I grabbed my camera, and my rain gear (yes, the monsoon that is “Summer 2009 in Maine” continues) and headed off.

When I first got there all that was visible were two dark brown spots–his ears. Apparently the moose had been feeding earlier (when the TV folks got their photo), but now he was frustrating all the curious onlookers by taking a rest.

(I say “he” because it appears the moose had the beginnings of some antlers.)

For the next hour and a half that’s about all there was to see: two dark ears sticking out of the foliage. And, a bit of a traffic jam on the  adjacent bridge.

Every now and then the ears would twitch and the crowd would twitter (in the old fashioned sense.)

The ones of us who stuck it out in the rain eventually got our payoff. The moose got to his feet, grazed on more foliage, explored the island, and the most exciting part was when he considered an escape via the Androscoggin. He entered the water, swam out a bit, but then he returned to the island.

The water in this area, coming off the dam, is very fast, and that’s probably what chased him back to the island. He was lying back down and night was falling when I decided to call it a wrap.

The story, found here is my source for information (other than what I witnessed in person), with one correction: The moose is not visible from U.S. Route 1. Route 1 runs alongside the Androscoggin River for maybe a mile, but the restored Cabot Mill, now known as the Fort Andross office and retail complex, blocks all view of the island from Route 1. The bridge for Maine Route 24, however, offers a great view of the island and even has a pedestrian walkway, which provides a safe spot for moose watching. I took most of these images from the bridge’s pedestrian walkway where you see these folks standing.

Wildlife officials were guessing he went over the dam immediately above the island; he doesn’t appear to have sustained any injury from the wild ride.

Moose are common in Northern and Western Maine, but not so common in Southern Maine, despite the fact that the first moose I saw after moving to Maine was only a few miles away, in Topsham. Intent on photographing moose, I had enthusiastically purchased Bill Silliker’s Maine Moose Watchers Guide and I had doggedly pursued the beast, making several trips to Moosehead Lake with the book on the passenger’s seat of the car. I followed all the tips, but each time came home with no moose pictures.

Months later, on assignment for the Bangor Daily New, I was on my way to Brunswick to photograph the annual Memorial Day parade when I spotted a moose  in a clearing alongside the Topsham exit from Interstate 295.  All that work I’d done to find a moose, and instead I just had to wait for the moose to find me.

Which I guess goes to show that while we may not have a lot of moose in the Brunswick area, our moose apparently aren’t as elusive as their Moosehead Lake cousins.

Wildlife officials estimate there is enough foliage on the island to sustain the moose for two weeks, and they say they aren’t making plans at this point to remove him. So, grab your camera, your binoculars and your kids, and drive over to the Androscoggin for Maine Moose Watching at its easiest.

P.S. Visit the Times Record online for their poll on what the moose should be named.

Nothing says “Fourth of July is right around the corner” like Maine strawberries. The sweet gems are one of summer’s many delights in Maine.

If you have the time, pack the kids in the car and harvest your own.

The Get Real Maine website of the Department of Agriculture  is chock full of information on pick-your-own farms.

It’s very easy to find a farm near you.

Or, if you don’t have the time, pick up berries at your local farmers’ market.

Get Real can also help you find a farmers markets nearby.

(The luscious berries in this picture came from the Brunswick Farmers’ Market, which is held Tuesdays and Fridays on the town green.)

Also, you might get lucky and run up on a vendor selling strawberries from a booth set up alongside a state highway.

This past week I ran up on a booth on Route 1 just outside of Wiscasset.

Normally, there is a huge booth on Route 3 on the outskirts of Ellsworth near the Home Depot.

If you pick your own and come back with too many to eat, visit the website for the Rome Strawberry Patch, which has a half dozen yummy-looking recipes for your berries.

Enjoy!

The talented coach has been selected as womens’ basketball coach at the U.S. Naval Academy. In her ten years on the Brunswick campus Stefanie has guided the Polar Bears to a 235-48 record and amassed the fourth-best coaching record (.830) in Division  III history.

