Maxx's Maine Camping Blog

Eagle gawking . . .

Hey! Maxx here . . .

So, you should have seeeeen Tami’s face when she found out Dave got pictures of the eagle first this year.  She was like, on a mission to get down to that lake and find them for herself.

Not only did she grab her camera, but she took an extra battery, the lens extension AND the tripod.  “I know I can get more pictures and better pictures than David,” she grumbled. “It just takes patience.”

Cookie and Ben followed along too.  Tami made them take the leash, even though Cookie’s tail drooped at the sight of it.  But it’s a good thing they did because the lake was loaded with people!   Normally it’s pretty quiet, even on the weekends.  But instead, we saw snowmobiles putt-putting up and down the length of it, ice fisherman  out with their families, dogs  yapping,  four wheelers doing donuts over and over again while they waited for their little orange flags to pop up . . .

and even a sea plane landed!

Tami was sooooo worried the eagles wouldn’t hang around with all that busy-ness.  But there they were, watching over everything like the King and Queen of the lake.

Tami set up her tripod, while B and Cookie hung out on the point.   When she had the camera in place she turned it on and snapped two pictures.

“Darn it,” she said.

“What’s up?”  I asked.

“The battery died already!  Wait! I have another!” she grinned at me and said, “Aren’t I smart?”

I made a face at B, and he rolled his eyes back at me  as Tami put her spare battery in the camera.  When she said a bad word, I thought she’d seen me, until she cried out, “This battery’s dead too!”

Just then, the eagle started squawking.  Tami said, ‘No, no, no, no, stay there! Please!”

A beautiful hawk came into view.  The way it soared . . . I wanted to trade my antlers for wings!  It passed right over our heads, and even though Tami didn’t have a battery, she tried to take pictures anyway.  Click, click, click.

She was pretty close to tears.  “Hey,” I said.  “Why don’t I run up and see if Dave has another battery, okay?”

She sniffled and gave me a little smile.  “Th-thanks Maxx.  I’ll stay and keep an eye on the eagles.  Hurry!”

Like . . . did she think she could get them to stay if they decided to go hunting?

Anyway, B, Cookie and I ran from the lake, past campsites, and all the way up the hill to the house.  After getting a battery from David, we ran down the hill, past the campsites and back to the lake, just to keep Tami from crying into her camera lens.

She put the battery in and added the lens extension.  We sat on the point while she took a million thousand a few dozen pictures.

When we got home, she settled at her computer with a silly grin on her face.  B and I were playing bowling on the Wii when we heard that bad word again.

“Now what?” I asked.

“The pictures are all blurry!  There isn’t a good one in the bunch!  What am I doing wrong?”

I ran to get David before poor Tami had a total melt down.  B and Cookie hid behind the couch.  When David showed Tami what she was doing wrong, she reached for her coat and boots.   I grabbed my scarf.

“It’s okay Maxx, you don’t have to come,” she said, blowing her nose in a hankie.

“But I want to!”

So we trudged down to the lake again.  Thank goodness those eagles were still there, ’cause I don’t know what Tami would have done if they weren’t.   An hour later and she was all smiles again!

“Whoa!” I said, looking over her shoulder at the computer screen, “those pictures are gorgeous!”

“It just takes patience,” she said.

Uh-huh.   Whatever you say, Tami . . . whatever you say.

Eagle Sighting

Hey!  Maax here!

Guess what??

C’mon, guess!

Dave walked through the campground and down to the lake yesterday . . .

no . .  wait . . . that’s not the surprising part . . .

He saw the eagle soaring over the lake!

I snuck up on David down on the point as he was trying to focus the camera through tree branches and snap photos, but that eagle flies fast!

“Hey Dave,” I said.

He bobbled the camera and yelled,  “Maaaax!  Don’t do that!”

“Soooooo-rry Dave.  Hey, where’d the eagle go?”

“Over there, on the island with the house.”  Dave pointed and shook his head.  “Wish I’d brought the bigger lens.”

“Yeah.  Tami says that every time too.”

