Chasing Birds in South Texas–Part 3

March 6th, 2011

Sandhill Cranes

Pied-billed Grebe

 

Plain Chachalaca

Redhead

Roseate Spoonbill

Sanderlings

Skimmer

Snowy Egret

Tricolored Heron

Vermillion Flycatcher

White Ibis

White Ibis Juvenile

White Ibis, Reg Egret, and Little Blue Heron

Whooping Crane

Whooping Crane take-off

Whooping Crane with Blue Crab

Willets

Wilson's Snipe

 

Yellowlegs

Yellowlegs

Chasing Birds in South Texas–Part 2

March 5th, 2011

For a good description of the Road Scholar (Elderhostel) trip in Brownsville, see this post by Jeanne Heuer.

Harris Hawk

 

Killdeer

 

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

 

Laughing Gull

 

Laughing Gulls

 

Laughing Gulls beginning to get red beaks as part of their breeding plummage

 

Lesser Scaup

 

Little Blue Heron

 

Loggerhead Shrike

 

Long-billed Curlew

Long-billed Curlew with Crab

Long-billed Thrasher

Merlin

Mottled Duck

Mottled Ducks and Mallard

Northern Cardinal

Northern Shoveler

Olive Sparrow

Chasing Birds in South Texas

March 4th, 2011

I recently spent two weeks birding in the Corpus Christi and Brownsville areas, where I logged around 120 species.  Here are some of my best pictures.

Altamira Oriole

 

American Kestrel

 

American Pipit

 

American Wigeon and Black-necked Stilts

 

Anhinga

 

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

 

Blue-winged Teal

 

Brown Pelican

 

Cattle Egret

 

Cinnamon Teal

 

Common Moorhen

 

Couch's Kingbird

Crested Caracara

 

Curve-billed Thrasher

Double-crested & Neotropical Cormorants

 

Double-crested Cormorant

 

Eastern Meadowlark

 

Eastern Meadowlark 2

 

Eastern Phoebe

 

Fulvous Whistling Duck

 

Great & Snowy Egrets

 

Great Blue Heron

 

Great Blue Heron 2

 

Greater Kiskadee

 

Great-tailed Grackle

 

Green Jay

 

Green-winged Teal

 

More to come–

Fort Knox #1

November 28th, 2010

About 75 years before the Army started to build a new training camp near West Point, Kentucky that would be named in honor of Henry Knox, the Army began building a massive fortification on the Penobscot River in Maine that bore the name Fort Knox.  Knox was the Continental Army’s chief of artillery during the Revolutionary War whose retirement home Montpelier in Thomaston, Maine I described in an earlier post. 

Fort Knox on the Penobscot River across from Bucksport

Control of the Penobscot River, almost directly west of the southern tip of Nova Scotia, made it important to both the British and the Americans.  It was the scene for the fledgling break-away colonies first major naval defeat in 1779, and the British regained control during the War of 1812.  Thus, it was a logical location to place one of about 40 forts started as part of the Third System of defense in 1844.  Construction on Fort Knox continued for almost 25 years, but as the Civil War drew to a close, concerns about a sea-born invasion waned and the fort’s barracks were never completed.

Interior of Fort Knox from the rooftop battery

Doorways connect the unfinished enlisted men's quarters

Fort Knox is a massive granite-walled fortification with mounts for 135 cannon, some in batteries and some in casemates.  A diagram showing the layout of the fort can be found here.

The exterior granite walls are indicative of the fine quality of workmanship

The largest number of troops ever stationed at the fort was 575 when a Connecticut regiment lived outside the walls in tents for a month during the Spanish-American War.  During the Civil War 20 to 54 troops were garrisoned at the fort.  For the best part of fifty years, after construction stopped in 1869, a non-commissioned officer served as the sole guardian of the fort.

Battery B

Series of vaulted-ceiling casemates

Only 74 cannon were ever placed on the 135 mounts

This will probably be my last post about my trip to Maine, so let me close with one of those quintessential Maine seaport views.  This one was taken from the roof of the fort’s casemates.

Bucksport and the Penobscot River

The Tallest Bridge Observatory in the World

November 27th, 2010

Waldo-Hancock Bridge over the Penobscot River

In 1931 the Waldo-Hancock Suspension Bridge began carrying Route 1 traffic over the Penobscot River.

Waldo-Hancock Bridge

Now on the list of National Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks, this bridge was one of two concurrent bridge projects to first use prestressed wire rope strand cables.  It was also the first suspension bridge built with the Vierendeel truss.

In 2006 a new bridge was completed.

Old and new bridges over the Penobscot

The new Penobscot Narrows Bridge is the only observatory bridge in the Western Hemisphere and the tallest in the world at 420 feet.

The observatory is at 420'

The obelisk towers may remind you of the Washington Monument.  That’s because they were designed to pay homage to the local granite industry which harvested granite from nearby Mount Waldo for the construction of the monument.

Penobscot Narrows Bridge

From the observatory one gets a bird’s eye view of nearby Fort Knox, which I’ll discuss in my next post.

Fort Knox from the observatory

Doesn't it remind you of the Washington Monument?