It was just a matter of time before a Division I school snapped her up, but of course Polar Bear faithful hoped the inevitable might be delayed as long as possible.

The photographs with this post are from the Polar Bears’ 2004 season when the team went 30-1, losing only in the Division III national championship game. That year Stefanie was named WBCA Division III Coach of the Year and senior Lora Trenkle was named All-American.

The popular coach leaves big shoes to be filled. For more details of her incredibly history with the Polar Bears, see the Bowdoin College web site.

I was told before shooting the story to focus on the camp food, and having spent many a summer at camp–first as a camper and later as a counselor–I thought I knew what to expect–s’mores, shepherds pie and spaghetti night. 

 Boy, was I wrong.

Omigosh, this was a camp food experience like no other. Think rosemary focaccia, beet salad and blueberry cobbler from scratch.  And, everyone insisted that I not go home hungry. I can’t remember the last time I was fed so well on an assignment!

The new structure, which is located adjacent to Fort Knox, carries Route 1 traffic across the Penobscot River near Bucksport. Well, more precisely, it’s between the communities of Prospect and Verona Island.

More than just a bridge, it’s an engineering marvel, a work of art. The 2000-plus-foot-long cable-stayed bridge (in the style of Boston’s Zakim Bridge) sports one of only four bridge observatories in the world, yes, in the world. And, of the four, it’s the only one in the United States. The 420-foot observatory towner, fashioned after the Washington Monument, which was made with granite quarried nearby, offers incredible panoramic views in all directions. On a clear day visitors can see The Camden Hills, Acadia and even Katahdin.

Kudos to the Maine Department of Transportation, to Figg Engineering Group and to whoever it was who came up with the ingenious idea of incorportating an observation tower into the new bridge. In its first season the observatory drew almost twice as many visitors as officials had been anticipating. I guess that shows that lots of folks are smitted, or at the very least intrigued.

I was fortunate to be asked to shoot photos of the bridge and observatory for a story that appears in Down East Magazine’s Vacation Planner issue. The issue won’t be on magazine stands until the middle of March, but subscribers are getting a sneak preview as the magazine is already showing up in mailboxes. If you are a bridge aficionado or just enjoy great views, check out Jeff Clark’s story in the magazine.

The game capped an outstanding career for seniors Justine Pouravelis, Vanessa Russell, Ashleigh Watson and Lauren Withey who have been to the NCAA Elite Eight each of their four years, and in 2004 played in the National Championship game.

The Polar Bear women came out on top 62-54 in a back-and-forth battle; the Polar Bears started slow and trailed by as many as eleven points before going into the half tied at 26-26.

The game was played on the campus of the University of Southern Maine in Gorham, and even though Bowdoin is in its Spring Break, a vocal contingency of fans–students, parents and friends–made the trek to Gorham.

The host USM Huskies, ranked #1 in Division III, overcame Bridgewater College of Bridgewater, Virginia, 68-55 in the second sectional Friday night to set up a rematch between USM and Bowdoin for Saturday night on the USM campus; when these two rivals played earlier in the season, the Huskies dealt the Polar Bears a 64-55 blow, one of only two Bowdoin losses this season.

On a night when many of the Polar Bears struggled to make shots, Bowdoin Junior Eileen Flaherty (below right) turned in a stellar performance, leading all scorers with 29 points.

This will be the sixth consecutive Sweet Sixteen appearance for the Polar Bears, coached by Stefanie Pemper. Pemper, who is in her eighth year at the Brunswick college, was named NESCAC Coach of the Year.

The smart and athletic Polar Bear team played before a packed house on campus.

With a comfortable 73-54 win over Colby-Sawyer Friday evening and a 59-56 nail-biter over Brandeis on Saturday evening, the 26-2 Polar Bears set the New England basketball record with 70 straight victories at home, surpassing the record formerly held by the UConn women.

