It's cold out there, folks! Don't forget to bring your handkerchiefs. This American herring gull did not have a hanky the other morning and wound up with quite the snotcicle. Poor guy seemed like he was really feeling the frigid temps.
Cumberland County, Maine. January 30, 2026.

01/31/2026

I love it when a plan comes together. Yesterday morning I headed out on the Eastern Trail in Scarborough Marsh hoping to photograph a mink on the ice. I'd seen their tracks in the snow on previous visits and despite having photographed these small weasels (they are mustelids, like the short-tailed and long-tailed weasels) many times, I've never photographed them in a frozen landscape. After 1.5 hours of turning into a popsicle (air temp ~ 7 degrees F; windchill ~ -10,000 degrees F, give or take) I finally caught sight of this little hunter cruising the ice at the edge of a mostly frozen channel in the salt marsh. It bounded among the blocks of ice and would occasionally slip into the slush ice and vanish underneath into the water. I suspect it was looking for sluggish killifish (the little mummichogs that love the marsh) or green crabs. After watching the mink scamper around and swim like it was a balmy July day, I think I understand why their fur was so highly coveted.
Scarborough, Maine. January 30, 2026.

01/30/2026

Yesterday was special. I came across this little dovekie (a palm-sized cousin of the Atlantic puffin) while tromping around York County. It was hanging out in the surf zone just off the rocks. I gradually made my way down to the water's edge and plunked myself down among the barnacles, tiny blue mussels, and algae to watch. After 30 minutes or so, the tiny alcid swam over close to me and spent 20+ minutes bobbing in the surf and diving, sometimes within 10 feet of me. These "little auks" as they are sometimes called, breed up in northern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and the Arctic. In the winter, some number head south to the waters off New England. When I was a teen, I found a dead dovekie on Plum Island, MA and have been keen to see a live one ever since. 35 years later (!!!) I finally have.
York Co, Maine. January 29, 2026.

01/29/2026

A bald eagle flyby in the Arctic, I mean southern coastal Maine.
Cumberland County, Maine. Jan 28, 2026.