Alexander’s First Hunt

Alexander is sooooo excited to be out hunting today.  He has been waiting since I can remember for that magic tenth year of life to roll around. He has followed me traipsing through the woods and sitting on stumps on many occasions while I hunted. He always wants to carry my rifle or shotgun, just so he can pretend. How many times I’ve said, “Sorry, son. You can’t do that. You’ll be ten soon and get to hunt with your own gun!” Of course, he felt it would never come soon enough.

Alexander’s 1st Hunt

I heard him telling a friend at school the other day, “Yeah, Saturday I’ll be huntin’ with my mom and dad. I’m gonna get a buck. A BIG buck.” 🙂 I hope he does! Fresh deer meat in the freezer would be awesome.

In Maine, youth hunting begins at 10 years of age, however, legislation was recently passed removing that restriction. Beginning in January 1, 2016, an entire new generation of hunters will begin an exciting year. A family heritage we are so proud to honor and to protect will be continued.

For information on obtaining your Maine hunting license, to review all current guidelines and follow as they change, please visit: Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife

{this moment} Dennis and the Goshawk in the First Snow 2013

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.

Dennis and Goshawk in the snow

Outdoors Woman, Meet Outdoors Man: Morning Coffee With Moose

After our land was cut last winter, we had high hopes that the wildlife would respond positively to the new growth provided for them. They have! Since the 12 acres of timber was harvested using a checkerboard pattern as wildlife management experts recommend in some situations, we’ve seen several moose up very near the house. We’ve spotted hares crossing the trails, heard ruffed grouse beating their wings in flight and have found a slew of tracks and scat out back.

Young calf makes a morning visit

Dennis’s focus for managing our property is primarily on falconry. He hoped to provide a suitable habitat for ruffed grouse and snowshoe hares that would eventually be hunted with the hawks. As we waited for the green to start popping up after the winter thaw, our fingers were crossed. We wanted (needed) LOTS of poplar regrowth. As the snow melted, the ground thawed and the shoots began to emerge, we knew the effort was a huge success! The regrowth and the emergence of wildlife outside our windows continues.

In addition to the prey base we’re looking out for, we’ve also seen a broad-winged hawk, a mature sharp-shinned hawk and an immature female goshawk, likely fledged from a nearby nest we’re yet to find as I continue to explore the surrounding woods with this outdoorsman of mine.

Till next time…

Outdoors Woman, Meet Outdoors Man: Life in the Making!

What a busy, hectic summer we’ve had! Sitting down to write? Why, that means staying home and missing out on exploration time!

West Quoddy Head – Lubec, Maine

We have been on the road every weekend, wandering around the nooks and crannies of Maine.

Moosehorn Wildlife Refuge

We’ve been on birding hikes with our club,  Aroostook Birders. We’ve camped in Acadia National Park, 11 of us, including our kids and grand kids. We  recently visited the decommissioned Loring Airforce Base where Dennis was born. Extremely cool place!

Gray seal, Herring Gulls, Bonaparte’s Gulls, Black-legged Kittiwakes – Atlantic Coast off of Eastport, Maine

We’ve enjoyed family birthday parties, canoed,  kayaked and fished with the kids. We’ve been raising and training AIM-9 every day. My,  has she grown!

AIM-9, our Northern Goshawk, at 8 weeks old

Now, we’re settling in for the impending birth of a new grandson, Gage Rue. Excited! Our days and weeks are filled to overflowing, and life is GREAT with this outdoorsman of mine!

I have so much to write and share, and I WILL sit down to write again…soon.

Till next time…

Outdoors Woman, Meet Outdoors Man: Inside the Gos Nest (Part II)

We got home and settled after the exciting morning in the woods retrieving our eyas goshawk. We were both tired and sore from the long hike through wet, muddy trails. Dennis felt the burn from his tree climbing task, but there was still work to be done.

Building a goshawk nest

Our baby needed a new nest and had to be fed as regularly as a human infant. With no adult male and female goshawks present now to provide food and proper accommodations, guess who became Mom and Dad with the charge of caring for this new baby and meeting all its needs. Dennis cut branches and formed a nest base, then lined it with soft, brown cedar boughs. Our gos would be living in this nest for weeks, and our charge would include keeping the nest properly lined and free of left-over debree from feeding times. Poop in the nest…not an issue.

The dining table in the middle of our kitchen was lined with plastic, the nest bowl set in the middle, and he went to work building the “Poop Containment System” now fondly known by friends and family as the PCS. I’m REALLY thankful Dennis is such a smart and skilled craftsman. Yes, goshawks poop. A lot. Not neat and tidy style. They back their butts up to the edge of the nest and project poop across the room. FAR across the room, getting farther by the day the larger she gets. Yes, it’s gross, but it’s all part of the process and the commitment to “deal” when we chose to raise an eyas gos to hunt with.