Tournament play continues Friday on the University of Southern Maine campus in Gorham. Bowdoin takes on Mary Washington at 5:30 p.m., while host USM takes on Bridgewater at 7:30 p.m. The winners will square off Saturday at 7 p.m.

Now I’m fairly certain that John Standish wasn’t thinking about photographers when he set up his web site. Based in Cape Porpoise, one of Maine’s loveleliest nooks, Standish most likely was thinking of the legions of boaters who ply the waters off Maine’s 3000+ miles of coast. But, photographers are just as interested in knowing when the Royal River will be an ugly mudflat. Or when it will be too dark to make out the cliffs at Monhegan.

Photographers know that the light around sunrise and sunset is the most photogenic light of the day. We call it “magic light” or refer to that time span as “the magic hour,” though it could last longer–or shorter–than an hour. The magic comes from the sun being very low in the sky, casting shadows that are long and soft; in a very short period of time the sun will usually go through dramatic color changes casting orange, gold, red or even pink hues over everything in sight. These are picture-perfect shooting conditions.

Because the conditions are so fleeting, it’s important to be in place and ready to shoot as soon as the magic light starts. Usually, that’s at civil twilight, roughly thirty minutes before sunrise.

That’s where Maine Harbors’ tide charts come in. If, for example, I am shooting an article in Acadia National Park, a quick look at the sunrise time in tomorrow’s tide chart for Bar Harbor and I know how to set my alarm.For those who have some flexibility in scheduling, Standish’s charts can even help us pick the days on which to shoot. If I’m shooting a story at Popham Beach State Park, I’d like to get as much of the sand exposed as possible, so that means shooting at low tide. I can scan the tide charts to see when low tide coincides with sunrise and sunset. That way I’ll get my magic light and a wide expanse of sand. Or, if I’m shooting the Bass Harbor Headlight and would prefer to have the rockweed and barnacles on the lower rocks covered by water, I will plan to shoot on a day when high tide coincides with sunrise and sunset.

The Maine Harbors site displays six months worth of data for coastal spots from Maine to Connecticut. Looking for sunrise or sunset times more than six months in the future? Check out the U.S. Naval Observatory’s Complete Sun and Moon Data for One Day. Looking for the tides in another region? Consult SaltWaterTides.com.

Postscript: In the years since this post was first blogged, Maine Harbors discontinued tide charts and instead began pointing folks to the Maine Boats Homes & Harbors web site for Tide Charts.  

And, we’re not talking the kind that navigate a keyboard with ten fingers. We’re talking ten toes on an honest-to-goodness surfboard.

My assignment yesterday was to accompany a trio of Bowdoin College students who would make their college mascot (a polar bear) proud by surfing in icy waters before their first class.

I met the trio on campus before sunrise and we drove to an undisclosed beach–Maine surfers zealously guard the location of their favorite beaches, so I’m not going to give up their secret. The photos are slated to run in a future issue of Bowdoin Magazine.

Nevermind that yesterday was the first day of February, that the wind chill was 13 degrees, and that when I gathered my gear the night before I couldn’t find the handwarmers that slip into my winter shooting gloves. Nevermind that when we got to the beach we found the access gate temporarily closed, leaving us with a half-mile jog down a slippery ice-encrusted road to the water. This is Maine surfing at its finest, in the winter when waves peak, so you ignore the “challenges” and simply forge ahead.

As crazy as it might seem for anyone to hit a Maine beach on the first day of February, much less stick a toe in water as cold as 34 degrees, two other surfers joined the Bowdoin trio about 9 a.m. And, we saw a handful of walkers on the beach. All to prove that Mainers are a hardy lot!

I’m hoping to catch up with the trio for more photos next time they go out. I’m also hoping that next time my ten fingers will hang a bit more comfortably; as soon as I got home I surfed over to LLBean to order more handwarmers. Here’s hoping they arrive before the next big wave.