The view today shows a bright blue
sky and lake with ripples caused by a northwest wind. The trees are
turning and should be brilliant soon. The ducks are flying by at an
accelerated rate. The summer that wasn’t is gone. Autumn is definitely
here. The prediction for tonight is widespread frost and a hard freeze
possible.
Let me introduce myself; my name is
Harriet Doolittle and I come to Maine each year from Pine Hill, NJ. I
am a retired veterinarian/college educator. In 1970 I purchased this
piece of land from Bill and Althea King of West Poland. There was a
small cabin on the land, which served as a day camp. Starting in 1976,
I had my deck and log cabin built by Irving W. Groves of Poland Mining
Camps; the project was completed in 1984. I have spent 12 weeks of the
summer here since 1972 and, after retiring in 2000, I have been able to
stay for 5 ½ months, mid-May until the end of October.
This summer I responded to the
notice in the TLIA newsletter for a bird-a-thon. I have always fed the
seed-eating birds, planted lots of flowers in containers for the
hummingbirds and kept a careful watch of the trees and lake for the
other birds. My parents always had bird feeders in our back yard so I
grew up with feeding and identifying birds as a routine activity.
This area on the west side of Tripp
Lake is especially rich in bird life. There are four different habitats
from the hay fields at the top of Fernald road down through the conifer
and hardwood forest to the wetlands surrounding this point of land to
the lake itself. Watching, identifying and jotting down the names of the
birds, as they appeared this summer from May 16 to Aug. 10 produced a
list of 30 species. Checking lists from other summers I found I was
missing about six species; three of these have appeared since Aug. 10
but the others don’t seem to be around this year.
Imagine my surprise and pleasure
when Judy King appeared at my door one afternoon with the news that I
had recorded the most species of birds. And she brought me a prize of a
lovely new bird feeder!! Mrs. King and I had a nice chat and agreed
that having a cabin/cottage on Tripp Lake was indeed a ” little piece of
heaven.” Mrs. King’s exuberant enthusiasm renewed my joy in having this
special place that has been my spot for physical, emotional and
spiritual re-creation, rejuvenation and renewal. Thank you, Mrs. King;
keep on with your good work.
I feel that the rich bird life is
an important barometer showing how we are doing as environmental
conservators, especially the water and fishing birds. As long as the
ducks, geese, mergansers, loons, herons, bald eagles and ospreys are
around, we are probably doing our job. Over the last three years I have
noticed a steady decrease in the number of frogs calling around my camp.
This is a problem observed in wetlands and lakes all over the Northeast.
The biologists have yet to pinpoint the exact cause of this but it must
have something to do with air and water pollution. Frogs would be more
sensitive to these pollutants since they absorb oxygen both through
their lungs from the air and through their skin from the water. The
photo of the Great Blue Heron catching chipmunks around the stone wall
that was in the TLIA newsletter last fall was interesting. Is this usual
behavior or is it a response to the decrease in the number of frogs as
their usual prey? Has anybody heard or read any theories about this?
So, we all have our work cut out
for us. We are the temporary stewards of these little pieces of heaven
nestled around the shores of Tripp Lake. The TLIA has long worked hard
to preserve the quality of life in and around the lake. We have
dedicated and devoted leaders in our officers and board members. We
should support and help them in any way that we can.
Thank you for the bird-a-thon, my
new feeder and a chance to contribute to the newsletter.
Harriet A Doolittle, VMD Oct. 6,
2004. Hadvmd@aol.com