Staff photo by Andy Molloy

A Red-winged Blackbird chases a Turkey Vulture from a wetland Thursday in Hallowell. A flock of the vultures was roosting above a carcass when the Red-winged Blackbird gave chase. Turkey Vultures detect deceased animals to consume with the superior sense of smell it possesses.

Staff photo/TRAVIS BARRETT

After the first 90 minutes of sucking down coffee in the middle of the night, trying to keep my eyes from slamming shut and muttering to myself about having forgotten a warmer jacket, I thought there was no way I was going to survive a birding "marathon."

Just 90 minutes after sunrise some 5 hours later, I still wasn't so sure.

In between there were bard owls swooping overhead, trees filled with the beautiful songs of warblers, bald eagles, wild turkeys and gulls and ducks galore.

But one of the things that struck me most was that a birding "marathon" can be every bit as competitive as the traditional running race of the same name. There's game-planning, marathon strategy, endurance techniques and, well, the will to win.

Participants are trying to identify -- usually by sound -- as many bird species as possible in a 24-hour span.

"Some people find it troublesome. They like the idea of this purity, the
pure outdoor enjoyment kind of thing," said Jeff Wells of Gardiner, a local ornithologist who has participated in the World Series of Birding in Cape May, N.J., in the past. "People enjoy certain kinds of sports for purity’s sake. I enjoy being able to press my skills, as esoteric as they are, to the limit. There’s not much call for that in everyday life.

"If you’re good at any sport or activity, having the chance to flex those
skills is enjoyable. I enjoy that."

Even if he has to stay up all night.

Read the complete story in today's Kennebec Journal.

So, the Little Man wants to know what kind of animals are out there in the dark, anyway?

He sure is a sight as he asks, too. All 4 1/2 years wadded up in a hooded sweatshirt, Red Sox cap and rubber boots thrown on over his camouflaged pajamas just before 9 p.m. — on a schoolnight, no less. He holds the flashlight as if he's trying to spot something 30 feet away, not 3 feet below his chest.

"It's like we're fishing for worms," he says, glancing over his shoulder to make sure there's no scary monster he can't see in the darkness. "It's like we're trying to catch them and put them in worm jail where they will die."

"But we don't want them to die," I tell him.

"Why not?"

"Because we want them to be alive, wiggling so that the fish will see them and want to eat them," I tell him.

He may not be convinced, though I am.

I was reading in an issue of Field & Stream magazine that live bait — despite all our advances in lures of all types, soft and hard, floating and sinking — still works best. Nature prefers things natural. It's the same reason we try and "match the hatch" with our fly rods.

It's also strange for me to play the role of "Dad" in the darkness, scouring the dooryard for nightcrawlers. But it remains one of many important steps I must take to pass on the outdoors heritage to the next generation.

Trying to use skinny fingers to beat nightcrawlers back into the ground is a simple step, but one that could one day hold the magic for Little Man the way it did for me as a boy.

And, as magical and mythical as the night can be, won't the process be even more magnficent for him the minute he hooks into a hungry little smallmouth bass — caught on the very same worm he arrested, booked and put into "worm jail" a couple of days before?

As long as they don't die.

It was more 16 miles of challenging terrain, terrain covering all sorts of circumstances.

A mile and a half of uncut hiking trail. Eight miles of obstacle-ridden mountain bike trail. Seven miles in a canoe on the Baskahegan Stream.

And just 2 Lawrence High School students trying to cover the course in less time than 8 other teams of high school students.

Seniors Bow Willoughby and Tyler Hienrich of Fairfield finished 4th in the East Grand Adventure Race, completing the course in a time of 2 hours, 56 minutes last Saturday. The East Grand team of Harvey and Abe Brittain were the day's winners in a time of 2:25.

Think Bear Grylls of Discovery's "Man vs. Wild" meets CBS's "The Amazing Race." Along the way teams encountered everything from newborn moose to washed-out culverts.

"Not only did the event promote good physical exercise," said event organizer Dave Conley of East Grand High School, "(but) it was a fun way to get young people involved with the outdoors while imroving on wilderness traveling skills."

Photo by Andy Molloy

A variety of songbirds displaying a mix of colors and sounds have arrived on the Kennebec River this week in Maine.

Noted bear-hunting guide Wayne Bosowicz of Sebec will be on hand for the grand opening of the Cabela's store in Scarborough this weekend.

