Columns

Wiscasset Senior Center

The next public supper will be Oct. 16. The menu will consist of borscht (beet soup), salad, German rye bread, knockwurst/bratwurst, German red cabbage (rotkohl) and apples, spaetzle, broccoli and…

A Bird’s Tale

Snowy Storm in the Marsh

#bird-column, #jeff and allison wells, #boothbay register, #wiscasset newspaper, #penbay pilot, #birds, #maine, #weskeag marsh, #snowy egret, #great blue heron, #great egret

Another gorgeous September weekend day here in Maine and we were drawn to a peninsula that we haven’t visited much in recent years. We headed over to Thomaston and then drove south past the big…

A Bird’s Tale

Maine Coast Mudflats on a Fall Day in Freeport

#bird-column, #shorebirds, #Wolfe’s Neck Center, #Freeport, #Maine, #Jeff and Allison Wells, #birds

It’s a cool, early-September evening on the Maine coast. On the point across the water from where we’re standing, tall white pine trees create a light green curtain against the impossibly blue sky…

A Bird’s Tale

The Hidden Life that Drives the World

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #jeff and allison Wells, #maine, #cornell, #archie ammons, #mushrooms

Life forms that live all around us but that we never (or almost never) detect may be kind of freaky to think about. Viruses, bacteria, prions—those microscopic living (or maybe not really living,…

A Bird’s Tale

Migration or Something Else?

#bird-column, #bird migration, #migration, #birds, #boothbay register, #penbay pilot, #wiscasset newspaper, #jeff and allison wells, #maine, #american white pelican

We wrote last week about our luck visiting Wharton Point in Brunswick as the tide turned and shorebirds of various kinds made themselves visible on the expanding mudflats. Well, someone else was…

A Bird’s Tale

We Were Lucky

#bird-column, #birds, #jeff and allison wells, #maine, #boothbay register, #black-bellied plover, #wharton point

A few weeks ago, in early August, we were lucky.

Without having glanced at a tide chart, we happened to stop by Wharton Point in Brunswick just as the tide was receding from its high point…

A Bird’s Tale

Long Goodbyes and Short Hellos

#bird-column, #maine, #bird, #jeff and allison wells, #boothbay register, #gray catbird

On cooler, early evenings these August days, we have been out sitting comfortably on our porch, our little black dog happily beside us sniffing the air. We haven’t been using our noses but instead…

A Bird’s Tale

Winter in Summer

#bird-column, #birds, #boothbay register, #Jeff and Allison Wells, #maine, #winter wren

On one of the oppressively hot and humid summer days we have been experiencing lately, we had the good fortune to be at the cool, shady camp of brother Andy and sister-in-law Nina on the shore of…

The Weirdness Continues

#bird-column, #birds, #cicada, #boothbay register, #Jeff and Allison Wells, #maine, #anhinga

Over the weekend we decided to join in the birding fun that we wrote about in last week’s column…

A Bird’s Tale

A Tropical Visitor Enjoys a Maine Summer

#bird-column, #tropical kingbird, #boothbay register, #jeff and allison wells, #maine, #birds

We might be far from the tropics, but the temperature sure has felt downright tropical here in Maine (and across much of the nation) over the last few weeks. Maine and much of the country also got…

A Bird’s Tale

No Apologies for a Swift Response

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #jeff and allison wells, #birds, #maine, #chimney swifts, #bald eagles

We may have a recent preoccupation with swifts. They seem to have been finding their way into these columns a disproportionate number of times lately as compared to other birds. But we make no…

A Bird’s Tale

Summer Sex and Other Surprises

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #jeff and allison wells, #chimney swifts, #maine, #birds, #northern cardinal

June in Maine is when the miracle of new life abounds in birds. Most of the birds that breed in Maine—build nests, lay eggs, nurture their young—do so in June. This year, we have been happy to see…

A Bird’s Tale

Have You Seen These Lately?

