BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 6, 2023
Enjoying the outdoors doesn’t always have to involve a long trek through the woods. Owned and managed by the Frenchman Bay Conservancy, the 8-acre Tidal Falls Preserve overlooks the reversing falls in the Taunton River. I’ve never failed to spot wildlife there. I then headed to the mainland section of Acadia National Park on the Schoodic Peninsula in Winter Harbor. I drove the park’s 6-mile loop road to picnic areas and pull-offs along the rocky coastline. For birds, I spotted buffleheads and long-tailed ducks, as well as red-breasted mergansers, eiders and loons. And I was stumped by one particular pale waterbird, which Bangor Daily News columnist Bob Duchesne later identified the bird as a black guillemot. Farther along the loop road, I stopped to walk across a cobble beach and listen to the unique sound that the smooth, round stones make as they’re tossed by the waves.