2014 Sept - Great Pond Wildlife

We spent a lot of time on the water fishing but we also enjoy looking around and taking in sights of other wildlife and beautiful scenery.  We were very lucky this week to get a shot of an American Eagle in a tree.


Eagle in the tree
 

We also had an encounter with an aggressive Maine Northern Water Snake.  This is the second time we have had this experience and both times were here on Great Pond near Snake Point!  We think we know how the point got its name now.  I didn't get a picture of the snake  but the picture below gives you an idea of the snake we saw. 

Maine Northern Water Snake

We were fishing the brushy shoreline when Frank got his lure caught on some underwater brush.  We moved in to release it and Frank noticed something moving in the water and heading directly toward our boat.  It was a snake!  Frank hit it with his fishing pole a few times and it dove down in the water to avoid the hits but kept coming back up.  The snake finally dove down deep and swam under the boat.  We freed his lure and anxiously looked around for the snake.  It now appeared on my side of the boat and again headed right toward us as if intent on boarding. I readied my paddle and took a big swing at its head as it quickly dove down again.  It gave up this time and we were relieved to see it swimming back to the brushy shoreline.  We had this exact same experience on Great Pond several years ago at the mouth of one of the streams in the Northern bay.  We searched the internet for information and found out these snakes are known to be aggressive but are not poisonous. 
On a more peaceful note, we saw some gorgeous skies and sunsets and can't wait to go back again for more adventures!

Great Pond

2014 Sept 2-9 Great Pond and Big Pike!

We just finished a week at one of our favorite fishing camps - Bear Spring Camps on Great Pond, in Rome, Maine.  We had a beautiful week: the weather was warm (even too hot on some days), the food was delicious and plentiful, and we caught enough fish (especially me) to make us want to go back again. 
We checked in at noon, ate lunch and got out on the water.  We rented a boat but unfortunately the motor didn't work properly this first day and it was kind of rough on the water.  Despite these problems Frank still out-fished me! He landed a nice smallmouth bass and we both landed our first small pike of the week.

Frank with 2-1/4 lb. smallmouth bass

Frank strikes again with the first pike of the trip

Esther with her first pike, the only fish she caught the first day

We changed boats and were much happier and the fishing got better. I landed my biggest pike as it was getting dark one evening.  In the excitement I didn't get a good measurement, but I did get a weight of 10 lbs. on the boga grip!

Esther with a 10 lb. Northern Pike

Frank was hoping for a pike too but landed a large Crappie instead.

Frank with a large Crappie

We landed a lot of smallmouth and small pike the rest of the week, too numerous to show all of them.  I was however, very lucky to land a couple of other nice pike and a couple of large pickerel as well.

Esther with 24" Pike

Esther with 23" Pike

Esther with 22"  Pickerel

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