The old and the new from the tower

The new bridge does have its problems though.  One day I saw an article in the Bangor Daily News about how the elevator tends to stop working–especially in high winds, and each 911 call costs the local community $1,000.  On October 10th, the elevator got stuck twice–once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

Bridges over the Penobscot

Maiden Cliff Loop

November 26th, 2010

Before I reached Acadia, I tackled a coastal “summit” in Camden Hills State Park–a trail with a vertical rise of 700′.  It turned out to be one of my most difficult hikes in Maine–mostly because it was my first and I hadn’t yet adapted to Maine’s route finding clues.  It was also the trail with the steepest gradient, but that just meant a lot of rocks and tree roots on a very overused, under-maintained trail.

The cairns on the granite ledges didn't necessary lead anywhere; it must have taken me 10 minutes to figure out how to proceed from this granite outcropping

The views from the top of Maiden Cliff of Lake Megunticook were beautiful, but the leaves had not yet changed very much.

Lake Megunticook from the top of Maiden Cliff

A wooden cross marked the spot where an eleven-year-old girl fell to her death in 1864.

The Maiden's Cross

Not all of the peaks in the park must be reached via your feet; there’s a paved road to the top of Mt. Battie from which it’s possible to see the outline of Mount Desert Island and Camden Harbor.

Camden Harbor from atop Mt. Battie

The Fungi of Maine

November 25th, 2010

I know nothing about mushrooms, but in the fall it’s hard to travel a forest trail without spotting one.  So here’s a gallery of fungi from the trails of Maine.

West Quoddy Head State Park

November 24th, 2010

The obvious reason to visit this park is the West Quoddy Head Light, which is east of East Quoddy Head Light located on Campobello Island.

West Quoddy Head Light

Sticking out into the Bay of Fundy, West Quoddy Head is the easternmost point of land in the United States.  Just off shore is Grand Manan Island, a part of New Brunswick.  We hiked a loop that began with coastal views and ended with a boardwalk into a bog.

West Quoddy Head trail map

West Quoddy Head Light from the coastal trail

Sea clifs

Coastal view

Apachetas!

If you’re not familiar with the term apacheta, check out my previous blog post on apachetas in the Andes.

As we headed inland, we encountered stairs of tree roots.

Steve on the tree root staircase

In October one doesn’t expect to find many wildflowers blooming except for an aster or two, so this renegade was a rarity.

An October bloom

Along the circular boardwalk around the bog there were numerous pitcher plants, lichens, mosses, dwarf trees, and berry bushes.

A carnivorous pitcher plant

In the bog

Moss?

More moss?

Reindeer lichen

Campobello Island, New Brunswick

November 23rd, 2010

One day we went off with our passports in hand to cross the border into Canada and hike in the steps of FDR.  The trail to Liberty Point was  a short 3.2km one-way, but it was filled with views.

On the way to Liberty Point

Sunsweep Sculpture from afar

Sugar Loaf Rock

Campobello's cliffs

A buoy washed ashore

A mini-isle

Pebble beach

A carpet of moss in the forest

A seaside still life

While on this hike we saw at least six bald eagles soaring overhead at one cliffside view point, and several seals.

Seal

After returning via a forest path, we visited the 34-room cottage where Eleanor and Franklin came with their young family to spend the summer hiking and sailing.  Franklin had spent most summers while growing up on the island at the cottage his parents built when he was just a toddler.  Their neighbor included a provision in her will that offered her cottage to Franklin’s mother at a bargain price of $5,000.  Eleanor and Franklin with their growing young family used the cottage every year from 1909 to 1921 when FDR came down with polio after arriving on the island.  He only returned three times after that.

The Roosevelt cottage facing the sea

Franklin added a new wing in 1915 to accommodate his growing family.

The front entrance

Exterior detail

While the home may have been large, it was decorated for a simple lifestyle that focused on outdoor activities, not lavish indoor entertainments.

Living room

Guest room

A Trio of Bold Coast Hikes

November 22nd, 2010

Boot Head and Hamilton Cove are in units of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust.  The trail  at Boot Head starts with a trip through a bog,

Crossing a bog at Boot Head

proceeds to a stony beach on the shore of Boot Cove

Boot Cove

The beach on Boot Cove

where I spied the closest thing to a hoodoo on my entire trip to Maine,

Seastacks, a seaside cousin to a hoodoo

and then climbed the cliffs to circle Boot Head.

The cliffs of Boot Head

You can look straight down if you want

A windswept tree

The trail to nearby Hamilton Cove provided equally splendid views 

Hamilton Cove

Hamilton Cove with Great Manan Island in background

and an opportunity for a group photo.

Road Scholars at Hamilton Cove

Our hike in Shackford Head State Park differed from the others, as this headland is in Cobscook Bay close to Eastport rather than on the Gulf of Maine near Lubec. 

Cobscook Bay from Shackford Head

Another cliffside view from Shackford Head

Our guides Tess and Steve with a kelp

In this sheltered bay one can see fish farms where Atlantic salmon destined for our dining pleasure are raised.  On another day, when we kayaked by the farm, we could actually see the fish jumping.

Fish Farm near Eastport

A closer view