If you missed part one, you can read it here.
After spending three nights at the Claybrook Mountain Lodge, and being treated like royalty by our hosts, Greg & Pat Drummond who fed us amazing meals, provided warm comfortable lodgings, and guided us to local spots for great birding (even in the rain), it was time to pack up again, and head to Rangeley, ME.
Before going on, I should mention again that this trip is done annually through the Brookline Bird Club, and our friend Eddie (6th from left, leaning on the sign post) does a lot of research and work every year to keep the trip new and exciting. This is the 12th year that he has done so, although only the first where we spent this much time with the Drummond's.
The second half of the trip was more "traditional" to what has been done in the past. A few people that were on the first part left after Claybrook, and we gained another half dozen or so people for the Rangeley portion. Most of the participants arrange for lodgings in town, either at one of the motels or at an inn, and a group of us rent a house each year. A few hour's scenic drive from Claybrook found us getting settled into our Rangeley digs for the next 4-5 nights. That evening, we had our meet and greet for this part of the trip at the Pine Tree Frostee in town, where everybody introduced themselves and we got instructions for the next day (meeting at 5:30am!)
Over the next several days, we birded some of our traditional spots continuing to look for boreal species in the area. Missing on some (never did catch up with a Black-backed Woodpecker, and that Cape May never did show itself) but scoring spectacularly on others like Gray Jays. While birding on Boy Scout Road, we had a family of Gray Jays (including two fledglings) spend some time with us, which happily accepted some proffered mixed nuts in exchange for some photos.
They were so cooperative, I was also able to get a few videos as well:
One morning Mark & Laura lead a hike up Saddleback Mountain to look for Bicknell's Thrush for anybody who wanted to go. This is the first time I went, and once we started out I was moving at a pretty good pace, but at some point, I definitely was feeling out of shape and decided at the first really horizontal spot that I wasn't going to go any further. We stayed in fog pretty much the entire time, and I wasn't feeling overly optimistic, when I heard a distant thrush. (After I had recovered a bit and wasn't breathing so heavy.) Using the iBird app on my iPhone, I played the song of the Bicknell's, both to remind myself what it sounded like and in an attempt to draw it closer. Indeed, one playing and it popped up near us and gave a few chip calls before disappearing into the foggy trees. I wasn't able to get any photos, but we were able to get in touch with most of the rest of the group, and had the bird come out again for us. Unfortunately, the best hikers of the group were far enough ahead of us slowpokes that they were not able to get back on the bird when they returned. (I believe they did hear a few birds, but never had any sightings) The sun did break through the fog for a few minutes, and allowed me to get a few photos of a singing White-throated Sparrow, which are pretty sharp looking in their breeding plumage.
Less cooperative were other target species like Boreal Chickadee, which we did see, but only one or two of, and only briefly at that.
The weather for this second part of the trip really didn't improve much over the first part, and although it might have slowed us down a little bit (and made photography difficult) we still had a great time. (So much so, that I am having a difficult time just a few days later remembering it all - and those reading this that were on the trip will recognize, that I am jumping all over the place time-wise.) The biggest effect the weather had on the trip was that with all the ran the area had been getting, the Kennebago River where we usually have a canoe/kayak trip each year was running very high and very fast, and was therefore cancelled. There'll always be next year.
One thing I don't want to forget to mention is that every year we have a Boreal Bar-b-que. The food is usually great - standard barbeque burgers & hot dogs, but we have plenty of birders that are talented in the kitchen as well. There is always lots of food, and nobody goes away hungry. And as much as we look forward to the food and social time, the last few years, this has become the time when participant David Hursh challenges us with bird-themed games and puzzles - everything from trivia to anagrams - it really is a blast, and just one more event that makes this trip so special each year.
Unfortunately, it seemed to be over all to soon. On Sunday morning, Pamela and I had packed up and headed out early, anticipating holiday weekend traffic, in order to try to get home in time to relax for a few hours before heading in to work on Monday. We had breakfast and hit the road, and headed back towards Lake Messalonskee, where I was determined to get the kayaks into the water at least once this trip. Luck was with me as the weather was beautiful, and we were able to get out for about an hour and a half. In that time, we had wonderful looks at the Black Terns that breed there:
We also had a pair of Common Loons surface quite close to us while we were there:
In the one week that we spent in Maine, with 6 days in intermittent rain, we still managed to see over 100 species - not a bad vacation!
(Did I forget anything? Probably! But I'll try to add anything I've forgotten in the near future.)
