Birds

 8/29- Rockland ME

   We spent the morning dodging raindrops as we some scattered showers rolling through. We did get into shore to run some errands and do laundry. We made it back out without getting too wet in the afternoon. 

   From my perch here in the cockpit of our boat I can observe many birds. There is of course the ubiquitous gull who is forever scavenging for food. Then there are the terns swooping and diving. I have no idea what they eat but it sure looks like they must pull some g forces with the maneuvers they do. The osprey are always around whistling and crashing into the water. They are the biggest pains as they love to sit on your windex’s and bend them. I watched an osprey the other day leave a fish at the top of someone’s mast. You know that will be a nice surprise when a week old fish lands on your deck from 50 feet up. We occasionally see eagles but Rockland is too busy for them. The herons are also around and you can always tell them by the hacking noise they make. They look pretty prehistoric. 

   Then we get to the ducks and other birds that live on the surface. Cormorant are an interesting bird in that they are much better swimmers than flyers. Our favorite is the Guillemots. They are cute diving birds that are kind of like a puffin. 

    All these birds are crisscrossing back and forth in front of me. I sometimes think there should be an air traffic controller to regulate the traffic. It’s all good though as they do provide a level of entertainment. 

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