Since yesterday's breakfast worked out so well, Denny and I returned to Bea's to start off the day. By the way we went to a Thai restaurant last night and it was a treat. It was right across the street from our motel in North Conway. All the menu items were intriguing, but I got a spicy basel chicken stir fry plus a couple of those unfried spring rolls in rice paper. A great meal. But I digress. Back to today. Near the end of breakfast Denny got a phone call from his contacts, Chris Lewey and Christine Costello, with current information on the only remaining goshawk nest in their study area. In fact the young birds have fledged, but remain in the area of the nest since their parents are still feeding them. Denny mapped out the route and we set off to the north. The site is near Bethel, ME. It took us over and hour to get there. US Hwy 2 had construction in two places which offered a level of frustration, but we moved on through eventually. When we got to the location where we to park the car, we took a deep breath and started up the hill in the northwest direction, through the trees. After we had gone a ways, I heard the young bird call. So I went another hundred feet and waited until it called again, and repeated this procedure until we were quite close to the calling bird. Then it flew and I got a good look at it - gray tail with zig-zagging bands, white undertail coverts, white eyeline, rusty wing coverts, big. It was then that another bird called. The second young bird, which was noticeably bigger than its sibling, flew in and landed near the first. We watched them for a few minutes, but it was apparent that the adults were not near and the youngsters were getting upset. So we went back down the hill and back to the car. At that point I decided to try to catch an earlier flight back to Norfolk, so we set course for the Manchester airport where we arrived about 1pm. An earlier flight was not available. Instead I got a Starbucks bold and settled in with the free airport wifi, airconditioning, and a quiet corner with ac power and wrote this blog. Apologies for the quality of the photo, but I just had to include it instead of snatching a web photo. He was so cute. This was year bird #652.
Since yesterday's breakfast worked out so well, Denny and I returned to Bea's to start off the day. By the way we went to a Thai restaurant last night and it was a treat. It was right across the street from our motel in North Conway. All the menu items were intriguing, but I got a spicy basel chicken stir fry plus a couple of those unfried spring rolls in rice paper. A great meal. But I digress. Back to today. Near the end of breakfast Denny got a phone call from his contacts, Chris Lewey and Christine Costello, with current information on the only remaining goshawk nest in their study area. In fact the young birds have fledged, but remain in the area of the nest since their parents are still feeding them. Denny mapped out the route and we set off to the north. The site is near Bethel, ME. It took us over and hour to get there. US Hwy 2 had construction in two places which offered a level of frustration, but we moved on through eventually. When we got to the location where we to park the car, we took a deep breath and started up the hill in the northwest direction, through the trees. After we had gone a ways, I heard the young bird call. So I went another hundred feet and waited until it called again, and repeated this procedure until we were quite close to the calling bird. Then it flew and I got a good look at it - gray tail with zig-zagging bands, white undertail coverts, white eyeline, rusty wing coverts, big. It was then that another bird called. The second young bird, which was noticeably bigger than its sibling, flew in and landed near the first. We watched them for a few minutes, but it was apparent that the adults were not near and the youngsters were getting upset. So we went back down the hill and back to the car. At that point I decided to try to catch an earlier flight back to Norfolk, so we set course for the Manchester airport where we arrived about 1pm. An earlier flight was not available. Instead I got a Starbucks bold and settled in with the free airport wifi, airconditioning, and a quiet corner with ac power and wrote this blog. Apologies for the quality of the photo, but I just had to include it instead of snatching a web photo. He was so cute. This was year bird #652.
I am so confused. It it Denny's or Denny for breakfast - or Bea's???!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Bob,
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading the story in the Va Pilot about your birding activities. I work at Virginia Beach Friends School. We are using a birding curriculum for our science program in 3rd, 4th & 5th grade. Would love to talk to you sometime about some of your local activities that might be interesting for our students.
Thanks,
Jacquie Whitt
tjacquie@friends-school.org or
757-428-7534