That eagle sat on the pine tree branch, staring down at an ice fisherman under him.

I think he was hoping for handout . . .

We still haven’t seen them sitting on the nest, even though we stared at it and stared at it.   But I’m thinking I can twist Tami’s arm to take a walk tomorrow and we’ll let you know!

What a beautiful day!

Hey, Maax here!

I was heading up to the house today to see if Tami wanted to go for a walk, and it looked like she had the same idea!

Great minds think alike!!

“Heading to the lake?” I asked.

“Where else, big guy?” she said, patting my antler.

So we started down the main road, and tromped into the middle of the playing field.  Tami checked the seasonal sites on both sides of the field

before we walked under the basketball  hoop into the woods. As always, Cookie had to be in the lead

She’s such a five year old!

Tami stopped a lot  ’cause she said she wanted to take pictures.  She thought I couldn’t tell, but she was really getting winded from the wicked bad cold she has.  I asked her if she wanted to go back, but she really wanted to see if the eagles were down at the point.

When we first stepped into the woods, four huge ravens started squawking and shrieking.  They swooped low over us

and landed on a branch where they kept taunting us.  They didn’t worry me at all . . . really!  But Cookie was so freaked out, she ran back to walk next to Tami.

“Never mind them,” Tami said.  “They’ll stop.”

It was so pretty outside today.   The sky was a bright blue, and the sun was shining down.

The animal prints above came all the way across from the beaver hut to the campground point.  Then it followed  our marked trail alongside the lake and up  into the 20’s.  Tami tried to take a picture of the prints so she could look it up, but they just looked like blobs in the snow.  They weren’t big like mine, so they weren’t moose.  But they didn’t look like Cookie’s either, so they weren’t from a dog. I guess they could have been from one deer, but deer usually travel together, don’t they?

When we got to the point, Tami called Cookie back off the ice and made her sit.  “I thought I heard the eagle cry,”  she said.  We stood quietly,  looking up and down the lake.   Tami even used the telephoto lens.  We saw some ice fisherman down by the state park.  We saw some snow mobilers out on the lake.

But we didn’t see the eagles.

“Did you hear that?” Tami asked.

“That squeaky, squawky sound?” I said.

We listened some more.

“Um, Tami?”

She held up a hand.  “Shhhhhh!  I still hear it.”

“But Tami-”

“Maax! What?”

“You’re making the squeaky, squawky sound.  When you breathe.”

Tami just looked at me for a minute, and when she squeaked again, she started giggling  . . . which made her cough . . . which made her decide it was time to head for home.   We took the path alongside the lake that lead us out of the woods across from site 29, and we walked up the hill through the 30’s

Tami’d like to go out tomorrow too.  I sure hope her cold is better, and not worse!

Happy Thanksgiving

I can’t believe it’s almost Thanksgiving!  Everyone here is waiting for that big feast of squash, mashed potatoes, stuffing, apple-raisin salad, rolls, apple pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate creme pie . . . . and of course the turkey.

But not this kind of  turkey . . .

THIS kind . . .

On Sunday, I started to beg Tami to take me for another walk.  But I didn’t have to whine for very long.  She said taking a walk before all the “turkey-day-craziness” got here, was a pretty good idea.  So, we headed down the main road past Big Joe’s site to check out the water front first, ’cause we could hear the geese honking away down there.

I noticed right away that things are a lot browner now, but we still found a bit of color here and there

When we got to the lake, we couldn’t find even one goose!  Or a duck.  Or a eagle.  Or a turkey.

Tami said it was because I kept kicking up the leaves all the way and I had to learn to tip toe quietly through the woods if I wanted to see wildlife.

Have you ever tried to walk quietly through the woods in November?  Sheesh!  Crunchy leaves and snapping twigs . . . I’d liked to see Tami try to tip toe around them with four hooves!

