On Tuesday, Jeannette and I decided to do a bit of exploring in Lisbon. Our primary destination was Beaver Park. But first, we had to check out breakfast at the Railroad Diner in Lisbon Falls, which turned out not only to be very good, but also large quantities for very little money! The first stop was a success.

On our way to Beaver Park, I noticed Miller Park and the Papermill Road Trail. We don’t drive this stretch of 196 very often, and we hadn’t noticed this new park before. It’s a 0.8 mile paved multipurpose trail along the Sabattus River. The scrubby riparian understory and mixed woods look like they would be very good in migration, especially for early migrants in April. A weedy field at the north end looked good for sparrows in the fall, where and Indigo Bunting was singing today. We were already planning to add this site to the list when we happened upon an active feeding flock that contained a pair of American Redstarts with two fledglings, 3-4 basic plumaged Chestnut-sided Warbers, 2 Red-eyed Vireos, and a female Canada Warbler among a group of Black-capped Chickadees and Tufted Titmice. Yup, this park is added to the list.

We didn’t have as much success when we finally reached Beaver Park (off of Cotton Rd, not far from Lisbon center). However, the mixed woods dominated by White Pine, Red Oak, and Red Maple, interspersed with patched of White (?) Spruce, Eastern Hemlock, Red Pine, etc looks like it will be worth another visit when breeding birds are more actively singing, such as in June. Not much today thought, but a Canada Warbler was still singing. Mostly though, we heard the buzzing of deer flies – no shortage of these guys here, much to Sasha’s chagrin.

We needed more of these guys . . . Robber Flies. Here one enjoying its Deer Fly lunch.

So, this weekend is a big one at the store – it’s our 3-YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

To celebrate this milestone, we’ve lined up a bunch of fun stuff:
All Weekend:
Free, fresh popcorn (I take any excuse I can to rent a popcorn machine!)
Free, iced shade-grown (bird-friendly)organic coffee, and other beverages!
Special Markdowns around the store.

And these FREE EVENTS:
8:00am – 10:30am – Free Bird Walk, as usual! Meet at the store to carpool to a local park. Bring binoculars.
11:00am – 12:00pm – “Scales and Tails”: a program given by the Chewonki Foundation featuring LIVE REPTILES!
12:30pm – 12:45pm – Children’s Book Reading. Local author and illustrator Sunshine Young of Pownal will read from her new book Mother Earth’s ABC.
1:00pm – 2:00pm – “Birds of Prey”: also by the Chewonki Foundation, featuring LIVE RAPTORS!

On Sunday, August 12th, join us for a bonus free birdwalk (meet at the store at 8:00am).

Door Prizes to be given out every hour, plus one Grand Prize compliments of Photographer Kirk Rogers!

Hope to see you this weekend!