Blue Goose ~ Day 76

August 15, 2014 ~ Calais, ME to Bangor, ME

I woke early - about 0530 - and went to McDonald's to use their facilities and get coffee and a couple of breakfast burritos. I thought perhaps I might have a chance of seeing moose or bear if I drove around early enough. I checked the maps thoroughly and found a loop road that was open but saw not a single bird or mammal. Still, it was fresh and utterly quiet, and the air had that wonderful North Woods fragrance of damp leaves and pines and essence of wood smoke.

Moosehorn NWR - ME

Moosehorn NWR - ME

As one of the pamphlets pointed out, Moosehorn is a misnomer in that moose have antlers, not horns. 

One-third of this refuge (with chunks of land in both the Edmunds and Baring units) is National Wilderness.

I only experienced this refuge briefly from a few roads, but so it goes....and I got the GISS of it. I drove south, passing through the Edmunds unit, which includes Atlantic shoreline in boundaries, with 24-foot tides moving up and down twice daily. The exposed mud flats, even well inland, are impressive at low tide with damp matted grasses in the meadows and along the stream banks. I kept looking for shorebirds which are starting to migrate south, but I didn't see more than an occasional GB heron or Great Egret. 

My next goal was whatever I could see and walk in the Maine Coastal Islands Refuge which option was pretty much only Petit Manan NWR. The others are islands and off limits this time of year to visitors to protect nesting Atlantic puffins, guillemots, terns, razorbills, eiders and eagles....Scientists and student interns live on these islands in the summer, studying these birds, protecting and enhancing habitat, censusing the birds and working to mitigate predators. A nice blog at www.mainecoastalislands.wordpress.com has good photos and more information on what they do. There are also commercial boat trips one can take to observe the birds from a distance. 

I drove a couple of hours to US 1 which is the Maine coastal route with its ragged peninsulas usually accessible by narrow curving roads. I thought going to the tiny town of Starboard situated at the end of one of these peninsulas might be fun, so I did that, the road getting more marginal as I drove south to the end. A few men with large rakes and buckets were clamming at low tide in the mud flats. It was sunny with fog slowly rising off the large islands in the distance and very quiet with only the slightest movement of the water...the moon's influence.

HTTP://HOME.HIWAAY.NET/-KRCOOL/ASTRO/MOON/MOONTIDES

The word "tides" is a generic term used to define the alternating rise and fall in sea level with respect to the land, produced by the gravitational attraction of the moon and the sun. To a much smaller extent, tides also occur in large lakes, the atmosphere, and within the solid crust of the earth, acted upon by these same gravitational forces of the moon and sun. 

Tides are created because the Earth and the moon are attracted to each other, just like magnets are attracted to each other. The moon tries to pull at anything on the Earth to bring it closer. But, the Earth is able to hold onto everything except the water. Since the water is always moving, the Earth cannot hold onto it, and the moon is able to pull at it. Each day, there are two high tides and two low tides. The ocean is constantly moving from high tide to low tide, and then back to high tide. There is about 12 hours and 25 minutes between the two high tides.

I continued to Petit Manan NWR (little island).

Petit Manan NWR - ME

Petit Manan NWR - ME

There IS a Petit Manan Island but the refuge is at the end of a peninsula. I spend several hours on the Hollingsworth Trail, named in memory of John Hollingsworth, who photographed NWRs. Many of his photos (and his wife's) are in the book I use as my main reference. This trail was roots and rocks all the way to the beach but bugs were absent and the air temperature pleasant. Nor was there much elevation change. I just had to watch exactly where I stepped. 

On the beach part of the trail, I  saw Semipalmated Plovers, a Lesser Yellowlegs and Semipalmated Sandpipers. There were large islands in the distance, sailboats, a few people beach-combing and taking pictures, and a couple with binoculars who kindly told me what I could expect this time of year in this place. I had Piping Plovers on my mind but the plovers here were the much more common SPs. There are so many inlets and coves and bays and rivers and islands on this coast. The homes have lovely gardens, porches, small white fences and most are not ostentatious. Some are obviously summer places and some have split-wood piles and pickups in the yards. Many are cedar shingled, reminding me of Nantucket.

Back on US 1, I stopped at Ruth and Wimpy's and had a delicious lobster roll and glass of wine on the deck.

Kennebec, Penobscot, Memphremagog, Meddybemps....only a few of the wonderful names on the landscape up here...

I carried on the inner dialogue about whether or not to go to Mount Desert Island, Bar Harbor and Acadia State Park and, ultimately, decided not to. It was Friday afternoon, motels ranged from $200 to $500 per night, and I had already experienced enough of the basic tourist scene in Maine in August. Also, I had been on Mount Desert years ago.

Instead I went back to Bangor, stayed in a Holiday Inn and worked. The window opened on a pleasant courtyard with a fireplace and comfortable chairs. It was a busy place with an eclectic customer base. I worked late and then read Natchez Burning until I fell asleep.

Lesser Yellowlegs at Petit Manan NWR - ME