This April has mostly been true to its coined phrase, “April Showers” however the last week in April started to show signs of summer. We had temperatures in the highs of 88° on the 28th and the remaining week of April stayed in the mid-sixties.
Robin and I were itching to get outside and spot more Owls and other wildlife, along with kayaking, however we still had snow during the first week of April. We walked along some of the trails near the Orono Boardwalk; most trails were covered in about a ½ foot of snow. We searched for Owls for about an hour until we came across a King Rail bird that Robin spotted walking through brush; its beak is so strange looking- very long and has a slight downward curve to it. Unfortunately it was too quick for us to snap a photo. We continued on and came across freshly chewed trees; I looked around and found a Beaver house with its owner adding onto its house. The house was too far away to be able to capture a close up shot.
The following week had rained for the most part, which kept us inside at night. I have been reading through the Left Behind Series and catching up on other books I have as well as playing Xbox 360 and finishing up on the last season of Star Trek: The Original Series that Robin purchased for me. I am becoming an avid fan of Star Trek; I enjoy reading about the different races, star ships, characters, etc.
During one evening, I noticed that the tree line along an island in the lake outside of our apartment was colored in a very vibrant purple hue; Robin and I grabbed our cameras and headed down to the Field’s Pond stream to watch the sunset. This type of sunset occurs only a few times during the summer or at least that I have personally witnessed. The warm colors of the setting sun are so vibrant and a contrast of cold blue and purple clouds on the outer rim of the sunset. While watching and photographing the sunset I looked over to find Robin and she was 50 feet away taking a neat shot of silhouetted Cattails.
Robin and I attended a very full Cornerstone Baptist Church on Easter Sunday; if I remember correctly a few hands were raised at the end of the service indicating they asked Christ into their hearts, so that is always exciting to see. I received a call from Robin’s father; he asked if I would order a TV for him from Amazon. The following week it arrived; Robin and I drove to Prospect Harbor to set it up. Earlier that day we attended the annual Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race; we sat and photographed the race at Six Mile Falls. The water wasn’t as high as last year; however people still dumped while going over the falls. I concentrated mostly on crashes and spills this year. One of these years we will actually participate in the race, hopefully without spilling.
Second half of the entry:
The next day Robin and I visited the Field’s Pond Audubon; they have a very nice building with a variety of mounted animals, information and photos. We walked around on various trails, mostly consisting of large old Pine trees, looking in one area you could probably count up to 30-40 of these trees with thick dead underbrush. Robin spotted a loan Turkey walking along an animal path. Near the end of our hike we noticed bird activity near the Audubon building and decided to watch, I was able to spot a Chipmunk running with a large nut in its mouth as well as Chickadees, Woodpeckers, Mourning Doves, Sparrows all feeding amongst each other. During this time I looked for Robin and once again she was off on her own as she spotted the same Chipmunk; its borrow was in a washed out pit that was filled with roots, dead leaves, Acorns with the walls of the pit covered in rocks of varies sizes. We watched the Chipmunk poke its head out wondering if we were dangerous or not. The previous photo was taken by Robin as well as this video.
We took Patriots day off; the weather was nice so we went back to Field’s Pond Audubon and Robin spotted a Woodchuck; she called me over and I was able to capture it peaking out at us. The hole was on the outer edge of the pit. The hole was not there last time and the dirt was freshly dug, indicating that the Woodchuck may have just come out of hibernation. Robin really has a good eye for spotting wildlife and is doing an excellent job at taking photos, I’m really happy to be able to share this with her. Later in the evening we started in on the first 6 Star Trek TOS movies; my favorite having to be Star Trek: The Search for Spock and The Undiscovered Country. Now that I’ve finished TOS era of Star Trek, I am starting in on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The last week of April we took our first kayak trip; we went to Hirundo Wildlife Refuge in which Pushaw Stream flows through. I was surprised at how flooded the stream was, on the Northwest side the water flowed over the bank roughly 40 feet allowing us to kayak over land and throughout the trees. Overhead we heard an Osprey; hunting for fish. We paddled around for awhile and decided to head back to the car; on our way back we heard a noise and stopped to listen- we then heard two separate Owls- at that moment we both paddled in the direction of the sound until we reached shore and departed from our kayaks. We walked around in the forest looking for the Owls. Eventually I spotted a Barred Owl 30 feet up in a pine tree- I was able to take a photo, however, it did not come out well due to branches.
Later in the week, I wanted to test my new ultra-wide angle lens on a sunset; after supper Robin and I road our bikes to Fields Pond stream to watch the sun set. While waiting for the sun to set Robin found a Porcupine foraging for grubs. We stood watching the sun sink below the horizon while also keeping an eye on a pair of Osprey in their nest from as it appeared that they were mating. I took a photo of the sunset at 10mm and 28mm; I can see that I will be switching back and forth between the two lenses for different effects.
