2014 Aug 15 - Sharing a Campfire with Friends

We had some friends come up to Maine for the weekend and had a great time showing them the lake and surrounding towns.  We had a wonderful time and beautiful weather although it was too cool to go swimming.  So we decided to have a campfire down by the water -- I just wish I had brought some marshmallows! 

 

2014 Aug 3 - Baby Loon Again

We see the mother and baby loon almost everyday and the baby is getting bigger!

2014 July 19 - Baby Loon and other Wildlife



 We were very happy to see the loons were successful in hatching a baby loon this year!  This has to be the mother loon we saw nesting last month.

 

Baby loon and mother

When I am not watching the loons I enjoy sitting in my screen-house in the morning, sipping my coffee and watching the hummingbirds.  They are constantly feeding but will not share the feeder with another hummingbird.  So there is a constant chatter as they chirp and fly at one another to gain control over the feeder.  Last year I heard some louder sounds at that feeder and was amazed to see a Baltimore Oriole was perched on the feeder eating the nectar!  I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of the Oriole but I did get this picture of a hummingbird.

Hummingbird feeding

2014 June 28 - More Maine Wildlife

This had to be the weekend of the turtles!  Everywhere I looked I saw a turtle - I saw a large one crossing a road, I saw one very close to shore when I was fishing from shore on Long Pond.  I saw a small one swimming by my dock and then I saw this large snapping turtle sunning himself ALL day!  I thought for sure this large turtle must be dead because it didn't move for hours.  So I walked along the shore to get as close as I could and zoomed in with my camera to see if there was any sign of life in this turtle.  It didn't move at all and was still there as the sun was going down.  I was happy to see the next day, the turtle was gone - so it was alive after all.

Baby turtle swimming through my beach area

Large snapping turtle sunbathing

Close-up of large snapping turtle

2014 June 27 - Maine Wildlife

This was a weekend for seeing wildlife!  We have a beaver on our pond in Maine and I got several pictures of him this weekend.  He certainly was "busy as a beaver" working on his den.

Beaver swimming this way

Beaver swimming that way

 


Close up of beaver carrying a branch

We often see a pair of  Loons swimming around this small island and we always thought there must be a nest there, but you can't get close to this island so I snapped a shot as we went by.  Later I zoomed in on my photo and was happy to see there was a loon sitting there on a nest in the dense brush.

Can you see the loon to the left of the large rock?

Closeup of loon on her nest

2014 June 16 - Trip to Maranacook Lake

We spent the day on a nearby lake and the fishing was pretty good.  We were hoping to catch some Pike, but we didn't.  Someone had told us a few years ago this was a good place to catch Pike but we have never caught one.  As we were taking our boat out, we got into a conversation with another fisherman and he said he fishes Maranacook a lot and has never caught a Pike.  So we may have been given some bad information. 
We had a nice day anyway, and I did land one large pickerel and Frank caught a goodsize largemouth.

Esther with a pickerel from Maranacook

Frank smiling after landing this nice largemouth bass

Colorful sailboat on Maranacook Lake

2014 June 3 - Fishing with my Brother-in-law

Dick caught this nice pickerel

Dick with one of the bass he caught this year

My sister and her husband and daughter came to visit us in Maine in early June this year.  The fishing was very good.  I spent most of my time visiting with my sister Mary and my niece Aimee, while my husband, Frank went fishing with Dick.  They had a great time and caught a lot of fish.  So many fish that Frank didn't want to take the time to film them but he did grab these 2 pictures to show us they did actually catch fish!