After a night of soft rain, in mid- morning on May 6, as I was reaching for the door knob of the end bedroom at Paradise Cottage, through the window I noticed the movement of a male cardinal flying from the burning bush. Outside, I went down the steps from the deck and halted when I saw a plump sparrow looking at me from the edge of the rhododendron, and a chickadee hopping out from underneath. Coming toward me along the branches of the clethra was a beautiful little flycatcher with its grey and white wing stripes and soft yellow and green head and breast blending to light grey. Up in the birch tree appeared a downy woodpecker pecking, and below him a black and white warbler searching for insects. All six of those singles presented themselves to me in less than two minutes!
On another occasion (photo at the top) a pileated woodpecker was on a stump just outside our Shop window. Since then one of them made short work of all these holes in a fir tree next to the path coming up the hill from Seanook. The taps were so rapid that the sound of all that drilling was a constant medium pitched drone.
Multiple guests saw seals from Seanook throughout the winter. This was a banner year for giant loon sightings, lots of fast swimming buffleheads, and soaring eagles galore. Surprisingly the mergansers had not left by the time ospreys, cormorants, great blue heron, and laughing gulls migrated back.
At dusk on May 8 we were returning from a walk down the road. As we neared Seanook, I noticed two humps in the water. Were they something floating? No, they moved, and then a small head popped up. As we discussed what it might be, a tail raised about three feet away from the head, splashed back into the water, and the whole being disappeared. It was a river otter.
The ladies staying at Seanook had first sighted it a month previous from the north living room window when it was draped over the rock that has our float mooring line attached. Betsy Simon had the presence of mind to get this video of it swimming. Wow! https://photos.app.goo.gl/7Vb2qFtA4WMMyXT49. I didn’t believe the ladies initially when they told me what they had seen, as other guests had spoken of seeing a seal there. This was the first sighting of a river otter that I know of in this area!
On the evening of May 10, seagulls had their annual Linekin Bay reunion party. I would have missed it had I not been paying attention, as there are fewer of them around now than in years past. Perhaps it was in 2002 that the din of seagull squawking and sputtering was so loud that people were attracted to come down here from Route 96 to witness the spectacle of hundreds of circling birds, just flying around, lighting on the water, and taking off again talking all the while. It happens when those that migrate return. The calls of laughing gulls are a big part of the celebration. This year it was a peaceful yet happy event in the fog with the pink glow of a sunset shining through.
Please enjoy the album. I will be adding photos whenever I have more to offer. https://photos.app.goo.gl/AreqhUMMCRzMKZCq8
From the front lawn of Seanook I witnessed a Snowy Egret flying by. First I thought it might be a Turn, but the neck bulge and the golden feet protruding out the back gave it away. Now to get a photo! (That is a hard thing to do when you are all relaxed just watching….) There were also tiny little Turns splashing into the water.