Dennis and the eyas goshawk getting to know each other

The baby goshawk doesn’t eat grain or other plant based food. From the beginning, a hawk is a carnivore and requires numerous meals each day consisting of raw meat. Until they are old enough to learn to hunt and kill for themselves, it’s a chore for Mom and Dad. A typical goshawk diet consists of birds and mammals such as pigeon, quail, ruffed grouse, ducks, squirrels, chipmunks, hares and many other small to medium sized quarry. Food sources may be hunted during legal seasons, raised or purchased from a number of suppliers. Our freezer is being filled with a mass of red squirrels knocked out at our bird feeders, quail  and pigeons we raise for the hawk.

I was well versed in raising and butchering my own chickens and turkeys, but I still had to get through the learning curve involved in processing small game. The first day I cut into a squirrel while Dennis was at work and unable to show me the process, I had a few “Ewwwww” moments. I kept cutting. When your baby is hungry and looking up at you with those big, round eyes, you suck it up and do what you must.

Processing a quail to feed AIM-9

We are feeding off of wings and carcasses to familiarize the gos with what “food” looks like in the wild. It’s a crucial part of her training that she recognize food and not associate eating with human hands and fingers, so we are very cautious in our approach when we feed. She can’t be allowed to see us placing food in her nest, because we value our fingers and have to look ahead to when she’s full grown, nearly 1000 grams in weight and can rip a hand apart with her beak if it looks food-like to her. No, raising and training a raptor is not for the sloppy, careless or faint of heart.

Eyas Goshawk feeding off of a squirrel carcass

While raising a goshawk intended to hunt successfully in cooperation with a falconer, socialization is extremely important. We placed our nest area in the busiest, central location in our home. The eyas gos doesn’t need to be shielded from human contact or tucked away in a dark, quiet area. Our kids, grandkids and dog, Tori, all work and live around AIM-9 on a daily basis. She spends as much time as possible in the middle of our living room floor, surrounded by newspapers to catch the projectiles. 

(The AIM-9 Sidewinder is an infrared homing, short-range, air-to-air missile)

Liv and the Eyas Goshawk

We encourage the kids to pet her, handle her wings, tail and feet gently with only one cardinal rule – they cannot pick her up. It is an insult and sure-fire screaming match for the gos to be picked up and must be avoided as much as possible in her handling. She is being raised as naturally as feasible to become the stealth killing machine she was born to be. I’m so eager to see the amazing creature she grows into in the weeks and months ahead!

I have shared in previous articles the reasoning behind choosing a female goshawk as opposed to a male for better hunting capabilities. After an unsuccessful attempt to train and hunt with a tiercel, Dennis was adamant in choosing a female eyas this year. We chose to go the route of sending off DNA samples to a biotech lab for accurate sexing so there was no guess-work involved. We waited impatiently between Saturday and Tuesday afternoon…very impatiently! I checked, re-checked and checked again for the results to be posted online. We kept thinking and talking about that one little baby gos we left behind in the nest, surrounded by the wild and so many predators. What if…

What if the eyas we brought home was male? What if the little nestling turned out to be the female and we went back to find her gone, the nest empty. What if Jimmy G went home with the only female and our baby AND the nestling were both male? What would be our Plan B? Would we return a tiercel to the nest and just try again next year or would we attempt another training with a male? In dealing with nature, anything is possible and nothing at all is predictable.

Around 5pm, just before going outside to watch the girls work with the horses, I took one more look at our account online at Avian Biotech. There it was! OMG, THERE IT WAS!

Dennis: Male

Jimmy: Male

Nestling: Female

I could hardly breathe on my way down to the pasture to tell Dennis the news. There WAS a female in that clutch, and she was still 35 feet up that Ash tree in the nest that I only hoped was still intact and safe for her. I told Dennis with tears in my eyes, and he immediately flew into action. It was nearing dark, but we weren’t wasting another day getting back to that tree. We loaded the climbing gear and the tiercel male we’d been caring for and headed to the woods. We KNEW it. We just had a feeling that was going to be the case after the visual IDs left us all thinking the chicks we took were probably male.

Of course, this nest was down the longest, most difficult hiking trail in our  inventory of nest sites. It was a long, hard walk that was reallllly slow going for me. I told Dennis to go ahead. I’d catch up. He needed to gear up and could be ahead of me and ready as soon as I reached the tree. I mushed on behind him, quickly losing sight of him as I battled thick masses of mosquitoes and even thicker, deeper mud. My Mucks sunk up so deeply I had to wiggle and pull my feet out of the ground at times. I don’t think any of the times past that we’ve walked that particular trail took half as long as it seemed to take that day, knowing (hoping) our little huntress was waiting at the end of the walk.

I finally reached him, all ready to climb, ropes around the tree holding him securely. He headed up. The female goshawk was circling and kakking at him before his feet left the ground. That was a great sign! I was able to photograph her for the first time that day. She’s been super stealth all other times we’ve heard and caught glimpses of her. That day she wasn’t screwing around!

