Drive to Portland, Maine in the middle of January? Why not! Especially when there is a Great Black Hawk there (believed to be the first wild individual to ever be seen in the United States)! Just try and stop me! The hawk is the main reason that we went, but we had also never been to Maine before and there were a number of water birds up there that we had never seen before. I got to add three new states to my list on this trip! Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine :) We would have gotten to add Vermont if winter storm Harvey hadn't chased us out early. Even though the wind was surprisingly calm for being a coastal town, it was cold. Even when the high was in the 40's, it was cold. When it dropped to a high of 20 the second day, it didn't feel that much colder. Thank goodness it wasn't windy because there was lots to see and do. Portland was a pretty area with lots of lighthouses and picturesque views of their bays and oceans. The lobster roll was good, too :) We went to Deering Oaks Park first to try to find the Great Black Hawk. We got lucky and watched it for at least 40 minutes while it enjoyed its breakfast of a frozen squirrel. We visited this park twice over the three days we spent in Portland. On the second visit, while watching the Great Black Hawk again, a very nice woman agreed to show me the Barred Owl that she had found earlier that day. Apparently, it had ducked down into its hole earlier in the morning because a Red-tailed Hawk had been banging on the tree above its head. Fortunately, by the time we walked over, it was back out again looking sleepy and relaxed. Adorable. I have seen a few Barred Owls before, but they have all been sitting out on branches. I have never seen one in a hole and was amazed at how well its colors and patterns blended into the tree that it was sleeping in. When we weren't at Deering Oaks Park, we were eating or scoping the water. Birds were a little light in quantity, but they made up for it in quality! We got to see Common Eiders, Long-tailed Ducks, Harlequin Ducks, lots of Common Loons, a couple of Red-throated Loons, Red-breasted Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Buffleheads, gulls including Iceland and Glaucous, a Thick-billed Murre, Razorbills, Black Guillemots, a Red-necked Grebe, White-winged Scoters, Black Scoters, and Great Cormorants. My best view of Razorbills was at a quick stop in Connecticut on the way back down, but they were up in Portland, too. We stopped at the Portland Fishing Pier and Bug Light Park on the first day. On the second day, we worked our way along Cape Elizabeth stopping at Dyer Point, Two Lights State Park, and then up to Portland Head Lighthouse. We had a great time exploring the beaches. We loved the ice frozen among the rocks and fluorescent sea plants at Dyer Point. On the third day, we went to go see the ice ring that had formed in the Presumpscot River in Westbrook. After a delightful lunch, we headed back to Dyer Point to explore the beaches some more. Just as night began to fall, it started lightly snowing and the snowflakes were beautifully landing on the ice among the rocks. I was all excited to try out my new macro lens for my phone, but the pictures didn't come out as crisp as I had expected. It didn't dawn on me until the next morning that I had forgotten to take the wide angle lens off the combo. Oh well. The snowflakes were pretty anyway!
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September 2022
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