We hate to be the ones to say this, but could you think of a bird name that’s more boring than this: broad-winged hawk? What does the non-birder imagine when they hear that? Maybe a large, eagle-sized bird with wings as wide as a door? Or do they wonder whether most hawks have narrow wings—this particular “broad-winged” species just really stands out?

The truth is, broad-winged hawks are proportioned like the others in their family, known as buteos. True, their wings are wider than hawks such as falcons and accipiters (sharp-shinned hawks, for example) but  they are not noticeably broader

As our current elected officials foster immoral acts, engage in and promote violence against those in opposition, are blatantly corrupt, impulsively start foreign wars and admire dictators, we need to retain and appreciate those who truly believe and act in public service.

Chip Curry is a genuine public servant. He has served the people of Waldo County for six years.  He has demonstrated a measured, reasonable, undramatic approach to government and a willingness to work with others who are truly wanting to support Mainers. He is not vengeful or inflexible. Caring and compassionate, he

As a local stonemason, I have had the privilege of working on multiple projects for the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland. The first was leading Phase I of the historic restoration of the Olson House in Cushing, made famous by Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World. More recently, my company rebuilt the museum's front entrance, carefully salvaging and reusing the original Deer Isle granite.

Having the front entrance under construction as the busy summer season approached was obviously a significant concern for the Farnsworth. Unfortunately, during the project I suffered a pulmonary embolism. For a

Twenty four years ago, almost to the day, I met a girl. It was a set-up. I was in my late 20s, and had settled into a career that suited me. I had an apartment In the South End of Rockland and a couple of cats to keep me company. I had decided to enroll in a master's program in social work through the University of Maine’s Hutchinson Center in Belfast.

Up to that point, I had not been taking my dating life very seriously. I always knew I wanted a family, and, well, cats are great but not much for conversation. When one of my coworkers decided that I needed to be set up with a young woman who

Can a  partisan guy attend a  partisan event and report out a nonpartisan synopsis? 

We’ll see. 

Saturday morning found me driving north as I left for the U.S. Senator Nominating Convention of the Democratic Party in Bangor. I’ve been to numerous conventions, a few presidential swearing in celebrations, and this had some promise to be less excruciating, expensive, and time-consuming.  

After not much more than two weeks since Graham Platner flew too close to the sun and fell to earth the Democrats had hurriedly put together a open and legal process and it appeared to be working. 

I wasn’t sure

There are few better places to be on a torridly hot summer day than the cool ocean waters off the Maine coast. That’s where we found ourselves a few weeks ago during one of those near record-breaking hot days.

We were on the upper deck of the Hardy Boat out of New Harbor for the annual Natural Resources Council (NRCM) of Maine puffin trip to Eastern Egg Rock. Long-time friend  Steve Kress (the “prince of puffins”) and his wife Elissa were onboard, Steve providing his colorful narrative describing his story about his half-century long project restoring puffins to Eastern Egg Rock. It was our

BROOKSVILLE, Maine — Women survivors of domestic abuse gathered July 11 on the Blue Hill Peninsula from across Maine for a daylong Healing Together retreat hosted by Finding Our Voices.

The 22 participants came from all walks of life and ranged in age from 20s to 70s. They convened at Sea Winds, a cherished landmark in Brooksville, to rebuild the confidence and community that intimate partners who claimed to love them had insidiously and classically robbed from them. “I didn’t realize other women had gone through this,” said one of the participants after a circle time of sharing invariably

It is really easy for those of us from Maine, and those of us who have lived here fulltime for a number of years, to forget just what a tiny place our state is, at least in the number of people who make it home.

A place that generally escapes notice from the rest of the world. The place with lobsters, the place where that fella who writes the scary books lives. Recently, Maine has gotten some national attention, and not for great things. First a candidate for U.S. Senate in a race representing our nation’s deep and close divide had his campaign implode in a dramatic and embarrassing way

Yes, elections have consequences. One of the places Camden finds itself as a result of the June election is at the start of a new path, one of possibilities not imagined by the last town administrators. Instead of splitting ourselves apart over issues, suffering from a lack of leadership, unable to imagine the town we’d like to inhabit a year, or three or five years from now, we now get to set forth in an exciting new direction.

Now is the time to put grievances behind us. Last spring, candidates for Camden’s Select Board spoke about the need for town unity, suggesting community-based events

Terns eat fish. We all know that (don’t we?). Many’s the time we have watched these graceful, long-winged birds hovering over the ocean surface before plunging down into the water headfirst or with a dramatic swoop to snatch up a manageable fish.

But wait.

Surprise, surprise—not all terns specialize in fish (and even those that sometimes eat things other than fish).

The Maine birding world has been abuzz this past week by the appearance of a tern species that is famous for eating things other than fish. A gull-billed tern appeared at Popham Beach a few weeks ago and has since been spending

Elections have consequences.

That phrase is often treated as political, depending on who says it and who hears it, but the statement itself is true.  Elections change leadership.  They change priorities.  They change the tone of a community.

Camden has just come through its June Town Meeting and now has a new Select Board, with a new Chair.  That is the normal process of local democracy.  New boards have the right to set priorities, ask hard questions, and sometimes make big changes, but they also have a responsibility to be careful.

In my opinion, Camden’s decision to part ways with Town

Yesterday we celebrated the Fourth of July, and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The birthday of the United States.

For the eighth year running we marked the occasion on a little piece of land on the shore, with our new found family. 

Back in early 2018, two people still grieving their partners of 50 years met each other. My wife made me aware that some guy in a big black truck had picked up my mother for a “drive’. Never a family to keep secrets, we soon met this mysterious gentleman, Don French, and he, and his family, have been part of our lives ever

Over the weekend of June 27, our Maine neighbor Dhavalkumar Patel was taken from his place of occupation while working. Mr. Patel is the owner of a grocery store and small restaurant in Friendship. Mr. Patel was behind a counter when ICE officers came into his business during working hours, handcuffed him and took him away in their vehicle. 

As we have learned since this event occurred, Mr. Patel was given no verbal or written information as to why he was being forcibly removed from his property.  There are many questions related to this assault which his family, his friends and neighbors

We are fortunate to have a very leafy green neighborhood. Maples, ash, ornamental crabapples, the occasion red oak, a few black locust—the sightline from our porch in June and July is of beautiful verdant curtains made up of thousands of leaves and with the rounded green domes of taller trees reaching up into the sky behind houses and along distant streets.

There is, though, this one tree. An elm, across the street, whose top branches lost all their leaves a few years ago.

Since then, it has become one of the most popular spots in town for chimney swifts. They fly into the tangle of thin dead

It was around 25 years ago that we built the sauna.

Backyard saunas are an odd feature of Midcoast Maine, surprisingly common due to a long ago influx of Scandinavian immigrants, mostly Fins. There is no close Scandinavian ancestry in this family, but back in the 1970s, my parents got the idea to build a sauna in the barn.

The sauna was removed when that part of the barn was converted into the weaving shop, and frankly, having a room designed to get that hot in an old tinderbox of a barn seems like a questionable idea in the first place.

My old man did love a sauna though, and the idea of

Oystercatcher. It’s an evocative name. Even if you didn’t know that it refers to a bird, you would probably imagine some living thing that catches oysters. Even without considering its wonderful name, the American oystercatcher (there are 11 other oystercatcher species worldwide) is a memorable species. Its big, bright orange bill, black head, orange ring around the eye and bold white stripe visible against its otherwise dark brown wings and back—this all makes for a striking sight. Add in its loud, piping, whistled calls and you have a bird that is somewhere between a garish clown and an