AIM-9’s Mama is a smart, fierce, absolutely gorgeous goshawk!

He reached the nest to find the baby there, our little female eyas goshawk! He was securing himself to the tree to begin the swapping of babies, Mama Gos circling and screaming at him. We both heard her coming in, and I was trying to get my eyes and camera on her when suddenly, there she was!

Dennis had just turned to see her coming at him in time to get hit, head on. She hit him with such force that he saw stars, and I heard the thud. I couldn’t get my camera up fast enough, but breathed a sigh of relief that he was still securely attached to the tree. If he had been untied during that impact, I’m certain she’d have knocked him out of the tree. So there it was! He’d been hoping for some battle scars to take away from this experience, worn as badges of honor. Boy, did he get rewarded that day!

Dennis after goshawk attack while retrieving our female eyas gos

We brought home a prized female goshawk. She came to us through blood, sweat, tears and miles upon miles of hiking, hunting and priceless time spent together in the woods. I’m settling well into the task and joy of raising a special hunting partner with this outdoorsman of mine leading the endeavor and training me and her both as we go along. She is already growing and learning incredibly fast! What an adventure!

AIM-9 at 16 days

Till next time…

Outdoors Woman, Meet Outdoors Man: Inside the Gos Nest (Part I)

We started our hunt in March. Snow was up to our thighs in many places deep in the Maine woods. Brooks and streams were still frozen, and we were walking with snowshoes and sometimes without on top of hard crust. At times, we broke through and buried up to our asses. We were bundled up to our eyeballs and sitting against trees on zero degree mornings before daylight, listening for those unique courtship vocalizations. We logged no telling how many miles of hiking in our search for goshawk territories. We discovered 15 nests and concluded that we had three active pairs. We knew, regardless of our successful finds, that we may come up empty-handed when it became time to retrieve a female eyas gos. We still hunted.

Goshawk nest hunting in April just before sunset

Dennis and I sat in our usual seats eating desserts at the counter at Grammy’s Country Inn as a wicked storm cell blew through that Friday night. We heard the wind roaring and rain beating down. Fallen apple blossoms were swirling in the air. We watched through the window, looked at each other and shook our heads. We were concerned about our baby gos filled nests being damaged before we could get back to them the next morning to bring our eyas home. I felt like an expectant mother who had just run into complications, and it was nerve-wracking. It turned into a long night of restless sleep and a phone call at 3:30 in the morning to get us up and running.

We were joined by a couple of Dennis’s falconer friends for this excursion. Jimmy G came up with hopes of acquiring his own eyas goshawk if our nests proved reliable. Mark taught biology at Bonny Eagle High School in Standish, Maine and has become quite the expert on these birds of prey. He has proven highly reliable in distinguishing the males from females in their earliest stages. I was looking forward to watching these guys in action and learning all I could. Also along on this trip were good friends of Jimmy. Sean, who works as an arborist, came to climb one of the two trees, and Kyle wanted to come along for the ride to check out this falconry thing. Before they left, he’d been well indoctrinated and sounded like he’d been bitten by the bug. I could totally relate!

Dennis gearing up to climb up to the first nest while I checked out the claw marks left by a predator that had tried to get past the tin barrier we’d placed to help protect the nest.

We hiked to our first nest site just after sunrise on this warm and humid June morning. The mosquitoes were relentless, making their way through multiple layers of bug spray. The ground was wet and slippery, our jeans quickly soaked through. We were all so excited and hopeful of going home with the coveted babies that inconveniences and discomforts were easily overlooked. Our eyes were on the prize!

We got to the yellow birch that housed our first nest, and Dennis got his gear together, put on spikes and ropes and started the 45 foot climb. He secretly hoped the female would hit him, and he’d get a nice badge of honor (scar) to sport after this adventure. Ok, maybe it was no secret wish. I think he told everyone he talked to leading up to the big day. I secretly (or not) hoped he’d get through this day without a scratch.

I checked out the tin we’d placed on a previous visit to help secure the nest, and it became clear to me why we take that extra step. There were claw marks in several places on the tin where a predator had attempted to climb the tree. We hoped it hadn’t made it past the barrier. We’d know soon.

Dennis climbed the slippery yellow birch to see what was in Nest #1

We watched anxiously, our necks bending further and further back the higher Dennis got. He has no fear of heights. I actually think he has no fear of anything! Me…terribly afraid of heights. I was antsy watching him climb the wet, birch with its slippery peeling bark. He slipped and slid part of the way down the tree once, taking my breath away. I don’t think I breathed again until his feet were back on the ground.

Jimmy G watching patiently…or impatiently!