Bosowicz, who has been guiding at Foggy Mountain Guide Serivce for more than 30 years, will be on hand from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday for people interested in meeting him and talking about bear hunting.

Bosowicz is part of a number of nationally-recognized outdoorsmen who will be at the new Cabela's all weekend long.

The cheering will likely be heard all the way down the river this summer -- whichever river they choose.

Northern Outdoors, an outdoor adventure resort in The Forks, has been honored as an "Editors' Choice" by Yankee Magazine.

Yankee Magazine's "Travel Guide to New England" is on sale through August.

Compiled from the experiences of Yankee Magazine editors and writers,
the Editors' Choice highlights favorite restaurants, overnight
accommodations, and attractions from across New England, with
information and resources categorized by state and region.

"Yankee's editors and our trusted legion of travel writers select our
Editors' Choice winners," said Yankee editor Mel Allen. "From their
own experiences and tips from our readers, they research and find the
most deserving establishments in New England. Recipients range from
the rustic to the refined, but all are noteworthy and memorable
destinations."

For more than 30 years, Yankee Magazine's "Travel Guide to New England"
has been the most widely distributed and best-selling guide in the
six-state region, providing readers with a comprehensive vacation
planning tool and daily reference.

In 1976, Northern Outdoors introduced guided whitewater rafting to
Maine with the very first inflatable raft decent of the Kennebec River. Since then, Northern Outdoors has grown into a premier four-season
resort offering rafting on three rivers, snowmobiling, GPS treasure
hunts, family adventures and more.

Northern Outdoors will also be recommended on YankeeMagazine.com.

The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has a great new service for Maine's fishermen.

Now, instead of having to peruse the season's listings all at once or hoping to catch a glimpse of a hatchery truck pulling up to your favorite not-so-secret fishing spot, DIF&W is updating its stocking reports daily.

That means you can find out what fish are being put where -- and when. That will certainly help take the guesswork out of early-spring angling, which can be touch and go at times.

Waters are grouped by county, listed by town, and include the date of stocking as well as the species, quantity, and size of fish released. Click here to see the updated fish stocking report page.

I know better than this, but blinded by a nice spring morning and biting fish I kind of forgot.

And I nearly paid a pretty good price for it, too.

Thankfully, I was on familiar ground -- a typical choice for me being McGrath Pond in Oakland. It's 5 minutes from the house and perfect for plunking the canoe into the water for the first time in the season. It was cold and breezy, but the few smallmouth bass in the pond were at least interested in what I had to offer at the end of my line.

But I wasn't quite satisfied with what I had in front of me. Looking at 3 cormorants lined up on the rocks jutting out from a small island, I knew they had to know where the fish were congregating -- and I'd had luck out there in summers past.

Not thinking, I pointed the canoe toward the island and paddled.

The stiff wind, though, pushed me right on past the island and into a cove on the oppposite shore. I stupidly thought the wind would die down, so I waited on the chance to paddle back across. It never came.

Two tries later, two 180-degree turns later, I was still in the cove with no hope of paddling across by myself. I found an open swath of grass on the property and pulled the canoe ashore. Then I called my wife and told her I was going to need help.

I had to walk more than a mile along a twisted labyrinth of roads to get back to my car -- then drive back down the road marked "PRIVATE" and to the lawn where I'd left my canoe under the "NO TRESPASSING" sign.

I loaded up and made a quick escape, more embarrassed about having been so careless on the water than about having been on someone else's property. I'm fairly certain it could have been easily been explained.

Moral of the story? Even when you know where you are, even when you're sure you know what you're doing, caution has to be front and center. Consequences can be disastrous -- far more so than hopping out of a canoe on a shore a mile from the launch site -- if you don't.

No matter how many fish you can catch out by that island in a 20 mph wind...

-- TB

Staff photo/TRAVIS BARRETT

Look, I'll put it right out there. I'm not the heartiest of hearty souls.

Not by a long shot.

That, at least to me, makes it even more impressive to see a group of more than 100 people fishing in a steady rain on a day when the temperature never gets out of the mid-40s. That's just plain cold and raw, and these people all fished for 8 solid hours.

