Some people think midsummer birding is boring.

Wow, are they wrong.

As we can personally attest, here's five reasons why you should go birding in July.

1) Odd Rarities: To paraphrase the great Forrest Gump, July is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re going to find! Just this week a fork-tailed flycatcher showed up at the Kennebunk Plains. A small flock (five juvenile) of white ibis appeared in York. A seaside sparrow made itself known in Scarborough Marsh. What’s next? You could be the one to make the next great rare bird discovery!

2) It’s Shorebird Season: Scan any area

 We have just celebrated the 249th Anniversary of the founding document of our nation — the Declaration of Independence. I have a direct family link to the facsimile text of the Declaration so widely published in recent days.  That text — carefully written out on vellum with a quill pen was the handiwork of Timothy Matlack, who is often called the Scribe of the Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in 1776.

Timothy was a Quaker and sometime small businessman who was called upon to draft various legal documents due to his skill with a quill pen. He joined the militia in a battle

I watched the predictable ‘drama’ play out in Washington two weeks ago. Senator Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, happily voted “Yes” to advance the “Big Beautiful” bill to the Senate floor; she could have stopped this abhorrent bill with that vote.

After making that critical “Yes” vote to bring the vote to the floor, she has gone on to make a big show about voting against the bill in the full Senate when she knew it would pass. Making her look like a “moderate,” something she’s not.

She knew this ““Big Beautiful” bill would cut Mainecare, leave more Mainers hungry, and

The first time you clearly hear the long, drawn-out whistled “weet-woo” of an upland sandpiper drifting into your ears across an open grassland or blueberry barren, you will be mesmerized.  Some have likened the sound to be as resonating as the cry of the loon, or howl of a wolf.

The upland sandpiper is a long-legged, long-necked bird roughly about half the size of a crow. It has yellow legs and a mostly yellow bill, with mottled brown-and-white plumage and a dark eye that looks too small for its small head.

Most other sandpipers are birds of wetlands, but the upland sandpiper nests in dry

Organizers of the Grindle Point Light Station Lighthouse Tower Celebration give thanks to all who attended the ribbon cutting. 

Walking our little black chug through the leafy streets of our neighborhood several times a day for years continues to give us an appreciation of the small things that can otherwise be easily missed in our daily lives. We notice when someone plants a new shrub in front of their house. We take notice when the first peonies start blooming.

Lately, we’ve noticed that the robins have started singing more vigorously again now that their first brood has fledged.

Over the years, we have tracked three cherry trees in our neighborhood, all within a mile of our house, that come into ripeness every

Senator Collins,

I know that you are under a lot of pressure to vote for this bill. I also know that it would be a stain on your reputation, and that of other Senators, to vote for the largest transfer of wealth in history from the poorest, most vulnerable to the richest, most selfish cohort.

The extreme gall of this agenda, the President’s finger to the populace, especially toward his own supporters, shows his indifference to the morals and American values he claims to support.

You have an enormously important position in the Senate through your hard work and successful career. Will you throw

Most songbird species only form flocks in the non-breeding season. Think of American robins, red-winged blackbirds, or chipping sparrows as a few examples. In migration or in winter, any of these species can be in flocks ranging from dozens to hundreds, or in the case of red-winged blackbirds, in the thousands.

Last week, we stopped under the shade of a roadside tree at our local grassland to listen to the sounds of summer breeding birds—the bubbling songs of the bobolinks, the sizzly tunes of the savannah sparrows. It was then that we noticed that the gravel roadside was sprinkled with

As many Pen Bay Pilot readers know, the next federal budget bill passed the House by one vote and is now before the Senate. But readers might not know that the bill would throw tens of thousands of Mainers off Medicaid, would cut funding for the Department of Education, and would cut funding for food and nutrition programs for Maine children and Maine families - and would give yet more tax breaks to billionaires.