We waited until he reached the nest. The mama goshawk soared, circled and kakked away at him, but she never went near him. I watched her closely. We were silent, expecting his announcement any moment now. He said quietly, “Shit.” The nest had only one baby gos, roughly 12 days old at best guess. After looking it over for a few minutes, Dennis decided it was most likely a tiercel (male). It was not what we were looking for, but being the only eyas in the nest, we weren’t allowed to remove it anyway. Disappointment was felt in the air and on the ground. He began the climb down as we prepared to move on to the next – and last – active nest site.

Sean prepares to climb to the second nest.

This was our last chance to acquire an eyas gos this season, so we were all anxious about what we’d find up that tree. Sean geared up to climb, Dennis prepped the basket to lower babies down from the nest, and the rest of us scoped out the area while watching and listening for the mama. We checked out the tin on this tree and determined that a bear was the culprit for the damage found there. It left a paw print behind! A bear wouldn’t have been after the babies but may have simply been curious to check out the funny looking Ash tree with a black band.

A bear tried to climb the tree, pulled the tin down a couple of inches and bent it up. Mark takes a good look at it.

Bear paw print

Sean was up the tree before we knew it. We waited for the word. Two babies. Three babies! We put a couple of our cameras in the transport box and he pulled it up by its rope to get a few shots of the hawks in their nest before lowering the babies down for inspection to determine the sexes. Not many people will ever be lucky enough to see an eyas gos in person, much less have a bird’s eye view of their nest. How cool!

Three eyas goshawks in their nest near the top of an Ash tree

Sean lowered the nestlings down and Dennis, Mark and Jim went to work immediately looking them over. At such a young age, sexing these birds is a challenging task. It takes a lot of experience looking at a variety of them to get a feel for spotting the extremely subtle differences between males and females. After the best guess, it’s still an absolute crap shoot without DNA testing. We had already decided that’s what we’d do, no matter how certain we may be of what we were looking at.

Inspecting the nestlings to determine sex

The guys decided we were looking at two of the same sex in the first hatchlings, which were a good bit larger than the little bitty one. Judging by the shape of their heads, beaks and the length of feathering down the tarsi, it was decided they were likely tiercels. The little one was nearly impossible to sex due to the small size. That nestling was only a day old.

They clipped a talon on each eyas to collect a few drops of blood. We decided to take the two larger birds so we’d have an imprint to work with (male or female) in case something happened to the nest before the DNA results were in. We may just be stuck with a male unless we opted to return it to the nest based on the test results. Dennis and Jim would make that decision when the time came.

DNA samples were collected from the three baby goshawks.

Sean repelled out of the Ash, we secured our gos babies in the carrier so they’d be safe and warm, and we headed out of the woods.

Sean repels out of the Ash tree.

We had to get home, get the babies set up and finish the paperwork for the DNA testing. We wanted to get to the post office before it closed so we could expedite shipping. That done, our very happy group of adventurers headed to Grammy’s for lunch. Job well done through some awesome teamwork! Now the hard part…waiting.

Proud goshawk mama

The guys escaped attack from both female goshawks that day, but Dennis didn’t fare so well on our trip out a few days later. Check back next week for the DNA results and to hear the rest of the story when I tell you about my greatest outing of all time with this outdoorsman of mine!

Till next time…

Outdoors Woman, Meet Outdoors Man: Exploring Our Own Backyard

The sunny afternoon drive back to Hodgdon was nice after our morning on the water with friends at Tomah Stream.

Low geared for a good time!

That was the furthest I’d paddled so far, so my arms were sore. I think Dennis and I both yawned all the way back. The plan was to swap canoes with Joe and his friend, Jon, then head home to rest for a while before picking up the rest of the kids. As usual, we got a little sidetracked with the scenic route!

Joe and Jon enjoying fishing Hodgdon Mill Pond every chance they get.

We pulled in at Hodgdon Mill Pond and saw the boys out in their canoe, lines in the water. They usually catch a slew of big pickerel at this location, and it makes for many hours of enjoyable time on the water for Joe, my girls who often go out with him and a number of his friends who get to tag along.

Dennis and Joe have been observing the activity around this pond for years. They have seen quite a variety of animals, water fowl and small birds that inhabit the area. They have seen moose, deer, beaver, otter, muskrat, mink, Canada geese and loons.

American Bittern

The ducks commonly found on Mill Pond are Black Ducks, Mallards, Golden-eye, Ring-necks, Wood ducks, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Green-winged Teal and Blue-winged Teal.

Wood Duck

Among the birds seen over the years are common grackles, red-winged blackbirds, American Bittern, Great Blue Heron, Osprey, Turkey vultures, Broad-winged Hawks, Red-shouldered Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks, Goshawks and the incredible and always impressive Bald Eagle.

Red-winged blackbird

For some time now Dennis, an avid nest watcher, has watched two eagle’s nests that rest near the top of eastern white pines (Pinus Strobus). There have been a number of clutches of eaglets hatched between these two nests. I had never seen baby eagles, so I was hoping it was still active this year and they’d hatched. Dennis was really hoping to be able to show them to me. I think he gets just as excited as I do when he’s able to show me new things and give me the chance to photograph such cool sights!

We paddled out and began to turn back toward the shoreline, as Dennis pointed out the nest. I arched my neck to see it, but had trouble spotting it against the sun. When I finally saw it, I was amazed at how large it was! This was the first eagle’s nest I’d seen from such a close distance. Impressive!

Eagle’s Nest in Eastern White Pine at Hodgdon Mill Pond

An eagle’s nest is generally several feet in diameter and can weigh 1000 pounds or more. It’s no little bird’s nest hanging onto a tree branch, yet it can still be difficult to see amongst the thick branches and greenery of the old growth coniferous trees they seem to prefer for roosting and nesting. Nests are found on or near bodies of water that provide plenty of fish for the eagle’s diet as this is their primary food source.

We moved around to the other side and tried to get to a spot where I could see and photograph it without the sun coming directly at me. When we got to the other side of the tree and looked up, there they were! We saw a mature female eagle and one of her young perched near the edge of the nest. It looked as if she was feeding the eaglet.

Eagle caring for her young

The sight was just amazing! Before moving to Maine, I’d only seen one eagle in my lifetime. It was housed in a “natural habitat” exhibit at the Houston Zoo. I was so sad to see this incredible creature surrounded by bars, manmade rock, “naturalistic” water formations and fake wooden perches, never allowed to soar and hunt as is natural to its existence.

THIS is the way an eagle should be seen, in its natural habitat. I’ve seen many eagles soaring overhead, fishing in the ocean and perched in trees. Now I’ve seen eaglets in the nest.

Mature female eagle and her young eaglet

We’ll be going back to check on this nest and watch the babies as they grow and eventually fledge. I can’t wait to see them again when we’re back on the water, but it won’t be this weekend. It’s finally just about time to go back into our gos nest sites and retrieve the eyas goshawk we’ll be raising and training to hunt. Check back for the photos and to hear all about the exciting experience we have coming up this weekend as this outdoorsman of mine goes back up the tree to meet a female gos that will be defending her nest while he attempts to remove one of her babies. They’ll likely end up face to face…or talons to face! Yep, I’m nervous!

Till next time…

 

 

Outdoors Woman, Meet Outdoors Man: Views From The Canoe

Dennis and I spent most of Sunday paddling. We enjoyed the morning with friends on Tomah Stream in Codyville then took a detour on the way home and ended up back on the water at Hodgdon Mill Pond near our home. It was a great day, and I had time on the water unlike any I’d experienced in my short history of kayaking and canoeing. I’d only paddled on ponds and lakes, so the stream was new and different.

Ready to go!

Tammy and Dennis on Tomah Stream, Codyville, Maine

The twists and turns, doubling back and forth, winding waterway and surprise views around every bend was just my kind of adventure! Being so near water level while paddling along stream banks and meadows of tussock sedge offers such a unique view and some really cool photo ops.

Canoeing Tomah Stream

The group on Tomah Stream

It’s nice to enjoy a slow-paced trip down a waterway. Enjoying it with friends, laughing, chatting, goofing off…even better!

Felicia and Steve paddling along beside us for a bit

Taylor has been paddling since she was a little girl. Quite the pro!

Tussock Sedge Meadows

As we traveled along the stream, we saw many trails out of the water, muddied paths forged through the grasses where beaver, otter and other animals have wandered through the meadows. There were a number of beaver lodges along the way, more than I’d ever seen in one place. None were inhabited, and we only spotted one feedbed suggesting recent use. They were quite impressive structures to look at.

Beaver Lodge

The rich and diverse habitat along Tomah Stream makes a great home to local wildlife such as beaver, otter, Canada geese, a variety of ducks, birds and the unique Tomah Mayfly. We hoped to spot one of these creatures, an endangered species only found in a handful of locations in Maine, but we were too early in the season. We’ll be going back!

Canada Geese

 

Canada Geese in Flight

Another elusive creature I’ve been trying to get a good photo of is not on the endangered list, but it sure disappears quickly when I aim my lens at it. The Red-winged Blackbird caught my eye about three years ago when visiting Moosehorn Wildlife Refuge just outside of Calais, Maine. This flashy little bird literally caught my eye…the corner of my eye…on a trip to photograph the scenery at Moosehorn one morning. I spotted a flash of bright red as the blackbird buzzed by, and I thought I was seeing things. After a few more trips and some research, I learned its identity and set out trying to capture it in photos. I was happy this weekend to find so many of them out and about and was finally able to get eye level with them to catch my shot.

Red-winged Blackbird

I was a little disappointed to see the end of our paddle down Tomah that day. The trip was a little shorter than we had anticipated. It will be a good excuse to go back soon!

