Maine, 2005

Marjie, Dick, and Carlyn had a brief but rewarding trip to Maine in June 2005. The main event (or should that be Maine event?) was a boat trip 21 nautical miles out to Machias Seal Island (about 12 miles from the nearest coastline). We went with Norton of Jonesport, and had a fantastic time seeing birds, seals, and just being out on the Atlantic Ocean..

The Birds

• Our primary goal was to see Atlantic Puffins. And boy, did we see them!
• Swimming.
• Flying
• This wonderful on-shore photo courtesy of fellow traveler Carol Albert
• Here's a great front view from Carol
• And a wonderfully detailed profile.
• Close up of the head.
• Another close-up.
• The puffins weren't the only big attraction. We loved seeing the Razorbills, an endangered species that thrives here
• Another razorbill view
• Carlyn caught one in mid-dive.
• Standing on the rocky shore, they look a lot like penguins!
• These seem to be standing sentry.
• This razorbill seemed to be getting ready to fly, but it turned out he was just stretching his wings -- or maybe air-drying them.
• Three razorbills, taken from on shore by Carol Albert. Another photo, seated; seated; in flight.
• Razorbills taking flight.
• The Common Murre, on the left in this photo, looks a lot like the razorbills. Note the more slender bill, lack of white markings on the head, and brown-black coloring rather than the true black of the razorbills
• Another combination view; this time the two on the right are murres, the two on the left are razorbills. They swim and roost together here.
• One more shot of razorbills and murre together. The murre is in the foreground.
• We were excited to get views of the rarely seen Black Guillemot
• Another view of the pair of them, at a slightly different angle
• Another Black Guillemot view, with Common Eider swimming below
• We also had great views of Common Eiders. They never got very close to our cameras, so the pictures aren't the greatest, but hopefully you can see the spring green markings on the back of the male's head. The females are dull brown all over.
• There were hundreds, or maybe thousands, of Arctic Terns on the island as well. Captain John told us these are all immature birds, which means anything under 5 years old. We were surprised to leary that they wait that long to mate.They're some of the most beautiful flyers of the avian world.
• This shot is blurry, but the lines of these flying birds are incredible.
• If I remember correctly, the first-spring birds have the white heads (farthest left), the second-years have a dark patch, and by the third year they look mature, with full black on the top of the head (several in this shot).
• An Arctic Tern just coming in to land. Photo by Carol Albert.
• Lots of bird activity here!
• Quite a combination shot. Razorbills perched and swimming; Eiders swimming on the right, near shore. Puffin flying over them!

The Seals

• Machias Seal Island would hardly be complete without seals! We were impressed by the variety of colors. Some of the differences are due to wet vs. dry coats, but still, there's a great deal of diversity!
• More of the seals
• These are all calves born this spring. They already look huge!

The Boats, Passengers and passing scenery

• The good ship Chief
• Captain John and his dog.
• Carol Albert and her daughter. Carol provided several of these photos
• Some of the passengers went ashore in this little boat. It's also the boat we boarded to tour around the island viewing birds. It has a nice quiet outboard motor. Captain John is at the stern, Superman up in the bow is one of the crew.
• Captain John coming back for us. You can see how smooth the water is! We were really lucky; the previous day it was too stormy to go out at all!
• There's a lighthouse on the island, and interestingly, it's manned by Canadians. There's quite a dispute over who owns the island. It's in U.S. waters, but the flag outside the lighthouse is Canadian. Should be interesting to see how this all plays out over the long term.
• Dad succeeeded in catching the light as it passed his lens -- we were rather surprised that it was on during the day, and a bright clear day at that. You can see the Canadian flag in this shot.
• This water is so smooth, it's hard to believe we're 12 miles off shore! A beautiful clear day and a quickly incoming tide helped a lot.
• Coming back into Jonesport, passing the harbor islands
• More of the harbor islands
• The village of Jonesport approaches
• More of the Jonesport 'outskirts'

Elsewhere on the Maine coast

• The town of East Machias is especially lovely. The approach from Machias, down a hill, gave us this storybook view.
• We saw so many beautiful fields of lupine. Many of the homes had old-fashioned well structures in their yards. And there were a lot of bird houses. This was a combination of all three that we found especially charming, outside a little shop.

Last updated 7/05. Copyright 2003-5 by Carlyn G. Morenus. Questions? Send email to cgmoren@yahoo.com