birds

The last few days have been very busy with a variety of trips on both fresh and saltwater. Everywhere I went there was some sort of wildlife that is now more abundant than it was even a short time ago.

I spent the last few days fishing bass fishing on freshwater. The last two with a couple of repeat clients who are not only good fisherman but great fun to be around. The fishing was better than I can remember for the post spawn time period in June. Over the two days they caught a bunch of nice fish like this largemouth bass.

Saturday while helping Argy plant a few flowers in the rain I happened to look up and see what I thought was an American Redstart; after looking carefully through the raindrops. I was sure that it was a male redstart. Not really an usual sighting at all since they are not rare but it had been a while since I had seen one only five feet away. I did not see a female but she must be on a nest not too far away.

I’ve made two scouting trips on the Saint Gorge this week and can report an amazing number of eagles, cormorants by the thousands and a few ospreys. The ravens are still in the rookery at the head of the tide and calling to each other steadily. But not one striper to the boat, I did have one half hearted bite yesterday morning but no luck on setting the hook. Water temperatures are almost warm enough (59 up river and 52 in the lower river) and should improve over these next few days with a mid day low tide and sunny skies to warm the flats.

As of today Argy and I have been married for twenty nine years. Time sure flies when you are having fun! If you had told me that day all of the adventures we would have together I would not have believed it. Two great kids, an beautiful place to live and a couple of amazing careers. What more could anyone ask?

One of the great parts of being a guide is having to actually spend time finding the fish or birds or making sure that water levels are right. There is nothing better than having to spend the afternoon launching the boat and poking around to see if I can find a few fish on an afternoon like this. The breeze was light when I started and went to nothing as the afternoon progressed. As you can see in this picture the water was just like glass and I can verify that the air temperature was nearly perfect.

This week has been marked by a rapid transition to spring in all of it’s glory. Warm days with little wind and clear blue skies. Our crocuses and daffodils came into bloom this week and the grass is looking green. The birds have gone into full spring mode as rapidly. This week I noted the first bluebird song, turkeys gobbling every morning and the grouse in the woodlot drumming.

This afternoon was warm and sunny with a milky blue sky. I knew that once the afternoon sea breeze started the air would chill quickly. So I did the best thing I could think of, I loaded a canoe and headed down to the Saint George River for an hour or two. The ice is out of Seven Tree Pond enough so that I could launch and paddle up into the river. The water level is very high, those of you that have been on this trip will remember the rock up river that is at least six feet above the water level in the summer was nearly covered with water.

It is raining this morning after a cold stretch. Yesterday morning it was clear and still with a temperature of just under 10 Fahrenheit. I spent part of the afternoon chipping ice out of the driveway, especially around the front door. The dogs were out it was warm for this winter and I was enjoying a fine winter day.

Yesterday I had let the dogs out for their afternoon run and chance to play in the snow.  I was filling the wood box in the house and making trips between the garage and the House.  On my last trip I happened to glance up and catch out of the corner of my eye two birds flying into the pine tree alongside the driveway.  One was quite small, a chickadee turned out and the other I assumed at first to be a mourning dove.  Both landed in the pine and for a second all was