End of the stream for us

We hauled out the canoes and kayaks, enjoyed a picnic lunch with the gang then loaded to head home. We stopped in to exchange canoes with Dennis’s son, Joe, who had been fishing with a friend. While we were waiting for the guys to come across the pond to meet us, I was thrilled when Dennis said, “Let’s go out for a few minutes and see if we can see the eagles on the nest.” So we put in again. I couldn’t believe what I got to see for the first time in my life while paddling at Hodgdon Mill Pond with this outdoorsman of mine!

Till next time…

Outdoors Woman, Meet Outdoors Man: Incoming! (Part II)

The disappointment of the day before dampened my enthusiasm when we went  into the woods to check on the nesting tree we hoped to tin this evening. I plugged away beside Dennis as always, crossed my fingers and hoped, but I had no real expectations that we’d find what we were hunting for.

We found three nests at this location in the week or so leading up to this visit, but there was no sighting or sounds of a gos in the area during that trip. The newest nest didn’t show signs of fresh materials, so we really had no idea if there was still an active pair in this territory. Dennis decided it was a good idea to go in early one morning to sit and listen and see if he heard any of their pre-sunrise vocalizations before counting too heavily on this being a good location.

He went in before work one morning, got within a few hundred feet of the nest that looked like the newest construction, sat down on a fallen tree and waited.  In the final two minutes before sunrise, a tiercel goshawk swooped down the trail in front of him. The gos was carrying food and landed on the ground about midway between Dennis and the prospective nest. He heard the tiercel call, so he backed out of the woods and left. That was all he needed to confirm that location as an active territory.

We went back a few days later. Dennis lugged the backpack filled with supplies, determined to get this one confirmed with eggs and tinned. A backpack filled with a roll of tin, moth balls, a can of black spray paint, binoculars, duct tape and climbing gear can be extremely heavy! That’s what it takes to do this right, and Dennis won’t do a half-assed job of anything. I’ve come to admire and greatly appreciate this about him.

Headed in to find an active nest…hopefully!

We walked quietly down the old road and into the clearing to the nest. He dropped the backpack and got the binoculars, I pulled out the camera, and we started scanning the nest for the activity we should be able to see. Well… We SHOULD see something. Hmmm, there was still no sign of fresh materials, and no sign of the female. After doing a 360° around the tree, Dennis stood off a bit to watch the nest, and I took a stick and hit the tree a couple of times. Nothing. Nothing at all. I probably heaved a pretty big sigh at that point.

After seeing and hearing the tiercel a few days earlier, there was no doubt this was the active area. The forests in Maine go on for countless miles. Remember, this nest hunting process is looking for a teeny, tiny needle in a massive haystack. We knew it was there somewhere. We just had to keep searching. Just as we did at location #1, we went back to the spot Dennis sat a few days earlier, set our sights in the direction the tiercel gos went down with his prey and headed that way. We didn’t have much daylight left, but we’d make use of every second until we HAD to leave or until we found that nest. Giving up on this location wasn’t even an option.

We wandered around for a while, searching the crotches of every hardwood tree in that stretch of woods. We made a circle out and around the nest we just ruled out and came along the backside of that area. I spotted a nest through the trees, but upon inspection, Dennis decided it was most likely a raven’s nest. We bushwacked, climbing over fallen trees, and I was stumbling around rocks and crevices. We got a bit separated, but I could hear when Dennis whistled to me through the trees. I was making my way toward him. Then we heard it. It stopped us both dead in our tracks and had us looking skyward.

Kak! Kak! Kak! Kak! The tiercel flew fast over our heads and swooped down toward the old road. I didn’t know at the time, but Dennis had whistled because he saw another nest ahead. He was waiting for me to catch up so we could check it out, but with this fly-by, we knew we were in the right spot! We hurried toward the nest while the tiercel flew over screaming at us a couple more times.

Tiercel goshawk defending the nest

I knew getting hit by a gos defending a nest is highly likely, so I was watching and prepared. We leaned into a nearby tree and scoped out the nest. There were green and down easily visible, and there was something else this time. While Dennis ran back up the road to get the backpack, I kept watch on the nest to make sure the female didn’t leave undetected. I watched through my camera, as always and saw movement in the nest. I watched closely and saw her head moving back and forth, likely watching me as closely as I was watching her. Unbelievable moment for me! My heart raced. WHO GETS TO EXPERIENCE THESE THINGS? “Awestruck” doesn’t come close.

Female goshawk on eggs

When I figured out that the movement was her head, I could make out the outline of her back leading to the left, her long tail sticking out just above the nestline. It was amazing to view! Dennis got back with the supplies, and we went quickly to the base of the tree.

Getting the tinning supplies out quickly.

He pulled out the duct tape and tin and started the process of wrapping the tree to lend a human hand in helping to protect the nest and its precious contents from predators.

Dennis quickly works to tin the tree and get us out of there.

As soon as he started wrapping the duct tape around the trunk of the tree, the female lifted off the nest and flew up above us into a neighboring tree, screaming fiercely. Kak! Kak! Kak! Kak! I snapped some photos, hands shaking from the adrenaline. As the female screamed and Dennis worked quickly, the tiercel flew over again and landed in a tree to our backs.

Tiercel gos defending his nest, trying to drive us out of his territory.

Both goshawks now in quite an uproar and screaming at us almost constantly, we worked as fast as we could to complete our task and get out of there. Dennis painted the tin black so it wasn’t quite so visible through the trees to anyone else who may wander through the woods.

Black tin in the woods doesn’t stand out quite as much.

I spread moth balls on the ground at the base of the tree to mask the scents and hopefully deter predators from that area.

Moth balls around the base of the tree are said to deter predators from ransacking the nests.

Mission accomplished! We hiked back to the jeep, all smiles, pumped up on adrenaline and more than just a little excited about our experience. I sat down and chugged a bottle of water. Dennis climbed in and squeezed my hand. It was a great day in the woods with this outdoorsman of mine!

Till next time…

Outdoors Woman, Meet Outdoors Man: Incoming! (Part I)

Finding a goshawk nest does not mean you have found a goshawk. Hearing a gos in the area – still not a sure thing. There is only one way to know definitively that you have, in fact, found an active nest. You have to see the goshawk in the nest. And even then, nature can be cold, cruel and unpredictable in the end. Eyas gos in your basket…now you’re getting somewhere!

We’ve found three nest sites this spring, but finding the active nest is the big goal after the egg laying stage. You can sometimes tell which is going to be the active nest by getting close-up views with binoculars if you’re able to see down or fresh greenery in the nest, but that isn’t always the case.

As of this week, Dennis and I have viewed 13 gos nests, have heard six goshawks kakking and have actually seen three this spring. I am reading, hearing and have come to realize how rare (and completely cool!) these experiences are. Most people never see or hear a goshawk in an entire lifetime, and I’ve had the great fortune of encountering this many in my first spring while learning and pursuing falconry with Dennis. Yep, I consider myself one lucky (and happy) woman. Cruising through the woods in search of gos nests with a skilled and knowledgeable hunter makes all the difference!

Some of our outings have been a lot of bushwacking and enjoying the woods around us, with very little excitement or progress toward our goal to show for our efforts. Sometimes, it’s been downright disappointing. We go anyway. Time spent in the beauty and serenity of the woods is better than time spent anywhere else.

Serenity in the woods

And then there have been times we’ve gone out, not sure what we’d experience, and end up so pumped up on the rush and thrill of the hunt and missions accomplished that we can hardly contain ourselves and return to the jeep with beaming smiles, chatting away about our excursion. Let me tell you about two of our evenings in the woods last week!

Once Dennis knew it was the right time frame for egg laying to be complete, our next task was to go back into each of the nest locations we’ve spent hours scouting out, find the nest the female is using for the year and get the tree tinned to help protect the nest, mama and her eggs. Nesting 30-50 feet up in a tree may help protect the nest from some dangers, but they are still easy prey for predators like raccoons, martens, bobcats and fishers. Last week, we went in to find the active nests, and met with some excitement!

We first visited the nest we thought most likely to be the active this year near the location where we heard the pair of goshawks during their courtship vocalizations. We stood back, looked around the top and edges of the nest with the binoculars and saw no signs of activity. Dennis took a stick and tapped the base of the tree while I watch through the binoculars. Nothing. Dammit.

We went back and checked last year’s nest where he’d retrieved Kahn, but there was no sign of activity there, either. We decided to go back to the hemlock tree where we sat that first morning in March and listened to the courtship vocalizations, get a bearing on the GPS and go searching again in that exact direction. He set a course and off we went through the woods. We hiked and searched only a little ways in, and there it was! We found a nest right in line with the location we’d originally heard them, and the nest looked highly promising. It was lined with fresh greenery and down.

Goshawk nest at the site of the pair we heard during their courtship stage.

Looking at the condition of this nest, we expected to find a female on eggs, but no sign of her! No sign, no problem. Dennis explained that sometimes the female sits so low in the nest that you may not be able to see her or even catch a glimpse of her tail hanging over. The next step in this process was for him to climb a nearby tree to get a better look and verify before counting this as our nest and tinning the tree. But we knew this was our nest, because we’d seen the greenery and down, so she had to be there.

Dennis and my son, Alexander, checking out the nest.

He geared up and headed up a hemlock a few trees over.

Dennis gearing up to climb

He climbed while I watched, my eyes darting back and forth between the nest and him climbing a REALLY tall hemlock, my fear of heights – and him falling -kicking into full overdrive at this point. I watched to make sure the female gos didn’t fly off the nest during this intrusion. They can disappear into the woods quickly and silently, and we’d have been none the wiser without keeping an eye out.

I was anxious to get the thumbs up from him when he reached eye level with the nest. I waited. I watched. I held my breath. Well???

Dennis near the top of the hemlock tree

He sat near the top of the tree for a few minutes before looking down at me and shaking his head…NO. What? NO! Ugh. We’d been so sure of this particular location, moreso than any of our others up to this point, because all the signs were right.

