SCENIC FLIGHT (Day 5 - part 5)
Originally we were going to visit Deer Isle, but it would be at least an hour farther out and traffic was probably going to be equally as bad in Stonington. Plus it was supposed to start raining later. So we headed back to Bangor.
On the way, we stopped at the Birdsacre Sanctuary in Ellsworth. This was originally the home of Cordelia J. Stanwood (1865 - 1958), an ornithologist and photographer. After she passed away, the estate was preserved as a wildlife sanctuary and opened to the public. The property encompasses over 200 acres and also rescues injured raptors.
There were miles of trails to wander ... but we just stayed in the bird rescue area.
We first visited the vultures and owls, then wandered down to the duck pond for a while.
Hi, Gauch!
The turkey vulture pen
The large birds were quiet curious!
The owl enclosure
Boris
Napoleon
St. Francis, who loved the birds
We watched a small squirrel for a while. After eating a small pine cone, it would race frantically across the ground, dive bomb into a hole hidden in the leaves, emerge with another pine cone, take it somewhere to eat it, then repeat the process. Several times!
The pond...
This goose was separated from the others by a fence. It honked repeatedly at them and they often replied. It seemed to get more and more frustrated that it couldn't get to them... when in reality, all it had to do was walk about 10 feet to the left and there was no more fence.
The same thing happened with a female mallard and her young. She and several of them easily slipped under a fence through a hole. But a few didn't follow and became nearly hysterical trying to get to her. Eventually they made it.
A foraging chipmunk
We ran into Napoleon again! Apparently there were different sides of his enclosure that he could go to. This was currently the sunny side.
Molta and Remige
We spent some time in the discovery center. It was filled with all kinds of taxidermied birds and lots of information. Unfortunately no photos were allowed.
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