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #jeff and allison wells, #maine, #birds, #indigo bunting

There are two birds in particular that are so striking, so tropical-looking, that most people think they’re rare here in Maine.

But they aren’t.

In fact they’re quite widespread…

A Bird’s Tale

Drawn to the Marsh by an Unknown Force

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #maine, #jeff and allison wells, #birds, #least bittern

It may have been an unconscious reaction to last week’s excessive heat, but over the weekend we were drawn to local lakes and marshes to look for birds. It is hard for us to believe, but some of…

A Bird’s Tale

A Good Season For Owls

Fledgling northern saw-whet owls look quite different from their parents with chocolate faces, a striking white "t" over the bill and orangey underparts. Photo by Kameron Perensovich, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sister-in-law Nina called, breathless, a few weeks ago. While walking the dogs along a quiet road in Georgetown, she was astonished to find a tiny, newly fledged saw-whet owl sitting on the back…

A Bird’s Tale

From Maine to the Big Apple

The authors spent some time in Midtown Manhattan where some of the birds made them think of home in Maine. Allison Wells photo

We’ve recently had the opportunity to spend some time in the Big Apple, otherwise known as New York City. There’s a lot going on down in that place – people streaming by on sidewalks everywhere.…

A Bird’s Tale

A Maine Island Like No Other

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #jeff and allison wells, #birds, #maine, #hog island, #osprey

Imagine a place on the Maine coast where your dinner conversation might range from talking with an Indigenous Guardian about the experience of living and working in a remote First Nation in…

A Bird’s Tale

A Rare Visitor from Far North

There is no doubt that the sight of an all-white, chicken-sized bird with feathered feet walking around on the ground somewhere here on the coast of Maine in spring would make just about anyone…

A Bird’s Tale

One Good Tern

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #Jeff and Allison Wells, #birds, #maine, #black tern

Over the weekend, we were out doing some errands in Augusta when it occurred to us that we could easily add one more “errand” into our itinerary. Only a few minutes farther north from the Augusta…

A Bird’s Tale

A New Place For Birding Awaits You

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #perham stream birding trail, #natural resources council of maine, #jeff and allison wells, #birds, #maine, #high peaks alliance, #birders

Looking for a new place to go birding? We’ve got just the place for you. It’s called the Perham Stream Birding Trail, and it’s located in Madrid, Maine.

For those who may be a little rusty…

A Bird’s Tale

Secret Messages

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #jeff and allison wells, #birds, #maine, #pine siskin

A few weeks ago on a fine spring day, we were walking our little black dog around the neighborhood. Walking up the hill on one of our favorite routes, we stopped in our tracks to enjoy the…

A Bird’s Tale

Departures and Arrivals

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #jeff and allison wells, #maine, #birds, #migration, #ruby-crowned kinglet

We’ve been serenaded most mornings this week by a loud, whistled “Old Sam Peabody-Peabody-Peabody”—the sweet sound of a white-throated sparrow tuning up the song that he will soon be singing…

A Bird’s Tale

Will the Southern Masked Impaler Return?

#bird-column, #loggerhead shrike, #rare birds, #maine, #jeff and allison wells, #boothbay register, #penbay pilot, #birds

Reading the rare bird sightings here in Maine in the past week could make you think you were in the southern U.S.. Summer tanager at a Portland cemetery. Another in the same Cape Elizabeth park…

Community of Hope

Coercive control: The bottom line in domestic abuse

Domestic abuse research and reporting often focus on physical violence. But this narrow frame may be misleading. Between 60% and 80% of domestic abuse survivors seeking outside supports (i.e.,…

A Bird’s Tale

Something Fishy Going On

#bird-column, #birds, #maine, #boothbay register, #jeff and allison wells, #bates college, #bowdoin college, #fish crows, #rugby

The early April snowstorm left most surfaces, even a week later, with several inches of snow. But the rugby field on the Bowdoin College campus in Brunswick, where we went to watch our son play on…

A Bird’s Tale

What Grizzly Bear Birds and the Eclipse Tell Us about Our Place in the Universe

#bird-column, #birds, #boothbay register, #total eclipse, #solar eclipse, #jeff and allison wells, #bohemian waxwing, #maine

There is something elemental about a solar eclipse that, for many people, causes an emotional response—a reckoning, perhaps, with the knowledge that we are tiny parts of a vast universe. That a…

A Bird’s Tale

A Mellow Tu-Tu-Tu Can Only Mean One Thing

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #birds, #maine, #jeff and allison wells, #university of iowa, #caitlin clark, #greater yellowlegs

A mellow “tu-tu-tu” echoing across the mudflats at low tide. The smell of salt and fragrant pine and spruce in the air. The spring sun trying valiantly to warm the still nippy morning air.

…

Where it’s at

John McEuen, and CCR music this weekend at the BBH Opera House

John McEuen. The Circle Band. March 30. Opera House. Got tickets? Courtesy of the venue

I’ve got another shout out for the Boomers out there this week. Cast your memory back to your teen years at the beach with your friends. What do you hear? The rhythmic sound of the ocean waves,…

A Bird’s Tale

Striking Gold, a Sure Sign of Spring

#bird-column, #Jeff and Allison Wells, #boothbay register, #maine, #birds, #american goldfinch

What’s your favorite sign of spring? Is it that first crocus pushing up through the last of the melting snow? Maybe it’s the gradually but refreshingly longer days.

For us, one of the most…

A Bird’s Tale

A Robin for Every Yard

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #jeff and allison wells, #american robin, #robin, #spring

On this morning’s walk around the neighborhood with our little dog, Loki, it was as if spring had soared in overnight. From every single yard, we heard the “pip-pip-pip” calls or the sweet “…

A Bird’s Tale

A Flock or Not?

#bird-column, #birds, #maine, #jeff and allison wells, #boothbay register, #flocks, #shorebirds

Last week we saw the sleek, black form of our first common grackle of the year sitting by itself in the top of the tall, leafless maple tree across the street from our home. Its harsh “check”…

A Bird’s Tale

The Things We Take for Granted

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #evening grosbeak, #Jeff and Allison Wells, #birds, #maine

We were driving on a rural road a few days ago when a flock of 30 or so wild turkeys came ambling slowly across in front of us, stopping traffic in both directions. Suddenly, a male turkey, his…

A Bird’s Tale

The Bird Economy

#bird-column, #economy, #jeff and allison wells, #boothbay register, #birds, #maine, #eastern meadowlark

The economy is in the news every day as the countdown to the presidential election is underway for real. Inflation, interest rates, GDP, stock indices, bond returns – the numbers of ways…

62nd annual Windjammer Days

Boatbuilder: Bill Haggett, former president of Bath Iron Works

The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit…

New Hope Midcoast

Economic abuse: Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars

Economic abuse can be just as devastating as physical abuse. To deny someone rightful access to money or basic resources is an attack on their fundamental existence. Managing and controlling one’s…

Salt ’n Spar

A possible future for Mason Station

Mason Station on Birch Point, Wiscasset was built by Central Maine Power Co. in the 1940s initially as a coal-fired electrical generating station. Later the plant was converted to burn oil. This picture from the entrance road was taken in the late 1970s. PHIL DI VECE photo

In January, I received an email from Ryan Gahagan, president of Mason Station Redevelopment Company LLC, based in Portland. His comments were in response to publication of a column I’d written…

A Bird’s Tale

The Birders’ Mardis Gras

#bird-column, #jeff and allison wells, #great backyard bird count, #mardis gras, #boothbay register, #birds, #maine, #american robin

The Birders’ Mardi Gras

The tradition of a February celebration has long been part of human history. A Carnival period, often in July, is a major tradition in many parts of the world, and…

A Bird’s Tale

Who to Follow?

