Immature herring gull dropping crab for lunch.

On Saturday, February 4, 2012, I went on my first hosted birdwalk. This birdwalk was led by Derrick of the Freeport Wild Bird Suppy – http://www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/default.asp .

Birdwatching is distinctly different than bird photography. There are obvious overlaps. Birdwatching is all about the count, number of species, then number of birds. Lists are kept – life, day, month, location, year, and every other distinction that can be created.

There was only one true photo opportunity, a shore side flock of Dunlin sandpipers – Caldris alpina – with favorable side lighting. The first sighting of this flock was on an offshore ledge with backlighting.

Bird sighting and souundings may be brief and require rapid identification. Derrick was spot on and led the group with an ongoing descriptive dialogue.

There is much more to birding. The equipment is all binoculars and/or spotting scopes on tripods. No cameras. A notebook to create the day list, (which later is added to the week, month, year, site, life, et al, lists) Habitat knowledge. Tree identifictation – “beyond the popular, higher in the oak tree…” Weather factors and effects. Tide status – high/low, coming/going.

Then there is the bird itself. Markings, size, shape, location, behavior patterns, et al, lead to affirmative identification. I have much to learn and experience to gain.

Bird watchers are friendly without being chatting or gregarious during the birdwalk. Listening for birds leads to seeing birds. Listening is the practiced deliberate art of not talking.

Spotting highlights for me included the Eagle nest on a nearby island, the immature Eagle soaring, and the mature Eagle perched. And the Dunlin sandpipers. To see Derrick’s trip list, see http://www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/bird_news.asp?id=1556#1556

After the walk, we returned to store for chatting, coffee, and the warmth of comraderie. Some took the opportunity to buy needed bird seed and other supplies. Conveniently incidental and not an expectation.

After the walk, I went down to Freeport harbor with my D300 & 150/500mm zoom attached. First to the yacht club to look for the Barrows Goldeneye that had been spotted from afar. They were gone. I did snap off some shots of a small group of Common Eiders before going over to the Town Landing for other opportunities. There I scored picture and lesson of the day.

An immature herring gull was in hopping flight with a small crab. It would hop fly up about ten feed and drop the crab onto the dock with hopes of cracking the shell open for lunch. At the top of the hop, I snapped and was rewarded with the photo above.

Lesson of the day, when taking photos of motion, take the camera off of manual and use the shutter priority mode to freeze the frame,

I will be back next week, hopefully a wee bit better prepared to learn more from a birding master.

Derrick, Thank you.

Via Flickr:
Seagull lunch.

In the Maine Forest.

For the last three weekends, Zeus and I have been going on new for us walks. Well only one was truly new, the others being too infrequent. One: on Runaround Pond where Zeus enthusiastically met up with two other yellow dogs. Two: to Hedgehog Mountain in Freeport (it’s really just a higher ledge). Three: to Range Pond State Park in Poland, we hiked out through a snow squall. Four: today: Popham Beach State Park.

Spring time is a good time to get into new rhythms. The crowds are gone, leaving the trails et al to the freedom of a good walk with shared solitude.

Zeus, originally uploaded by Zeus Ocean Storm.

Mt Hale @ 4,054 ASL. #37 of 48 on the list. Miles hiked – 4.6. Elevation gained – 2,300 feet. For more pictures, visit my Flickr.

Zeus’s first 4k was a fabulousuccess. I chose Mt Hale for familiarity, this is at least my third time up. It’s a good trail and introduction to peak bagging.

We got to the trail head just before 9 am. After one false start, 100 yards into the forest, along with the whining of mosquitos, reminded us of the left behind bug repellant.

The hike up took two hours, about the same as the book time. We saw no one on the trail on the way up. Zeus would hike ahead, off lead, to either the limit of my sight, voice or warning clucks. He quickly learned how far ahead he could go before turning to look back with his dog attitude, “Dude, you are slow!” We paused at the halfway point, the second stream crossing, to catch our breaths, rest our feet, and hydrate.

The second half seemed quicker and easier. I eased into a steady rhythm for breathing, pace and pausing. Soon enough, the trail turned into the final pitch upward with the welcome view of blue sky and clouds ahead. We popped onto the summit clearing. There were two sets of hikers already there. One couple and a father with his two daughters. I told them Zeus was friendly and said if he proved to be a pest, I would put him on a leash. Zeus walked to each person, said hi, (no sniffing at nose height, no jumping up, just a tail wagging walkby for a stroke of acknowledgement). Good Dog.

They left, the father with daughters down the path we came up, the couple off towards Zealand Falls. Zeus and I meandered about and rested for a few more moments, then headed back to return via the way we had come – Hale Brook Trail.

Along the way down, we met up with other sets of hikers. Zeus continued to prove his respectful friendliness, now with a twist. After each set had gone up and we continued down, he approached my left side – where the treat bag is – looked up to me for his reinforcing for good behavior treat.

On the way down, we paused at the lower falls for a few moments. Zeus came over and sat beside me, then leaned in to myside, panting, smiling, relaxing. With shared silence, we both knew that life is good and there would be more hikes together.

Down the trail and shortly beyond, we came up some more hikers cavorting in the cooling brook. Zeus busted down from the trail to say hi to each, as was his modus operandi. I stayed up on the trail, hoping he wouldn’t uintentionally knock anyone over (he didn’t), and also hoping that I would not have to go down there after him. Per the Zeus MO, after saying hi, he bounded up the hillside back to the trail, came to myside, smiling for his treat.

We got back to car. Stopped in Jackson for traditional post-hiking ice cream, and got home in due time.

Then, that night, about 8 PM, Zeus came to myside, looked up, expecting his nightly walk down to the dead-end of the road and back. We stayed, will do it tonight.