To get this video, I used my 500mm lens, extended all the way. The day was calm and the kayak steady. I also had been out to visit the loons almost every morning, at 6am, over a three week period, so they trusted I’d keep my distance.
Patience.
Quietness.
Respectfulness.
All key to getting the perfect moment on camera.
While kayaking last week, this Cedar Waxwing flew in over my head to land in a nearby tree. I quickly realized, he had his sights on a prize.
He checked it out and checked it out . . . flying all around it.
Then he tried to take a piece or two.
He tried to fly away with it several times, but it was wound too tight around the tree. He kept falling back against the tree when it wouldn’t let go. I was so worried about him, I didn’t get pictures of that.
He worked at it for quite some time . . .
but in the end, he had to leave without it.
Some birds like to add string, as well as cat and dog hair, to their nests. When I brush my pets, I leave the clumps of hair from the brush, tucked in a nearby bush on my front lawn. Try it, and see what types of birds come by to pick it up!
One of the best things about being an author, with a campground, who writes about kids who live and work in a campground . . .
is that I get to meet my readers right in the midst of my inspiration for the series.
I love to talk to them about how I found the foxes that very first time, and how it was the inspiration for Chapter 1 in Missing Fox. I love to tell them where they might see a loon on the lake or the eagles feeding on a fish.
Last week, my godsons came to visit. They asked if there were any hiking trails. I told them that if they went to the back of the playing field, they’d find a trail. . . .
a red-blazed trail.
Their eyes got wide.
“Just like in the book,” I added.
They took off running.
If you’re a reader and you come to Poland Spring Campground, please be sure to ask for me.
I’d love to meet you, too. And sign your books.
As I headed to the trail cam last Wednesday, I heard a scurry-type sound in the bushes. Two of them actually. I didn’t think anything of it; probably a mouse or a bird, I thought.
Instead, I saw a fox kit crouching low.
I crouched too.
Then I backed up slowly, slowly, and sat high on a banking looking down.
The little fox kit surprised me. He didn’t run back for the den. He didn’t hide. He continued to root around the tall grasses and piles of dead branches that had been left behind after the landowner did some tree cutting.
Every now and then, the kit would look at me.
Right in the eye.
When I didn’t move, he’d go back to rooting around.
He ate grass and found little caterpillars . . .
And while I don’t have images of it, I suspect he ate them for lunch.
I never did make it to the trail cam. I didn’t want to upset his home . . . or his backyard, so to speak. I sure hope they stick around for a little bit though.
I like knowing they’re here.
A couple weeks back, I visited Poland Community School to talk to students in K-6. This school holds a special place in my heart, because my two children attended school there. Many of the students had fabulous questions and connections, some of them camp with me during the summer, some I met for the very first time.
All of them were super, duper nice! I felt like a rock star.
Just this week, I received a packet of letters from Ms. Conley’s class. Oh, how I loved reading them!!
A few of the letters urged me to write about snakes. I have jotted this down in my Idea Book . . . can’t you see Cooper and Packrat with one? I can!
Some other suggestions were for me to write about owls, and dogs. Hmmmmm- I think Ms. Conley’s students are on to something here!
I love the many pictures they drew, too!
A huge THANK YOU to Ms. Conley’s class! You’ve made my day a little brighter with your lovely notes!
After the second owlet branched from their nesting spot, we lost sight of them for awhile. My campers would stop by the office to ask, “Have you seen them? Are they okay?” To which I had no sure answer.
Until quite by accident, I stumbled across them in the most unlikely place – on a dead tree on the very edge of the lake!
Through tree branches, I watched and took photos.
They watched me, too.
Once, a large raptor flew overhead and I could tell the minute one of the owlets saw it.
I pointed my camera upward just in time to catch a glimpse of an osprey. For the thousandth time, I wondered why on earth these young owlets, who could barely fly, were in such an open, exposed area.
When the danger passed, they went back to taking turns napping again.
The next day, they were gone yet again. Deeper into the forest this time, one of my employees tells me. Thank goodness! I’m not too sure I like the look that osprey was giving them!
