This is what the eastern part of the refuge looked like early Saturday morning...
Lots of fog laying low over the fields.
That spruce tree is 60' or 70' high... it's a tall one. The Upland Sandpipers like to perch right at the tippy-top of it and survey their world. Our motorhome can't be seen here, but it's just in front of the building on the left. We have a great view to survey our world, too.
I started calling this "Bucky Beaver's Pond" when we first started coming here in 2003. Some years it has a lot of activity... ducks and geese raising young, moose browsing along the edge, lots of birds including osprey and kingfishers. This year I've seen some ring-necked ducks, a pair of mallards and a few merganzers. And, of course... Bucky Beaver on patrol. But other than that it seems pretty quiet.
A flock of about 18 geese have been hanging out along the road - everywhere from that spruce tree in the first photo clear up to the old Weapon Storage Area.
We all know what a mess geese make, so I wasn't thrilled when yesterday the flock decided to pay us a visit... right in front of our rig. Then... the sun flashed on this...
See the "bracelet" on the goose's leg?
It's been banded sometime in the past. Too bad I couldn't get a good enough shot to read the band... might be interesting to see where it came from.
The geese finally moved on up the road... but,, of course... they left their calling cards.
And... speaking of leaving calling cards...
This newly planted potato field has had a BIG visitor!
Not on the refuge, but in one of the huge potato fields along Rt 89 that connects Limestone to Caribou, I saw these moose footprints coming through the field on one side of the road, and continuing on in the field on the other side of the road. Not just one set of prints, but it looked like at least 3 moose had walked through the field sometime recently. Wonder if the seed potatoes were crushed underfoot?
Today (Sunday) is my day to work at the Visitor Center. I don't open it until 11 am, but I go in an hour or so early to do a weekly cleaning job. I like my time there... sometimes it's my only "people" contact for the week. If I'm lucky, I might even get a dozen or so visitors today. As much as I love being outdoors and doing outside work, it's kind of fun to take off the steel toed boots, ear plugs and safety glasses for the day.
That's All For Today!
Your first photo is a prize winner!
ReplyDeleteI like the first picture very much, too. Mornings must be quite cool for that kind of mist.
ReplyDeleteMore wonderful pictures, I just did my saturday posting sunday morning too
ReplyDeleteIt's been many years since I've seen an Upland Sandpiper. It was back in the days when they were called upland plovers. ;)
ReplyDeleteI agree, that first photo is splendid but so is the one of the banded goose. They sure do make a mess. Because I've been hit twice by flying Canada goose splat, and my car multiple times, I have this horrible feeling they "know" me and try to hit me for sport and then gaggle over it later. So I duck for cover whenever a flock goes over. I'm in a Canada goose flyover zone.
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