It's a lot to ask. But, in some ways, it's not a lot to ask at all. The 59 2-person teams were all competing in the Maine Bass Open, held for the 19th year at Andy Wess' Lakeside Motel and Cabins on the shores of Cobbossee Lake. Better yet, the tournament is a fundraiser for Maine Special Olympics -- always has been.

About the only unfortunate part of the entire event, held last Sunday, was seeing a team "from away" win the overall title with an 8-fish total of more than 32 pounds, highlighted by a 7.55-pound largemouth bass.

That's a lot of fish to be caught on a day when the water temperatures rivaled the air temps.

Read the complete story in Tuesday's Kennebec Journal.

Even if you couldn't make it to the event, you can still help out. To find out how to donate to Maine Special Olympics, click here.

-- TB

I've got a few random thoughts rattling around my head after a soggy weekend in the bush...

* It's a beautiful thing, being in the woods before sunrise, listening to all of the sounds. The songbirds as they greet the day, the wild turkeys gobbling off in the distance, the relentless hammering of woodpeckers.

Two toddlers in the house, plus an odd work schedule that isn't really on a schedule at all, makes early mornings difficult in the best of times. Still, every time I make the decision to get out while it's dark, I'm never disappointed.

* You know you're getting a little punchy there, junior, when a dog barking in the distance sounds like a tom answering your call.

* Kudos to the 118 anglers -- paired off into 59 teams -- that made it out to the Maine Open B.A.S.S. Tournament on Cobbossee Lake on Sunday.

It was wet, cold and rough going on the open water. But, as one of the fishermen put it, "Other than that, it was perfect."

* It's officially open water fishing season now. How do I know?

Well, it had nothing to do with ice-out or water temperatures and everything to do with permission. As in, when my wife turned to me and said, "You really ought to try to touch water with the canoe this weekend," I knew I was good to go.

* The red-winged blackbirds are back. It must be spring.

-- TB

Staff photo by Andy Molloy

A ruffed grouse challenges a visitor Friday in Augusta. The most common upland game bird in Maine, the ruffed grouse - or partridge - is encountered in woodlots across southern Maine.

With spring breeding season under way, male grouse are often heard drumming their wings to solicit the companionship of hens.

The partridge courtship only lasts a few days.

Females go it alone, seeking nests at the base of trees, under piles of slash and along overgrown stone walls. When encountered while roosting on eggs, the female may display a “broken wing” to draw predators away from nests.

Staff photo/TRAVIS BARRETT

There's family rivalry, and then there's family rivalry.

For the Gurneys, father Richard and daughter Andrea, it went to new heights this week.

After poking, prodding, pleading and perplexion, Richard finally coaxed 11-year-old Andrea out for an hour-long turkey hunt on Maine's Youth Day last weekend. It took Andrea all of 50 minutes to shoot the 4th-heaviest tom in Maine's brief turkey hunting history.

The hunt started in earnest in 1995, the first year the state issued more than 500 permits to hunters.

Two days later, Richard shot a much smaller bird. That led to plenty of ribbing from his daughter.

"Maybe next time, Dad," she said.

Andrea's 24-pound, 6-ounce turkey scored an overall Maine Antler Skull and Trophy Club number of 64.125 -- far and away the clubhouse leader in the Youth category. Had she not shot off part of one of the bird's spurs, her turkey would have ranked even higher than its 27th on the traditional bird list.

Read the complete story in today's Kennebec Journal.

This won't qualify as any kind of a ground-breaking blog entry, but it's important stuff, nonetheless.

Central Maine waters are still icy cold, and that means being prepared. If you are out in a boat, canoe or kayak -- which the Maine Warden Service is urging against right now -- it's important to keep a few things in mind.

Here are some cold water survival tips from the MWS:

*Always tell someone where you are going and when you expect to return. When taking the boat out early in the season, and especially when hunting and fishing, form a group and take several boats along.

* Dress properly for the cold. Several layers of light clothing offer better protection than a single heavy layer. Next to a diver’s wet suit, wool or polypropylene offers the best protection.

* Always wear your life jacket when on the water. It is extremely difficult to put on a life jacket in cold water.

* If you do find yourself in cold water, try not to panic. Think survival. Keep movement to a minimum and if you do have to tread water, do it slowly. This will reduce heat loss and aid retention of the air trapped inside your clothing, which can provide buoyancy and insulation. If you find yourself in swift water, float and point your toes downstream.