Here in the Wild: Field Notes and Photography

02/19/2025

Hey there friends,

It has probably been apparent for sometime that this platform hasn't been a good match for my needs and interests for some time. I've been finding myself here less and less often and, in light of recent developments, the need to make a change became more of a personal priority.

Now on to the good news. I'm excited to share that I've recently started a Substack for sharing my writing and photography. In doing so, I'm casting a wider net to encompass more of interests and share more experiences. Yes, you can certainly expect to see lots and lots of birds, however, I'm excited to also share sketches from life in Maine, insights from gardening, and the results of fruit exploration.

So if you want to keep up with what I'm doing, come check out Poor Will's Almanack: https://poorwillsalmanack.substack.com/

12/14/2024

Eastern Bluebird.

To many in New England, the Eastern Bluebird is a symbol of the coming spring. This association is understandable as seeing a bluebird in the late days of winter was an indication that seasonal change was afoot. Today, however, bluebirds often remain with us throughout the winter’s whole course. Banding together in associations of family groups, flocks of bluebirds traverse the countryside seeking fruits and whatever insects immobilized by cold. When the worst of winter comes, these birds shelter (often in groups) within tree cavities and roosting boxes.

This winter expansion isn’t without risk or reward. While particularly cold winters or extreme storms can mean the death of some bluebirds, these prolific breeders are offered a longer breeding season should they survive.

12/13/2024

Northern Cardinal.

I met up with a friend over the weekend to go birding at a few locations on the Pemaquid Peninsula. We started out along a small stretch of beach just as the day was beginning to warm. Unlike in summer, when birds will often vocalize at or just before the first suggestion of daylight, winter mornings start slowly. Birds will stir from their roosting places and set themselves to foraging, building up stores of energy to help ensure their survival through the winter night to come. A cardinal was slow to rise, or at least to make herself known, but we spotted her among the beach rose hips and winterberry.

12/12/2024

Northern Saw-whet Owl.

I spotted something out of the ordinary as I started down the driveway a few nights back. Although the sun had set and snow was steadily falling, a passerine quickly fluttered through my headlights into the cover of some young hemlocks. There has to be good cause to drive a songbird from its roosting place in conditions such as these. Stopping the car to watch for whatever had spooked the bird from its roost, I noticed some movement in an overhanging branch and found the culprit.

This saw-whet is the third owl species I’ve observed in our woods this autumn. Although I seldom see these tiny owls, I’ve heard them on a handful of occasions throughout the state. Although I once thought I heard a distant saw-whet in woods about our home a few years ago, I was reluctant to make the call. It’s nice to finally have confirmation that they do indeed reside in our bit of woodland from time to time.

12/08/2024

The 2025 calendars are in!

Hallee and I are spending this snowy day packing, wrapping, and getting all of the calendars ordered ready to go out in the post this week. We will also be reaching out to those of you that indicated an interest in hand delivery to arrange a time to drop your calendar off.

Thank you all so much to all of you who have ordered calendars this year. I hope you will enjoy this year's notes and photographs!

Interested in ordering a calendar? A link can be found in the comments!

11/26/2024

Moose.

Here’s a bit of a throwback to greener days this summer on this gray November morning.

This moose and I have had enough encounters over the last few years that I jokingly refer to him as my “closest neighbor” when up in the woods of Northwestern Maine. Us Mainers are often inundated with cartoonish moose iconography and shelves lined with cheap moose-themed knickknacks such that it’s easy to lose sight of true animal they seek to imitate. The more time I spend in the woods, the more fascinated I am with these giants.

The presence of a moose imparts paradoxical feelings in the observer. This animal is both imposing and awe inspiring while, at the same time, gentle and anodyne. Moose are very capable of ferocity, even violence, when a threat is perceived. Yet, nearly every encounter I’ve experienced could be characterized as tranquil. While they are certainly capable of crashing through the forest like a rolling boulder, more often they slip into the trees without a sound. I once woke to a moose standing directly behind my car (which I had been sleeping within) and watched as it gingerly stepped through my campsite, sniffed the sooty end of my fire poker, before it soundlessly wandered off. If I hadn’t woken up when I did, I’d never have known it had been there.

While moose are certainly more numerous in the north, they are throughout our state. I sometimes find their droppings within the wetlands near our home though I’ve not put eyes on one yet. Just a day ago, a moose was hit on the edge of town in Augusta, our state’s capital and one of our largest cities. This is a mark of the eastern forest’s renewed dominion over the state, but also a testament to furtiveness of the land’s largest inhabitants.

