BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 30, 2022
This is the last summer of a five-year survey to inventory Maine birds. I’m thrilled to survey the wildest parts of the state. Picture it. After a long day of walking the logging roads west of Moosehead Lake, I was finishing a good meal and a second glass of wine when a Canada lynx walked right up to the campsite. It was just before sunrise when I stepped outside the next morning, directly into the gaze of a suspicious moose. I froze. It froze. We just stared at each other. Later, I saw something I’ve never seen. A female northern harrier was beating wings toward me. She passed overhead, and greeted her mate coming loudly from the other end of the clearcut. As they passed over me, I watched in awe as he dropped a field mouse above her head. She caught the morsel in midair and returned to her side of the field. ~ Bob Duchesne