The B.A.R.B. at SongStar
Reports

My Trip to Maine–Part 3
by Kathie Lambert

Day 4—June 3—Flagstaff Lake area, then onto Machias via Bangor

Another glorious picture perfect day. Chilly in the morning, but it warmed up quickly. Had a quick breakfast of fresh blueberry muffins before heading up to the mountain for the dawn chorus. We got there at 0600, which was about 2 hours later than I had hoped. Later, I told the leader I was surprised that we started so late; he nearly choked on his coffee. The birding was still good. We stopped at a spot that looked good for various birds. The coffee kicked in and I was in serious need of a bush, so I wandered off for a few minutes. When I came back, the group had just had drop dead gorgeous looks at a Boreal Chickadee. It wasn’t a life bird for me, but it’s on my BVD list, and I was behind a bush. Figures. I suppose someone had to be the sacrificial lamb to guarantee that the group saw the bird. Raptors have been scarce on this trip, so when a Broad-winged Hawk landed near us and just sat for a while, we were ecstatic.

I got stuck in the back seat of the van today. Bad move. We were in & out of the van about 27 times in 5 hours. My legs will be killing me tomorrow. Did see lots of good birds. The view of the day was the Blackburnian Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler in the same binocular view at the same time in bright sunlight. It was almost too much for the eyes to stand. Wildflowers were good. Lots of Bunch Berries, a few Painted Trillium, and I finally got a good shot of a star flower.

Bunch Berry—yes, it's related to Dogwood	Painted Trillium
	Star Flower

We were also on the lookout for moose, which are plentiful in the area. In the span of less than a mile, we saw 5 or 6 of the giant beasts. Once they cross the road and get about 20 or 30 feet into the woods, they become nearly invisible. It’s hard to believe an animal that large can disappear that quickly. Later we saw another very large male moose with the beginnings of antlers. He was huge and spent several minutes sizing us up (in our van of course) before moving on. It was easy to find moose crossings—muddy, beaten down patches on either side of the road. One area was such a mess it looked like it had been crossed by thousands of moose. I’m convinced one of the easiest ways to see a moose, is to find one of the frequent crossing areas, have a seat, and wait. Sooner or later, a moose will cross the road.

Big time introduction to the infamous black fly. They are so innocuous looking—they look like gnats on steroids, however, after they bite, the bite itches for days. Fortunately, I think we managed to avoid getting bit by the things. The skeeters weren’t nearly as bad. (Several days later, the bites from the flies showed up mostly on my head & neck. Those pesky little buggers even flew up my pants legs and bit my legs!)

We got back to the lodge and had lunch. Between packing & loading the van, Mom & I went down to the chicken coop to investigate it. While we were there, we started talking to the hens and they started singing to us (singing—kind of a soft clucking & cooing). Pat came down and told us that they were a French breed (they were very nice looking chickens) and one was a Polish something (black with wild white head feathers). She had chicks in the coop. Pat serves really fresh eggs from her chickens or from other chicken owners in the area.

We then made tracks for Machias. We stopped at an Audubon center in Bangor. The center has several nice trails. By the time we got there, it was too late in the day & too hot to be productive. We were very surprised when 2 American Bitterns flew overhead. One appeared to be chasing the other, but they both flew off in the same direction and neither came back. We cut the walk short when the board walk trail turned out to be just boards through a wet woods leading to the lake with no waterfowl, and the brook trail appeared to run up the middle of a dry rocky brook and it was going to be a very challenging hike. Several of us took one look at the brook trail and started laughing hysterically—like we were going to do that trail, I think not. Wild flowers were good—some lupines and a flowering grass.

On to Machias. Stayed at the Machias Motor Inn—it was too seedy for my tastes and lacked basic amenities such as ventilation. A large SUV thing had 4 yapping terriers in it. Looks like the place allows pets. We ate dinner next door at Helen’s. OK food, OK prices, nothing fancy. As we ate dinner, we watched some fellows tote a trashcan full of ice up to one of the rooms near ours. This could be a long night.

Click for Part 4

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Copyright © 2003 by Kathie Lambert and Richard L. Becker