We did see lots of squirrels.  This one wasn’t afraid of us at all,

In fact, he sat there, looking me in the eye, twitching his tail and yelling!  Every now and then, he’d scratch his back feet on the tree too.  It kind of made me nervous.  I thought he was gonna, maybe, jump on my antlers or something, so I begged Tami to stop taking pictures and dragged her down the trail, along the lake, toward the beaver hut.

Those beavers have been busy again!  There were lots of birch trees cut down

and guess where we found them?  Yep!  On top the hut

Can you see all the branches, grasses and twigs they put on it?  Every time we go down to look, we see more stuff dragged on top and then

They drag mud up and smooth it down over everything.

There’s the top of the beaver’s hut just beyond that big log.

Tami was surprised to see dragonflies out and about.  About four of them landed on her during our trek.

And I was surprised to see boaters!

Brrrrrrrr!  It must have been chilly out on the lake!    My antlers were shivering just watching them!

While Tami and I were walking along, I asked her what she was most thankful for.

“Well, my family of course,” she said, as she took photo number 4324 of the lake.  “I’m always very, very thankful for them, and our health.”

“Me too?” I asked.

She smiled at me over the camera.  “You’re family, aren’t you?”

“What else?” I asked.

“I’m thankful for all my friends, and our campers and to be able to work at something I love doing.   I’m really, really thankful that we can take nature walks right outside our backdoor.”  Tami lowered her camera. “What are you thankful for, Maxx?”

“All that stuff!” I said.  “And my little camping buddies, too!”

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Squirrel!

Hey everyone!  Maax here!  Hope you had a grrrrrr-eat Halloween!   No trick or treaters came by, so we got to keep  all the candy!

Lately, every time Ben and I go outside to kick the soccer ball around the front lawn, all we hear is this annoying chattering.

And it isn’t Tami.

Those squirrels are busy, busy, busy, let me tell you.  Back and forth, back and forth.

And I think they’re getting desperate!  Look at this!

Squirrel butt!!

He was in and out and in and out of that pumpkin for the better part of a day!  Finally, Tami made Ben and I put those pumpkins waaaaaaay back in the woods.  Tami didnt’ want those theiving squirrels stealing her blankets.

What?  You don’t think a squirrel could steal a blanket?

Try telling the squirrel that!

I mean, really!  Where did he think he was gonna put it?

Fall Kayaking

Tami closed up the campground store late afternoon yesterday so she and her friend Sue could go kayaking on Lower Range Pond.

Do you think they’d ask me to tag along?

Nooooooo!

Shucks!

Fall kayaking is so pretty, too!  The lake was calm as could be, so it reflected all the red, yellow and orange tinted trees like a mirror.

The first place Tami and Sue headed was to the beaver hut, but they didn’t see anything happening there.  Of course, they were probably chatting back and forth so much, the beavers heard them coming a mile away!

But on their way back . . . heading toward the state park beach,  Tami discovered a new beaver hut!

We can watch this one from the campground shoreline.  With her telephoto lens, Tami should be able to get some great shots!

No geese to report.  Or eagles.  Or loons.  Only one lone duck  landed as the sun was dipping below the tree tops.   But Tami said the geese and ducks were on their way.  In the meantime, views like this one made it all worthwhile.

Rainy Days .. .

Yeeeees, it’s been raining on my little campers this week.  But it hasn’t stopped us from having fun!  There were still plenty of swimmers

And lots of people out and about having fun

Debbie and Bryant never cancel their fun activities on account of a little rain.  Or a lot of rain, either!  They just move it all indoors!

Or they build boats to float in the puddles.

The fishermen have had a great time the last two weeks.  The fish are reeeeally hungry!

Look at this beauty caught by Fred Becker!

3 1/2 lbs .  . . 21 inches long . . . brown trout.  Amazing.

The Lamoreau Family reported to Tami this morning that they’ve caught around a hundred fish during their week stay.  Among their prizes were  2   2lb large mouth bass and a 4lb’er too.  They also caught a Crappie, which I didn’t even know we had in Lower Range Pond.   Oh – and pickerel too!

The baby eagle is sitting on the edge of the nest now.  When he hollers for food, you can hear him all over the lake.

The Joyce family gave Tami this photo of the baby and adult.  Isn’t it a good one!  In no time at all, that baby will be flying.

We have tons of activities lined up for this coming week  including a performance by B J Hickman on Sunday night and a science-y arts and craft lesson on how to make Exploding Lunch Bags with the Science Guy on Tuesday.

I can’t wait to explode lunch bags!

And guess what?  The sun is trying wicked hard to shine through the clouds today!  Cross your antlers . . . I mean your fingers . . . that it gets a chance to come out!

Check out these eagle photos from 2008

One of our campers, Mike Morin sent some pic’s of last year’s baby eagle.  They’re so amazing, I just had to show them to you!

copyright 2008 Mike Morin

copyright 2008 Mike Morin

Now why can’t Tami take photos as crisp and clear as that?  Huh??

Eagle Baby Twins!

Maxx here!

huff, puff, huff, puff

I just ran all the way up the hill from the lake

huff, puff, huff, puff

to let you know the eagles have two babies for sure!!  Look!  Look at the photos Tami got just a couple hours ago!

Can you see two there?  One under her wide open mouth and the other behind her?

No?  How about in this photo?  See two now?

Aren’t they cute?

I wish the photos were clearer, but Tami had the really BIG lens . . . but forgot the tripod.  Sheesh.

Mom was obviously ripping something up and feeding it to the babies.  For the first twenty minutes, it looked as if there was only one in the nest.  When Mom turned sideways and stopped feeding.  THEN we saw two little beaks begging for food!

Now we know for sure there’s two!

Max here!

Remember how Tami and I took a walk to check out the snow situation yesterday?   The first place we went was to check on the eagles.   There was no sign of them, I’m afraid.  But I’m pretty sure I saw something moving in the nest, so it could be that the adult was hunkered down to keep warm.  The wind was whipping down the lake, and it was pretty chilly, in spite of the warm sunshine.

Tami was hoping it was time for her loons to be back, but there was still ice from the state park beach, past our point all the way off to the left as far as we could see.

But there was some open water on either side of the strip of land to the beaver hut.  So we headed over there.  Not enough open water for loons to land, but we thought we might see signs of the beavers . . . or the pileated woodpecker.

As we reached the beaver hut, Tami saw a robin on a branch

you would’ve thought she’d won Powerball or something.  After she snapped the picture, she started grinning and hopping around.  “It’s a robin!  Spring’s here . . . spring’s here . . . uh-huh . . . it’s Robin!”

Sheesh, you’d think she’d never seen one before!

Right after that she saw a Wood Duck cruising the shoreline and heading our way.  So she scooched down into the bushes.  While we waited for it to pass by, Tami told me about them.

Did you know they lay their eggs as high as 50 feet up, in the crevice of a tree?  And just one day after the chicks hatch, they jump down and follow their mother?

Whoa.  I’d like to see that.

Then some Ring-Necked Ducks came by.  From a distance, they can look a little like loons . . .  but up close I could definitely tell the difference.

We were just about to leave when a pair of Canadian Geese landed on the lake rather noisily.  They called back and forth, their song echoing loudly from one end of the lake to the other.  The Ring-Necked and Wood ducks all scattered.  Just as Tami was about to take a photo, we found out why  . . .

A humongous flock landed!   I’ve never seen so many at one time!  There had to be sixty of them if not more.

And they were kind of goofy too.  I mean, they were rolling in the water . . . they ran across it and slapped their wings on the water’s surface . . . they dove under only to pop right back up.

And they hollered endlessly!  It was like a geese party.  They made such a racket, the eagle soared overhead to see what was going on.  Which made them holler even louder, of course!

Tami and I were cracking up, watching their behavior.

They must have had a long flight, because some of them were a little sleepy

Some of them were cranky

And then there were those who didn’t know which end was up

When Tami, Ben and I went back later, they had calmed down quite a bit and  a few were sunning themselves on the ice.

It was wicked interesting to watch them in action like that.  Neither Tami nor I have ever seen them so active.