While hiding behind a bush with my 500mm camera lens, I captured video of this fox kit chewing on grass. I didn’t know they did that! What great research to show students when I do school visits.
The only chance I’d have all weekend to get out on the lake was early, early Saturday morning.
Sleep in an extra hour . . . get out on the lake . . . sleep in . . . get out on the lake . . .
Yeah. There was no contest.
My first stop was to check on the nesting loon, as many campers mentioned hearing them call Friday afternoon. Just seeing her on the nest, had me breathing a sigh of relief.
I snapped a couple photos, and just when I’d decided to move along, she rose back to push the grasses up against her egg.
I sure hope this one hatches!! It would be wonderful to have a loon chick on the lake again.
I dipped my paddle in the water and turned to head down by the state park area of the lake (there’s a cove down there that’s always humming with birds when the sun comes up) Suddenly, I noticed something splashing in the water on the shoreline. Using my camera like binoculars, I zoomed in just as it took off . . .
Sure wish I’d seen it sooner to get photos of it bathing!
I followed . . . at a respectful distance of course. The eagle landed on a branch and hung its wings to dry.
He preened for quite awhile. As I looked around, I realized the nest was in sight from his perch.
They are ever watchful of their little ones.
It was such a beautiful morning to be out on the lake, gliding along, listening to nature rising with the sun. I’m looking forward to many more mornings just like this one . . .
Want to see some owlet cuteness??
And some more?
We had a whole week to observe this owlet from a distance. He slept, he preened, he picked at his toes.
Come Thursday though, he wasn’t sitting on his usual tree . . . he’d gone. Fledged.
I know I’ll check that tree every time I walk by now, hoping he’ll return.
Opening weekend at our campground came and went, with plenty of campers checking in to help us rake and clean up the campground. Campfires blazed at night, kids road bikes and reconnected after the long winter. The talk among the sites was on how many eaglets we had this year and whether or not the loons were nesting yet.
Everyone went home on Sunday, and when Friday rolled around, they all returned. I went out on the lake to check on the loons and the eagles. I chatted with readers and campers. I booked reservations and it seemed like a fairly normal day until out of the blue, my husband texted: “Come quick and bring your camera!”
I thought perhaps there’d be a snapping turtle laying eggs. Or a chickadee nest. Or an oriole’s hanging nest.
I was in for a shock!
It was a pair of Great Horned Eaglets!
Twenty six years we’ve owned this piece of property. In all that time we’ve only seen Barre Owls who stalk my bird feeders.
The campers only noticed this pair because a good piece of the nest fell, and someone looked up to find these adorable owlets looking back at them. They never heard a peep or a hoot the weekend before. Owls can be silent. Very silent.
The day was gray, but I got the best pictures I could. Then I ran home to research. It turns out, their nest disintegrating is normal. And they rarely return to the same place to nest again.
The next morning, one of my little campers came to the office with her phone. She’d woken up and looked out her camper window to find one of the owlets on the ground looking up at her! Again, I did some research and found that owlets on the ground is not necessarily a bad thing either. This helps them strengthen their leg muscles, and their beaks and talons will help them climb to a new perch. The best thing we can do, I reassured her, was to keep our distance.
(That owlet hasn’t been seen since, but I believe I’ve heard it)
The owlet left in the tree is branching, venturing further and further from the trunk of the tree.
It might even be flying short flights, because Diane, the woman who works in the office with me, couldn’t find the owlet twice now, but when I went down a couple hours later, it was in the same tree. Only on another branch.
I’ve been down to visit several times now, keeping my distance, while using my long lens and my camouflage cloak. This little one alternates been napping, preening and watching. But I haven’t heard it make a sound yet.
Nor have I seen an adult. But I’m not worried. My research says the adult is perched in a nearby tree, all part of the plan for this little one to take flight and hunt for itself.
(side note: owlets can eat 13-16 mice per night at just 3-4 weeks old!)
I’m so fortunate to have had a chance to see these great raptors live and up close. I hope they stick around for a little while.
