During my walk along the Augusta Greenway on Friday last, I was surprised by a pair of eagles appearing overhead (see my previous post). Not long after that event, while sitting down on a stone block by the Kennebec Arsenal property, a lone osprey cruised north over the Kennebec river at about 40 feet. Suddenly, right in front of me, the bird dove straight down and Bam! It pulled out a fish and then, while I scrambled again to get my telephoto lens unlocked, auto focus engaged, camera turned ON!, it rose up off the water right toward me and then leveled off, heading to the right as if to show me the goods. What am I, an Inland Fish and Wildlife warden now? The overhanging trees are blocking some the view here, but thank the gods for all my Nikon and Tamron technology!

While walking along the Augusta Greenway on the east side of the Kennebec river in Augusta, Maine, today, I was approached by two eagles. After they briefly wrestled with each other above me, screeching the whole time, one went and sat on a branch ahead of me. Then, the bird leapt from the branch, flew over my position as you can see here. It did not threaten me (perhaps my 150-600mm zoom lens looked like a formidable weapon) and departed as fast as it had arrived.

The pace of Springtime has been somewhat slow in central Maine. We have not had snow in more than a month but really warm and consistent weather has been denied to us (which is usual, by the way, but lets me complain). But we did get a flurry of visitors a week or so ago. Here is the state bird!