Western Maine / Eastern New Hampshire
I spent the end of May and the beginning of June visiting my wife's parents in Western Maine (Oxford County). The trip afforded me some nice opportunities to go exploring to some favorite wildlife hotspots as well as some new places.
In Maine I went to a boat loading area in Greenwood (Howe Hill Road), Maggie's Nature Park in Greenwood, Sanborn River Trail in Greenwood, Albany Mountain Trail (formerly known as Albany Notch Trail), Cape Elizabeth (down by the coast near Portland), and Lapham Trail. In New Hampshire I went to Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge and the Shelburne North Trailhead. This trip was also exciting because I had the opportunity to try out a new camera (a Nikon D7000). I went wild with the iNaturalist observations.
In terms of the New Hampshire Locations: Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge was completely new to me, and was location I was most excited to check out. It is a strikingly scenic wildlife habitat, and there were tons of warblers there early in the morning. I added a handful of new Warblers to my list and also saw a Black-backed woodpecker (which isn't present in southern Ontario). Shelburne North Trailhead was a very brief stop, bringing back many memories of being there during previous visits. It was neat to find a crazily hopping Purple Tiger Beetle and my first ever Chestnut-sided warbler there!
In terms of the Maine locations: Maggie's Nature Park was nice as it always is, but my time in it was rather rushed. I made a number of observations there but nothing sticks out as of right now. The boat loading area in Greenwood (Howe Hill Road) was, as it always is, loaded with odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) of all sorts. I got my first photo of a dot-tailed whiteface. I also found a nice Painted Turtle Specimen there and got my first photograph of a loon and a yellow-bellied sapsucker. Sanborn River Trail was especially exciting in that it yielded my first ever Maritime Gartersnake (a species limited to Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and New England). I also found a dead Veery (bird).Albany Mountain Trail yielded three new amphibian species, including two frogs (Wood Frog and Spring Peeper) and a salamander (Red-backed Salamander). Salamanders are all but gone from my home county and there are only two or so sites where they are known to be, so that was pretty exciting! Lapham Trail yielded many great wildflowers and butterflies. Cape Elizabeth (down by the coast near Portland) was a really nice beach experience, the highlight of which was finding a Common Eider (waterfowl). I also found a variety of wildlife in a few less noteworthy locations in West Bethel, Maine. I had a really nice mothing session one evening and found a number of new species, including the Canadian Melanolophia, Baltimore Snout Moth, and the beautiful Rosy Maple Moth. The Pink Lady Slipper's were out, and absolutely gorgeous. I found Red Pine (though I didn't find some other conifers I looked for, such as Black Spruce).
All of the locations proved fruitful and even though many more of my observations need IDs, it looks like I have already added 40-50 new species to my lifelist. All in all it was a memorable trip!