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #Jeff and Allison Wells, #snow buntings, #maine, #birds

Deciding on which leader to follow is certainly occupying much of the media airspace for us humans in the U.S. at the moment and will be for months to come until the Presidential election.

…

A Bird’s Tale

Eagles on Ice

#bird-column, #Jeff and Allison Wells, #boothbay register, #birds, #maine, #Kennebec, #bald eagle

While it’s true that a certain Philadelphia-based football team is on ice after a recent playoff collapse against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the inspiration for this column comes from the real…

Community of Hope

Sharing Our Impact

Since it was launched last year, the goal of this column has been to raise awareness about domestic violence and its widespread effects on our communities, schools and workplaces. We hope it has…

A Bird’s Tale

Ten Million Birds?

#bird-column, #jeff and allison wells, #birds, #boothbay register, #maine, #seal river watershed, #black scoter

A watershed in the Canadian province of Manitoba almost half the size of the entire state of Maine and estimated to support more than ten million breeding birds took a significant step closer to…

Meanwhile back in the studio ...

Catching up with Doug Gimbel

Artist Douglas Gimbel in this year’s winter studio in Boothbay Harbor. LISA KRISTOFF/Boothbay Register

For about four years now I’ve been checking in with artists during the winter months to see what they may be working on. This year, because he’s in Maine and not Texas or New Orleans, I visited…

A Bird’s Tale

Fifteen Years of Hoping Finally Pays Off

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #jeff and allison wells, #short-eared owl, #birds, #maine

For more than 15 years we’ve been hoping.

We had said the phrase, “This is the perfect place for a short-eared owl,” so many times that it had become a kind of inside joke.

Birders…

A Bird’s Tale

The Dilemma

#bird-column, #hepatic tanager, #jeff and allison wells, #birds, #boothbay register, #birds

It was Saturday. Grocery shopping needed to be done. Prescriptions needed filling. The floors needed a vacuuming and the towels needed to be folded and put away.

A major snowstorm was…

A Bird’s Tale

West Meets East

#bird-column, #western birds, #Townsend’s warbler, #hepatic tanager, #jeff and allison wells, #boothbay register, #maine, #birds, #spotted towhee

Something unusual seems to be happening.

Here in Maine, it started off with the discovery of the western sibling species to our familiar eastern towhee, a spotted towhee, at Fort Foster in…

A Bird’s Tale

Mysterious Murmurations and Such

#bird-column, #Jeff and Allison Wells, #boothbay-register, #birds, #christmas bird count, #murmuration, #carolina wren

The Augusta area Christmas Bird Count took place Saturday, Dec. 16. It was a very mild day for mid-December, another in a series of rather mild days that increasingly have become the new normal as…

A Bird’s Tale

Does It Count?

#bird-column, #christmas bird count, #jeff and allison wells, #maine, #birds, #boothbay register, #evening grosbeak

Most people find birds beautiful, fascinating, even entrancing. Some recognize only a few that they see in the backyard and neighborhood—chickadees, crows, cardinals, blue jays. These they may…

A Bird’s Tale

One for Staying, One for Going

#bird-column, #maine’s favorite birds, #jeff and allison wells, #boothbay register, #maine, #birds

We’ve all faced the dilemma: We want to show our love or appreciation for someone through a gift at the holidays but what is something that reflects who they are and what they enjoy in life?…

A Bird’s Tale

Mysterious Visitors From Far Away Shores

#bird-column, #Jeff and Allison Wells, #boothbay register, #birds, #maine, #wilson’s storm-petrel

It sometimes seems hard to believe that so many mysteries still remain within the natural world, including within the most well-known group of wild creatures: birds! But new discoveries of all…

A Bird’s Tale

The Twisted History of the Turkey’s Name

#bird-column, #boothbay register, #maine, #birds, #turkey, #thanksgiving

The two most well-known birds in the world would have to be—no, not Steller’s sea-eagles, albatrosses, or hummingbirds—but two species that have probably become rather mundane in most of our…