11/14/2024

Want to help Maine’s whip-poor-will and nighthawks? Consider contributing to my research project’s effort to deploy radio receiver stations to monitor birds tagged in 2024. Thank you!

Help install a Motus antenna in Hollis, Maine to track Nightjar migration!
⁠
Here’s what’s happening. Maine’s Eastern Whip-poor-wills and Common Nighthawks have undergone significant declines in recent decades and MNHO is partnering with Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) and the Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) to try to find out why. An important part of this project is tagging Whip-poor-wills with lightweight radio tags that are then detected by Motus antennas (an international wildlife tracking network) all along the eastern seaboard.
In ideal conditions, our tagged Whip-poor-wills need to be within 12 miles of a Motus
antenna to be detected, which makes it imperative that antennas are installed strategically to cover our study sites. The materials required to install the Hollis antenna cost $6,000.
You can help by making a donation or becoming a member of MNHO before the end of November! Learn more at www.mainenaturalhistory.org

Your gift will:
1. make it possible to install this antenna before the return of our tagged Whip-poor-wills this spring so we can accurately track their migration path.
2. add to the global knowledge base about the migration paths of nightjars, owls, bats, dragonflies, and many more migratory species. Once the antenna is installed, it will remain active for many years and collect data on any radio-tagged species that come through the area.
3. help gather vital information on Maine nightjars with minimal impact on the birds and their habitat.

How you can help:
1. Become a member of the Observatory (there are lots of benefits to membership!) or renew your existing membership at www.mainenaturalhistory.org.⁠ 100% of your membership dollars received during November will go toward this project.
2. Donate to the MOTUS antenna fund online at www.mainenaturalhistory.org
Thank you!⁠

11/12/2024

Hello all,

Just wanted to make a quick announcement regarding the 2025 edition of “A Year in Birds”. If you already ordered your calendars - thank you! We are on track to get calendars printed, packed, wrapped, and shipped ahead of the holidays.

If you are planning to order a calendar and have yet to do so, the last day to preorder this year’s calendar is this Saturday, November 16. A limited number of calendars will remain available for ordering after this date, however, we will prioritize those orders made ahead of the 17th once they arrive from the printer.

Big thanks to you all!

Logan

(Pictured: Broad-winged Hawk in the North Maine Woods in April 2024).

10/29/2024

Greetings all!

I hope you are enjoying these fine autumn days. Within our home, the first frosts of the season are an annual reminder that a new year rests on the horizon.

I am pleased to share that our calendar, A Year in Birds, is now available for preorder (link in comments). This calendar (the seventh edition that Hallee and I have assembled) includes field notes and photographs collected from the rocky islands of Jericho Bay to the forested banks of the Wolastoq (Saint John River). All of those included were collected while conducting field work as an ecologist and naturalist workin in Maine.

Many thanks to all the folks who have supported this calendar each year and provided this annual opportunity to reflect on and share these experiences had while studying our region's birdlife. We hope you will enjoy it!

This Color Photography item by hereinthewildshop has 32 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from Palermo, ME. Listed on Oct 29, 2024

08/04/2024

Butterflies of the Upper St. John Wet Flats.

Of all the places I’ve come to know and love within this great state, there’s no place more fascinating and treasured than the Upper St. John Wet Flats. Created when a portion of a retreating glacier broke off and melted in place, waterlogged expanse is densely forested with tamarack, spruce, poplar, alder, and pine. The margins of this forest are the result of the region’s rivers, flooded bogs, and a handful of maintained logging roads, all of which are thickly hemmed in with wildflowers. A myriad of butterflies come to partake of this vibrant feast. Pictured (in order) are: Silver-bordered Fritillary, Pink-edged Sulphur, Long Dash, Mustard White, American Lady, and Atlantis Fritillary.

08/03/2024

Black Swallowtail.

I can’t recall ever having observed a Black Swallowtail before relocating to Palermo. They were undoubtedly fluttering past undetected until I settled down in life enough to sow vegetable seeds and tend the plants that followed. Not long after the first swallowtail visited our humble, cabin-side garden bed, we spotted vibrant caterpillars clinging to the dill and fennel. These plants, along with carrots and parsley, are planted in abundance in large part to support subsequent generations of these ebony scaled fliers. I’ve lost count, but surely we’ve reared one to two hundred black swallowtail caterpillars in our gardens over the years. I frequently find them fluttering about the local fields from midsummer to the earliest days of autumn. On a few occasions, I’ve found their delicate cocoons dangling from stones hedging in our driveway and have guarded them through the winter months as best I could. I live for these summer days when the adults bound their way through the garden, stopping only to sip nectar from the flowers we’ve planted and lay their eggs in the aromatic stands of dill.

07/03/2024