#kristenlindquist

Maine’s early arriving birds of prey
Kristen Lindquist: The poetry of the harrier
Wed, 04/29/2020 - 12:15pm

This is the time of year when we become so desperate for signs of spring that we go on long drives to find them. One of our favorite spring drives, when not following a stay-at-home order, of course, is inland along Appleton Ridge. The greening blueberry barrens host a couple of early-arriving birds of prey that we especially look out for: the American Kestrel, our smallest falcon, and the Northern Harrier, formerly known as the Marsh Hawk. Poet and friend Kate Barnes, who lived on Appleton...
Something about the embracing mountains and blue bay stretching to the horizon
Kristen Lindquist: On Millay and Mount Battie
Tue, 03/10/2020 - 9:15pm

In honor of Maine’s 200th anniversary as a state this month, I offer up something a little different than my usual natural history, mixing it up a bit with Maine’s literary history. In February I participated in a poetry reading to mark the 128th birthday of local poet turned star Edna St. Vincent Millay. A few days later, I hiked up Mt. Battie. It occurred to me that a simple walk up this local landmark serves as a literary pilgrimage of sorts, to honor this famous daughter of Maine. At the...
most ducks are only seasonally monogamous
Kristen Lindquist: The season when ducks choose their mates
Fri, 02/28/2020 - 10:45pm

In his long poem “The Parlement of Foules,” Elizabethan era poet Geoffrey Chaucer shared the belief that birds choose their mates on St. Valentine’s Day. For waterfowl, this is not simply a poetic premise. Many ducks wintering here in Maine are beginning to pair off and form partnerships now for the breeding season ahead. In a month or two these pairs will migrate north together. And because they’ve already found one another and courted, they won’t need to waste time on the duck equivalent of...
Kristen Lindquist: Consider the Mourning Dove
Thu, 01/16/2020 - 12:00pm

It’s a chilly winter dusk as the last mauve shades of sunset fade from the sky. Overhead, a pair of birds flits quickly past, headed together to roost, a poignant sight in the dying light. From their long-tailed profiles and the whistling of their wings, I recognize them as Mourning Doves. It feels appropriate to see birds with such a name as the day passes away. The Mourning Dove’s name doesn’t come from its penchant for inspiring such nostalgic pathos at the end of the day, however, but for...
Kristen Lindquist: Feeding the wild birds this winter
Thu, 12/12/2019 - 2:45pm

You may have seen a recent report that bird populations have declined by over 3 billion birds, or by almost 30%, in the past fifty years. It’s not surprising: Birds run a daily gauntlet that includes pet cats, window collisions, habitat loss, and climate change. Thanks to global warming, in a few decades we might not even see chickadees at our bird feeders here in Maine anymore! So setting up a feeder or two in the yard, or adding another feeder to a current setup, seems like the least we might...
always keep an eye out for berries, the wild gems of our forests
Fall’s bounty of berries on Mt. Battie
Thu, 11/14/2019 - 1:00pm

The first snow fell recently on the summit of Mount Battie in Camden Hills State Park. Although wind had blown much of the snow off the exposed ledges when I arrived that morning, a light dusting still covered everything else. The wind picked up as I walked around. From what I could see and hear, no birds were active near the summit. I wasn’t surprised. Then I heard them: the unmistakable ringing calls of a flock of Canada Geese, a long vee of them just coming into sight above the trees. They...
monarch butterfly roosts high in some of the spruces and pines
Kristen Lindquist: Masses of Monarchs on Monhegan!
Sat, 10/26/2019 - 9:15pm

When I visited Monhegan, a small island about 10 miles off the coast of Maine, this past Labor Day weekend, I witnessed a heartening number of monarch caterpillars, chrysalides, and flying adult butterflies. As I noted in last month’s piece about the metamorphosis and fall migration of these amazing insects, this resurgence of monarchs may be a hopeful sign that the eastern US population, at least, had a good year. Then I returned to the island for a more extended stay a couple of weeks later...
a bountiful summer for monarchs in Maine
Kristen Lindquist: A resurgence of monarch butterflies?
Mon, 09/16/2019 - 7:00pm

During my annual fall pilgrimage to Monhegan Island to enjoy the spectacle of bird migration, I’ve found myself paying more and more attention in recent years to butterflies—especially the familiar monarch. Sure, it’s another creature with wings. But my attention to this striking tiger-striped insect goes well beyond that. For one thing, I’m not sure how much longer it will be around. Monarch populations have seriously declined over the past several decades. This has been observed anecdotally...
Kristen Lindquist: Goldfinches make the most of late summer
Thu, 08/15/2019 - 8:15am