I sat on the ground and checked out the little wildflowers popping up through brown leaves around me while Alexander squirmed restlessly a few feet away, sitting on a tree stump.

Trout Lily

 

We waited while Dennis made a slow descent from the tree, eager to hear what he’d found. I hated seeing that disappointed look on his face. I know how hard he works at this lifestyle and the countless miles and hours he has put in over the years scouring these woods and practicing careful husbandry and wildlife management. Score one for Mother Nature this time. There was no female gos and no eggs. The nest was empty, lined well with fresh greenery and down but that was it. My heart sunk in my chest a little. What a disappointment. We lost this one.

It was nearing dark, and after a short trek through the surrounding woods just to see if we could spot another nest nearby, we made our way back to the jeep. He decided this must have been the active nest, and it was likely ransacked by a predator that ate the eggs. That’s the only reasonable explanation we can think of. We only hope the female has survived, and we can find her still in her home territory and ready to lay again next year.

We planned our trip out for the next evening to check the nest at our second location. Supplies were left in the jeep, ready to go when he got home from work the next day. We’d try this again, hopefully with success on the next trip out with this outdoorsman of mine.

Check back this weekend to read Part 2…till next time!

Party At Our Bird Feeder!

It’s a never-ending party at our bird feeder this spring! Here are a few of the recent visitors we’ve seen this week.

Male Purple Finch

Female Purple Finch

American Goldfinch

White Throated Sparrow

Common Redpoll

Female Cowbird

Outdoors Woman, Meet Outdoors Man: One Crazy, Busy Summer!

Winter didn’t slow us down too much, and spring has been hopping with Dennis and I going out weekly in search of goshawk nests. Finding three nest sites and identifying three active pairs of goshawks during mating season made for one exciting prelude to the upcoming season.

Looking at our calendar, it’s shaping up to be one crazy, busy summer! I’ve started a list of dates on a sheet of paper on the fridge. I think I’m going to need a bigger sheet of paper since we keep adding to our list of events. In addition to our personal outings for nest hunting and goshawk selection, camping and hiking through Big Reed Pond Forest Preserve, baby shower, birthdays, camping at Chimney Pond and climbing Mount Katahdin, a family camping trip to Acadia National Park, canoeing, kayaking and fishing every chance we get, raising and training a goshawk and the upcoming birth of a grandbaby…deep breath…we have several daytrips planned with our birding group.

Dennis and I are members of the group, the Aroostook Birders. (Also on Facebook!) The group, led by President and bird expert, Bill Sheehan, is a highly active group. Spring and summer events are getting into full swing, and we’re really looking forward to some of the outings we have scheduled.

Aroostook Birders Waterfowl Walk

Saturday, we drove up to Fort Fairfield for a waterfowl walk and enjoyed a perfect, sunny spring morning checking out a large variety of local wildlife. The focus of the morning was on waterfowl, but we spotted quite a few beautiful birds that trip, including a nice display of raptors.

Wildlife gazing with the group

I am admittedly not the greatest wildlife photographer, but I don’t think I put the camera down most of the time we were out. It’s pure love of nature and my fascination with wildlife that keeps me shooting!

Immature bald eagle

We visited Nadeau Pond, Lake Josephine and Puddledock Pond. There were many species of waterfowl that I’d never seen before. Of course, Dennis was able to identify most of them. We watched a beautiful pair of Redhead ducks, Northern Shovelers, American Wigeons, Gadwalls, Ring-necked Duck, Common Goldeneye, Common and Hooded Mergansers, Green-winged Teal, Mallards and Blacks.

Ring-necked ducks

There were also our more common Canada geese in abundance.

Canada Geese Galore

Common Loon

Male Mallard

There were Common Loons, Double-crested Cormorants, Belted Kingfishers and Brown Thrashers dropping by off and on.

Double Crested Cormorant

Belted Kingfisher

We weren’t the only folks enjoying the morning on the water!

We watched a huge American Bittern trying to hide in the tall grass at Puddledock Pond in Fort Fairfield. He fooled no-one!

American Bittern in camo!

We enjoyed seeing a number of impressive raptors, including Northern Harriers, Ospreys, American Kestrel, Merlin, Red-tailed Hawk and a Bald Eagle.

Dennis got this nice shot of a kestrel while we were on our way home.

Dennis and I took the long way home after our morning with the group. There is an “alternate route” involved most every time we strike out for a drive together in the Jeep that will get us just about anywhere we want to go. There is a saying here in Maine, “You can’t get there from here.” Pfft! No problem so far! On road or off, there is no end to the sights, sounds and adventures we can find to entertain ourselves. It’s all in a day’s play with this outdoorsman of mine!

Till next time…

(For more info on how to become involved with the group, Aroostook Birders, please visit the WEBSITE and check out what we may have going on in your neck of the woods.)