Outdoors

Published
April 3, 2011

Birding: Galapagos residents enthrall visitors from Maine

In January, my colleague Sarah Gibbs and I journeyed to the Galapagos Islands with 24 Colby College students. I was able to visit two islands I had not visited on a trip to those wonderful islands last year. We flew from Quito to the airport on San Cristobal. The immigration line extended out of the […]
Published
April 3, 2011

Humanity for habitat

Students in a new program explore where the wild things are, then use what they've learned to create and preserve places for wildlife to thrive.
Published
April 3, 2011

Skiing in Maine: Joys of spring take sting out of season’s end

I think Dave Irons, author of “Sunday River: Honoring the Past, Embracing the Future,” put it best when he told me, “I can think of no sport where the end of the season is celebrated as we do in skiing.” To commemorate the season, I pulled together a panel of skiers, snowboarders and ne’er-do-wells to […]
Published
April 3, 2011

Outdoors Calendar

Hunter safety course, Monmouth Fish and Game, 6 to 9 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, and April 11 and 13; and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. The course covers 14 hours of required materials, plus three hours of strongly recommended work. Attendance at all classes is required. Register by calling Doug Beck at 513-6772. Registration […]
Published
April 3, 2011

Allen Afield: Baseball analogy puts fishing in perspective

Serious anglers enjoy a reputation for patience, and a recent baseball analogy enforced in my mind how the piscatorial crowd earned this praise. If a big-league hitter gets 25 hits in 100 times at bat, his batting average figures out to a ho-hum .250. If a batter gets an additional five more hits in those […]

Published
April 3, 2011

Snowmobiling: Late riding can be great in north and west

As the sun rises earlier and sets later, the gentle nudging of warmer weather is taming the harsh conditions of winter. This winter, most areas in Maine received above-average snowfall, but the amount of traffic on the trails is surprisingly light. It is one of the state’s best kept secrets — great snowmobiling in northern […]
Published
April 3, 2011

Outdoors Dispatches

GORHAM Webcams show falcons and eagles in their nests BioDiversity Research Institute (BRI) webcams have captured a peregrine falcon and a bald eagle laying their first eggs of the season. Visitors to the website, www.briloon.org, can watch the nesting activities of the falcon and eagle pairs in a 24-hour live feed offered to the public […]
Published
March 27, 2011

Deirdre Fleming: Biggest challenge: protecting deer habitat

With the announcement of the state’s deer plan by Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Chandler Woodcock on March 17, much appears on tap for Maine’s struggling whitetail herd. But the reality is there is scarcely any money to help repair a complicated problem that took 10 years to develop and could take twice […]
Published
March 27, 2011

Skiing in Maine: Kingfield museum keeps Maine ski history alive

If you have even a little interest in the storied history of the sport and/or business of skiing in Maine, and let’s assume you do if you’re reading this column, you owe yourself a visit to the Ski Museum of Maine on Main Street in Kingfield. What began as a mere idea in the minds […]
Published
March 27, 2011

What’s Up in April: Miss the super moon? April’s will be impressive, too

April is derived from the word Aprilis, which means aperture or opening. This is when the buds start to open as spring takes hold of this part of the northern hemisphere and begins to transform our landscape. The nights are already getting shorter, and the days are getting longer and warmer, which makes us want […]

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Outdoors