From now through Christmas, the store will be open 7 days a week, so yesterday was out last Tuesday off to get out together. Therefore, despite a pessimistic forecast, Jeannette and I were out the door early, and one our way towards Camden.

Luckily, the rain came to an end just before sunrise, and after a leisurely breakfast at Moody’s Diner in Waldoboro and a quick stop to poke around Camden Harbor (I’m convinced that the small park between the library and the water will produce something really good someday – especially because of the good native fruit plants that have been planted there), we begun our hike in Camden Hills State Park under sunny skies, and rather balmy conditions, with temperatures already in the mid to upper 40’s.

We chose a hike that included the summit and ridgeline of Mount Megunticook, maximizing our time on the more coniferous north and west side of the mountain. One our way up a vociferous Pine Grosbeak flew over, and in the fog-shrouded summit 5 Pine Grosbeaks were perched atop spruces, calling back and forth.

While our time on the ridge was completely socked in with fog, once we began our decent, the sun began to peak out again as the last of the low clouds were being pushed offshore by a strengthening, and chillier, northwest wind.

Most of the second half of the hike passed through mostly deciduous forest, which was predictably very quiet. Our total bird count for the 5.7 mile hike, in addition to the aforementioned Pine Grosbeaks, included only 33 Black-capped Chickadees, 14 Golden-crowned Kinglets, 3 Downy Woodpeckers, 2 American Crows, 2 White-breasted Nuthatches, and a lone Hairy Woodpecker.

After a light lunch at the Camden Deli – and another quick check of the harbor park, we slowly birded our way back southwest, poking around Camden and Rockland Harbors for gulls, followed by Owl’s Head State Park, which produced 150+ Bonaparte’s Gulls, 50+ Black Guillemots, and our first Razorbill of the season.

Owl’s Head Harbor, the mouth of the Weskeag, and Weskeag Marsh were also checked, none of which produced much at all. Unfortunately, by 3:30, the sun was already too low for birding, as bird activity has mostly ceased for the day, so we headed back to Waldoboro for an early dinner.

Unfortunately, Morse’s Sauerkraut stopped serving at 4:00pm (we arrived at 4:10), which was a major downer, as this was one of our main motivations for heading in this direction today. Luckily, our day was saved when I remembered a suggestion to try the King Eider’s Pub in Damariscotta, which turned out to be an excellent meal, and a steaming glass of hot buttered rum was the perfect ending to a great day off (the last one for a while!).