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

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–

We hiked most of the trails on the island except for those to Green Point on the very northern tip of the island.  We walked through the Cathedral Woods where there are many fairy houses along the trail.

Fairy House in Cathedral Woods

We hiked along the shoreline,

Monhegan Harbor from near Fish Beach

and up on the bluffs that reached a maximum of 160 feet above sea level.

White Head

Gull Rock

We found birds on the rocks being beaten by the waves

Great Cormorants

and on the placid Ice Pond in the village just below the school.

Ice Pond

Mallard on the Ice Pond

In what resembled an overgrown drainage ditch alongside the swampy meadow which is the source of the villagers’ water

Village Meadow

a sora lurked the entire time we were there.  With patience one could get a glimpse of this very reclusive bird.

I took many pictures in an attempt to capture the fury of the waves and sea, but without sound, you’ll have to use your imagination.

Waves about to break on the rocks

Crash!

Elizabeth Ann in Port Clyde

The wind was blowing (note the flag), and the seas were rolling.  Many of us huddled on the upper deck hoping the fresh air would keep our stomachs under control during the one-hour ride to the island.

Double-crested Cormorants and a Great Black-backed Gull

 This 1.75 mile by .6 mile piece of isolated rock at the entrance to Penobscot Bay had been noted in the journals of Samuel de Champlain (1604) and John Smith (1614).

John Smith plaque on Monhegan Island

English traders and fishermen began using the island soon thereafter, but there were never many year-round, long-term residents until 1807 when Henry Trefethren and his two sons-in-law Josiah Starling and Thomas Horn bought the island for 300 pounds.

Sketch map of Monhegan Island

 As of the 2000 census, the island had a resident population of 75, living in 46 households with 21 families.  The island’s population swells in the summer with both tourists and summer people who own many of the 177 housing units on the island.

Monhegan Island shrouded in fog

Arriving at Monhegan Island

Some of the houses are available for rent–if you qualify.

House for Rent Weekly--No Water Wasters!

Most of the houses are relatively modest, especially in comparison to the “cottages” of the gilded age at resorts like Bar Harbor or Campobello Island.

Summer home on Monhegan

A modest cottage on Monhegan

Even the homes of the rich and famous are fairly modest here.

Wyeth home on Monhegan

There are a handful of “hotel” accommodations including the classy Island Inn,

Island Inn is in the background

 the very modest Monhegan House,

Monhegan House

and the Trailing Yew where we stayed.  The main building shown below was built in 1850; over the years 10 other assorted buildings were added to the complex.  Some of the rooms at the Trailing Yew have no electricity, but most of our group were housed in an annex with electricity and a shared bathroom for each floor which had 4-5 rooms.  The hostess rang a bell on the lawn to summon everyone to breakfast and dinner.  The food was generally very good, although I got a little tired of baked haddock with some rather blah flavored butters. 

Trailing Yew

Trailing Yew's Office

To be continued–

Here are my best shots, most of which have been cropped and compressed to show details of the birds and meet WordPress size limits. 

Bald Eagle--immature

Bald Eagle--mature

Clay colored Sparrow

Common Eider--Males

Dickcissel and White-crowned Sparrow

Great Black-backed Gull

Great Blue Heron

Herring Gull-Immature

Mallard--Male

Mallards--Female

Mallards near Witch Hole Acadia

Merlin

Ring-necked Pheasant

Ring necked Pheasant

Spruce Grouse

White-throated Sparrow

Indian Pond Heron

Asian Openbill

Asian Openbill

Asian Openbill and ??

I cannot identify the set of three birds in the lower part of the above picture, but here are some more.

I could put together a gallery of photos from the internet of the many birds I saw, but why bother when someone else has a great gallery.  I didn’t see all of these, but I saw a great many.

At the Temple Tiger dock

One morning we also went out on one of these boats looking for wildlife.  Unlike the Manu in Peru, we didn’t see very much.

Great Egret

Great Egret in flight

An elephant after his bath

Crocodile

A tree in bloom

I assumed that the banks were part of the park and, therefore, off limits for habitation, but there were a few “residences” on some sand bars.

"Homes" in the sand

I think this man was cooking something

In some places, the banks were quite steep.

Sandy banks of the Narayani

The locals all used a type of narrow dugout canoe.

Dugout canoes used on the Narayani near Chitwan NP

The river seemed shallow enough that poles were used more than oars

On the Narayani early in the morning

Birethanti at 6:30 in the morning

I could not figure out what this woman was doing on her roof at 6:30 in the morning.

A woman working on her roof

It was a short 1/2 hour walk, including one last suspension bridge, to the main road where our taxi driver was waiting.

One last bridge

As we neared Pokhara after about 1 1/2 hours, we stopped at a Tibetan refugee camp. 

Tibetan Buddhist temple near Pokhara

Tibetan woman spinning

By 10 a.m., I was settling into my hotel room at the Four Seasons in Pokhara.  I spent the day shopping, eating a hamburger and French fries in the garden at the Boomerang with Monica and Cash (my new friends from the Netherlands), and just relaxing.

Street sweeping in Pokhara; my back hurts just looking at him

Where do you keep your cow?

Hanging succulent

Brahminy starlings near my hotel balcony

My trek in the Himalayas was over, but I was not yet done with the mountains.  A flight-seeing trip to Everest was still on my agenda after returning to Kathmandu.

The trek was neither as long or as hard as the John Muir Trail (three weeks in the California Sierras), nor was the food nearly as good.  And those steps–give me a switchback any day.  This was an entirely different kind of trek.  It involved walking between villages and among fields with overnights in rustic guesthouses rather than camping in the wilderness.  It was much more a cultural experience rather than an outdoors experience. 

BUT, the Himalayas are the tallest (and youngest and largest) mountains on earth.  If you’re a mountain lover, you have to go.

The Modi Khola valley leads to the Annapurna Sanctuary

The mountains tower over you

The sun rises really late

 When you reach the Sanctuary at 13,000′, Annapurna at over 26,000′ still looms over you.

In the Sanctuary

Mt. Whitney at 14,500′ doesn’t compare.

Mt. Whitney from the desert floor