By late summer, birdsong has quieted. Shorebirds’ southward migration is underway. Fledged birds—from sparrows to hawks—are newly on their own. Robins are considering a third nesting. And goldfinches... well, the goldfinches are just getting started. A very familiar backyard bird here in Maine and most of the United States, the male American Goldfinch’s bright yellow and black summer plumage makes him highly visible—and a favorite of many backyard bird-watchers. In fact, the species is so well...
Down East, periwinkles, called ‘wrinkles,’ are harvested for food
Kristen Lindquist: Pondering a pocketful of periwinkles
Sun, 07/21/2019 - 10:15am

Who here on the coast of Maine doesn't have their handful of shells, mussel shells on a windowsill, or little jar of periwinkles? Who doesn't pick up one or two from the beach each summer, to be found months later tucked in a pocket of an old sweatshirt? When I was a kid, I spent hours on a cobble beach near my grandparents' Lincolnville home, searching for whatever cool things I could find: cool rocks, fossils, starfish, shells. Periwinkles were by far the predominate shells on this shore...
Jupiter is currently 14 times brighter than the planet Saturn
Kristen Lindquist: Planet Jupiter, near and bright on a summer's night
Thu, 06/27/2019 - 2:30pm

While we were driving home to the Midcoast from an event in central Maine recently, just past sunset, fields of lush green grass glowed on either side of the car. As the passenger, I kept watch for whatever might appear on such a verdant stage: a deer or porcupine, perhaps, or maybe the twinkling of some early fireflies. What I saw instead: a herd of Holsteins with two calves playfully butting heads, the most fluorescent pink azalea I've ever seen, the first patch of blue lupine in full bloom...
Kristen Lindquist: Spring's avian virtuosos
Mon, 05/20/2019 - 10:15pm

As the trees begin to leaf out, songbirds are slowly but surely returning. Waking in the morning to birdsong feels like the renewal of some kind of blessing. Even on a bleak and chilly day in May (with snow in the forecast!), the backyard arias of robins and catbirds help lift the spirits. In recent days my mood was elevated even higher by hearing two of my favorite bird songs for the first time this season: Winter Wren and Bobolink. Neither of these birds is likely to show up in my Millville...
Kristen Lindquist: What to watch for now that it's (nominally) spring
Mon, 03/25/2019 - 3:00pm

According to the calendar, it's now officially spring. As those of us in Maine know full well, however, we could just as easily experience a blizzard at this point as a beautiful spring day. But as the planet's axis tilts the northern hemisphere closer to the sun, we will gradually begin to enjoy a little more daylight each day and feel a little less cold. And there are other signs to give us faith that we are moving out of winter. Songbirds While seeing a robin has...
if you keep them in water until the leaves emerge, rooted cuttings can be easily transplanted into soil
Kristen Lindquist: Pussy willows, spring's first flowers
Mon, 03/04/2019 - 1:15pm

A friend once told me that when he first moved to Maine years ago, to try homesteading in the boonies of Montville, his 80-year old neighbor told him that every winter she counted down the days till February 10. Why that date, he wondered. Because, she told him, that's when we start to feel the heat of the sun again here in Maine. Now that we're several weeks on the other side of February 10, we're not only starting to feel the heat of the sun again—other harbingers of spring are beginning to...
Great Horned Owl pair is nesting by late January, early February in Maine
Kristen Lindquist: Who-hoo-hoo's nesting in the winter?
Fri, 01/25/2019 - 9:45pm

When we think of springtime, we think of birds returning from southern climes to brighten our trees once more. Of waking to flourishes of birdsong each morning. Of birds pairing up and nesting. But for a few birds, by the time spring rolls around, that's all old news. By the start of the new year, Great Horned Owl couples have been carrying on pair-bonding courtship conversations for a few months already and have moved on to mating. Never mind the snow and bitter cold. For these owls, which may...
Kristen Lindquist: Celestial lights for the holidays
Sat, 11/24/2018 - 9:45am

Now is the season for lights: strung up on Christmas trees, along our porch eaves, on the holiday wreaths on the town lampposts, in shop windows, on the shrubbery in the front yard. As we approach the Winter Solstice, as our days shrink and nights lengthen, we seem to want to bring as much extra light as we can into our darkening lives. The heavens too offer an uplifting light show this time of year. The constellations of this season's sky, dominated by Orion the Hunter, often seem to...