Tufted Titmouse

I love tufted titmice! They are the cutest of birds with that peter-peter-peter call that you can hear all around. And, check out their big feet;-) By the way, they love to eat sunflower seeds.

Awakened to a lone loon calling

 Yay! The first loon has arrived at Caesar Pond. I awakened to it calling at around 5:45am. It was far away toward the north end, hence the fuzziness of the photo.

We checked out our old favorite giant pine tree trail off Sheen Rd.

I desperately needed a walk in the woods, so we decided to check out a favorite trail from years ago. The trail has been somewhat closed off for the last few years due to a huge tree harvest that has been taking place.

We usually access this trail from Litchfield Rd. (where we call it "The Milkweed Trail"), but that is too steep for me to handle. So, we drove over to Lewis Hill Rd. and accessed it from the opposite entrance off of Sheen Rd.

Wow, this harvest is huge and isn't done yet. There have been so many tall pines removed from this site and it sure doesn't have the ambience of years ago.

We took in the view with sadness, thinking back to what it formerly was...

The quaint old stone bridge that crosses the creek is covered with a thick log pallet to handle the load of the logging equipment.

The creek is still there, but is not a picturesque as it once was...

The trail was too soft, and the footing too uneven for me to continue. Drew and Toby only went a short distance further, but it was too depressing to continue on.

Here is what the creek used to look like from the top of the bridge in 2013.

And, here is the side of the stone bridge from 2013.

And, the forest from 2013. Sigh... Sometimes, I don't like change.

And, another view from 2013. Change is inevitable...

First Spring Peeper peeping!

An old photo (from August 2015)) shows the characteristic "X" pattern on the peeper's back.

9:30pm. A lone Spring Peeper started calling out to attract a mate at the edge of Caesar Pond!

The true meaning of a fallen log! Tree damage to our backyard fence.

This wind and 1.8" rain event brought down a dead, standing tree!

We heard a big thump at 2pm and saw the left side of the fence and gate damaged.

The fence became disconnected from the posts at the corner as well. Bummer...

Feeding Frenzy at the bird feeder!

A feeding frenzy happened at the bird feeder during the snow storm. Lots of goldfinches, a few chickadees, and some purple finches flocked to the feeding station.

There was lots of squabbling for position at the feeder holes.

And, in the midst of the squabbling, a robin sat on a branch singing...

April Snowstorm

Wowee! What a storm it was. We got 13.5" of very heavy, wet snow. Combined with wind, the storm took down power lines, toppled trees, and we are without power since last night. Who knows when the power will return as there are 250,000 residents of Maine without power.

Snow total thus far this season: 61.5"

Frolicking Squirrels

I heard quite a bit of chittering up high in the trees. What I saw made me laugh. There were multiple Eastern Gray Squirrels (I think I counted six of them) frolicking from branch to branch, running up and down the stems and chasing each other here and there. Enjoy this short video of their antics. Might they all be siblings? I know that the average litter is between 1 to 4 young with a maximum litter size of 8.

Canada Geese Audio

 The Canada Geese have been making quite a ruckus on Caesar Pond all...day...and...night...long... I love their calls and they make me laugh at some of their vocalizations. At places, you can hear definite "Honk" calls. We just grabbed a few minutes of goose calls out of a 26 minute recording from last night, from our deck.

Crocuses add color to a pandemic-stressed life

This is the season that pleases me almost more than any other, and that is because of the magic of flowers and buds. The giant crocuses are my first flowers to bloom, and the primary stump garden is ringed with them.  As you can sort of see, I also have white crocuses, deep purple crocuses, light purple crocuses, and deep yellow crocuses.

Here is one close-up of the striped purple crocuses.