Photos of the Day - The best surprise yet!

I have been wanting to see a seal up-close since I arrived in Maine in May. Now, a week before I am scheduled to leave, I find a seal on the shore about 1/2 mi from where I am staying. That is called luck!

Photos of the Day - Nighthawk...and a surprise!

Nighthawk

Nighthawk chicks!!!! I immediately knew that there had to be some chicks around the area because the mother (seen above), was "hissing" at us and doing the "broken wing" trick.

Photos of the Day - Field Photos

Today we stayed in most of the day and went out near sunset to listen for frog calls as part of my masters thesis research. On the way to our listening site I happened to see a flash of red, white and black in the shrubbery...which was quite different from anything I had seen before! It turned out to be a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak! The lighting wasn't the best since we were in dense shrubbery and the sun was starting to set, but I did get a few pictures.




When we finally got to the open water of the Heath we are studying the view was gorgeous!
Then, as we sat on a large boulder listening for frogs and toads to start vocalizing I spotted an Otter! I had seen it pop out of the water like a tiny loch ness monster. He was fully aware that we were studying him and he came just close enough to check us out too! Then he went back out to the deeper water and continued to fish. When he finally caught his dinner he came relatively close to us and seemed to show us his catch! It was a fairly sizable fish...about 10 inches long. He finally swam away with his fish and disappeared somewhere on the other side of the lake.

Photos of the Day - Some Neat Things

Today was another loooong day in the field, but we came across a few interesting things. Unfortunately my "good" camera is too heavy to take with me into the field, so I am sorry for the low quality of these images since I had to take them using my trusty point-and-shoot.

This is a Pink Lady's Slipper. It is rare to find these in the wild, so I was really surprised to find this one. It is in the Orchid family and has an alternate name of "Moccasin Flower".

The active Beaver hut

Porcupine pelt. This is all that was left after something ate the Porcupine (occurred sometime within the last 3 days). We assume that a Fisher is roaming the woods because that is the only animal that actively hunts and eats Porcupines. They kill them by attacking the quill-free belly of the Porcupine. This is the second pelt we have found so far in the past 2 weeks.

Photos of the Day - Schoodic Scenery

Which one is your favorite? Please feel free to post a comment.

Photos of the Day - Fog and Angry Seas

On my way back to my basecamp this evening I noticed the fog just starting to roll onto the Schoodic peninsula so I stopped to take a few shots. Also, since it has been raining for the past three days and Tropical Depression One is hanging out to the east of my location, the ocean has been much more aggravated then normal. Enjoy!

Great Blue Heron (Unfortunately with the fog I couldn't get a very sharp shot)