Billionaires already pay far less in taxes than the rest of us. The average worker pays about 14% in federal income tax, while, according to ProPublica, the 25 richest Americans pay

To the No Kings March by the Democrat Party:

Where were you when Firemen, Police, Nurses and Armed Forces were fired for not taking the Covid shot?

Doctors who criticized the way Covid was being handled were censored under Biden.

Biden poured Covid money into the economy even it was not needed and caused nine percent inflation.

Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan; 13 Marines died and many were injured.

Lost millions of dollars’ worth of equipment left in Afghanistan.

Ukraine was invaded and Biden said it was a minor incursion and would not be serious.

Biden lifted Iran sanctions which gave them

Thank you, PBP, for your editorial on the No Kings Rally in Rockland. There is much there of interest. I was at the one in Belfast.

My very serious concern about all this is that most of those attending these rallies seem to believe that the current situation is because of Republicans and specifically MAGA supporters.

It is not.

Many, if not most, Democrats and Independents who voted for Trump were promised that their vote would get rid of the Deep State, reduce taxes on middle and lower classes and stop the constant wars, occupations and regime changes  the U.S. has recently waged.  

What is

The Knox County Fire Training Academy proudly announces the successful completion of its 2025 Firefighter I & II class. This dedicated group of 16 students, representing towns across Knox County and beyond—including Owls Head, Hope, Rockport, Rockland, Thomaston, Belfast, Freeport, Searsmont, Cushing, Union, Gardiner, and St. George—has completed one of the most rigorous foundational programs in the fire service.

The course demands approximately 180 hours of classroom instruction, in addition to countless hours of self-study and hands-on practice. Each student has shown exceptional commitment

Those of us who love birds and nature, and who recognize that the oxygen we breathe, the food we eat, and the clean water we need, are only possible because of nature, are always more than a little perplexed by the fact that government budgets never provide more than a minuscule token toward nature conservation and protection.

We’ll leave that conundrum for social scientists and politicians to explain.

Meanwhile, it’s already a given that, literally, only a tiny fraction of a penny of your tax dollars goes to programs that help the birds you love and that help keep the world healthy. On

 In his later years, the poet Walt Whitman wrote an essay entitled "Democratic Vistas", in which he posed a crucial question: Is there a great moral and religious civilization — the only justification for a great material one?

This query is timely in the era of Trump.

Whitman wrote in a time of economic excesses and concentrationof power in the hands of "Robber Barons."

Mark Twain labeled it the"Gilded Age" — shiny surfaces to cover deep injustices, public greed,and phony piety. 

This pattern is echoed in the Trump Administration with power vested in the ultra-rich — especially the tech

In our current Trumpian moment, anyone who criticizes the Dear Leader or his subservient toadies is targeted for bullying. Defiant ones are discredited as evil communists or socialist left-wing radical extremists. This is now the norm for undermining any attempt at civic discourse. Speaking for myself and other wild-eyed extremists that I know, we would love to be proud of a government that:

• Provides generous humanitarian assistance. America First should mean that U.S.AID leadership is always first in offering worldwide, compassionate aid where needed.
• Builds collaborative relationships with

The PenBay Pilot reporting on the June 14 parade in Washington, D.C., is among the most dishonest and biased depiction of the reasons for the event that I've seen anywhere.

On June 10 you wrote, The rally and demonstration will join with the nationwide No Kings events to be held in communities across America as a counterpoint to the planned military parade scheduled that day to honor President Donald Trump’s birthday."

On June 14 your reporter Sarah Thompson wrote, "Rockland's rally was scheduled weeks ago and is one of thousands held throughout the country as President Donald Trump held a

To the Voters of Camden:

Last week’s vote to approve the removal of Montgomery Dam by a decisive vote of 1391 to 995 was the result of a five-year long public discussion between the advocates for saving the dam and those who wanted to see it removed. 

The process leading to the vote was open and transparent. Scores upon scores of meetings were attended by members of the public both for and against dam removal.  We commend the diligent process the Town of Camden followed during arduous and often contentious discussions among the members of the public. 

The Town impaneled a citizens committee