Poland Spring Campground

It was such a gorgeous day today - 50 degrees - sun streaming through my office window - bright blue sky -

Not thinking, I headed out on a walk without the snowshoes. About twenty steps later, I found myself knee deep in snow. Mumbling to myself, I reluctantly went back for snowshoes. Crunch, crunch, crunch, was the sound I made as I wound my way down the main street, through the playing field and out onto the trail along the edge of the lake. I wasn’t surprised to see a lot more open water today:

But I was surprised to find some tiny hints of spring! Like this patch of bare ground . . .

And evidence of beavers hard at work . . .

Homes being built:

And teeny, tiny buds on the trees . . .

In fact, I was so busy looking for spring, that I forgot to watch where I was going and before I knew it, I was knee deep in water. Whoo! And was it co-old! The hiking trail floods every spring in this ooooooone spot that winds oh-so-close to the edge of the lake.  But I didn’t see it was flooded because the trail was covered with three feet of snow!

After that, I sounded like this as I walked: Crunch, slosh, crunch, slosh, crunch, slosh.

Before heading home to take off my sopping wet boots, I checked on the eagles. As I came up to my viewing spot, I saw the nesting eagle up and moving around. She was probably poking at the nest a bit, or changing positions, because she sat back down before I could even focus on her. But with the blue sky behind her, you can easily see the top of her head -

Think spring everybody!

A special note to Sam W: sorry buddy, but there’s still a lot of snow on your site. I’ll keep you posted though.

Cookie and I took a walk to the point today. Poor thing, she’s been cooped up for a little over two weeks, what with Ben and I both so sick for so long. When I used the word “walk”, I swear she jumped and wiggled in mid-air!

I’m sorry to report, only the TOPS of the picnic tables can be seen as I walk through the campground. There’s still three to four feet of snow in most places, although I did see some bare ground too. I wore my snowshoes to make the trip easier.

When Cookie and I reached the lake’s edge, I was so glad I remembered the camera! Here’s proof, our eagles are nesting;

What do you mean, you don’t see anything? Right in the middle . . . there . . . don’t you see a white bump? That’s the top of her head. Hmmmm - how about this image?

The second eagle had flown in to feed the first. I’m not sure which is which, female or male. I’ve read that incubation duties are shared, but the female primarily does this job. So, it’s probably her on the nest.

I stayed to watch them for a bit. Getting a few more shots like this

before I heard splashing water. Heart in my throat, I scanned the ice. Sure enough, Cookie had fallen into a 3 foot wide hole, about 5 feet off shore. She was in over her head and although her front paws were on the ice, she couldn’t get her back legs up and out.

I ran around the point, trying to find something, anything, to lay across the ice and get to her. The docks were all too heavy or frozen to the ground. For twenty minutes I coaxed, demanded, pleaded, and begged. But it wasn’t until I tearfully called to her, “Cookie! I have to go home. I have to get David! I’ll be back!”

At the word “home” she started to cry and whine. She scrambled and dug at the ice until finally, she broke free! I fell to my knees and hugged her sopping wet neck.

She looked at me, like, “What? What’d I do?”

I now smell like wet dog. And wet dog has never smelled so good.

Today was a beautiful winter day! My friend Sue and I donned our snowshoes

and took a hike through the park.

Cookie came with us . . . kind of

We decided to take the path through the woods, then head alongside the edge of the lake for a bit before stepping onto it.

Unfortunately, I saw no eagles on or near their nest. But this isn’t unusual. They usually nest the very end of February to early March with babies hatching in April.

Still, I had to check!

I did see a pileated woodpecker though. I wasn’t quick enough with my camera to get you a picture, but now I know where he hangs out and I’ll try again another time. There were several trees in the area that looked like this: