Wild and Native Brook Trout on Google Earth

A good friend of Red River pointed me toward a great Google Earth application from the Maine Council of Trout Unlimited.

TU's Maine Brook Trout Waters Interactive Map lets users zoom into any water in the state to find out if it's a wild or native fishery.  (Notice that the majority of the ponds in the Deboullie township are native or wild brook trout fisheries; only Perch, Mud, and South Little Black don't carry either designation.)  The application also gives access to additional information such as size, maximum depth, etc, as well as photos and other cool features.

You'll need Google Earth to access the application; it's definitely worth a look.

Northern Flicker

If you haven't visited the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds page, I recommend it, especially in conjunction with a good bird book.

All week, I've been listening to a bird that sounded an awful lot like a Pileated Woodpecker. The only problem is that I haven't seen any Pileated Woodpeckers in this neck of the woods recently.  (I did see one down at Shin Pond last week, though.)

At any rate, my bird book alone wasn't helping.  I could hear them (and from the sound, we have 5 or 6 hanging around), but I couldn't see them.  That's where All About Birds came in; they have sound clips for the vast majority of birds they have on file, and they have a lot of birds on file.

I finally saw a Northern Flicker on one of the birch trees in the yard this evening (thank you, NWF Field Guide to Birds of North America) and found out from the Cornell Lab that it does make a call very similar to that of a Pileated Woodpecker.  One sound clip even names the call the "pileated" call.  Mystery solved!  Of course, I have friends for whom that would have presented no mystery whatsoever, but for the rest of us, it's good to have the resources at hand.  Happy birding!

Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands

The Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands keeps an online database of public reserve lands, historic sites, and parks in Maine. If you can't make it to Deboullie every weekend, take a look to see if there's another spot in your neck of the woods that you didn't know about. (For instance, I wasn't aware of the Aroostook Valley Rail Trail. I may have to search that out one day this summer.) Visitors can also search the database by distance to their hometown, by region, or by desired use.

You know what they say:  Welcome to Maine- now take a hike!

Maine Trail Finder

Ready for spring and itching to get outside? A Red River vacation is still a couple of months away, but the Maine Trail Finder may be able to help you find some fresh air around your neck of the woods.

The site was launched last June as a collaboration among several state and community agencies and groups, and the team behind it is looking for new members to help add trails, trip reports, and comments to the statewide database.  (For instance, they could really use some information on any trails between Mars Hill and Bangor.)  Take a gander if you're hiking inclined, and help other hikers get out and enjoy our beautiful state!

The Maine Fishing Guide on Google Earth

The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has a new tool for folks looking for place to fish in Maine called the Maine Fishing Guide. The tool uses Google Earth to help guide sportsmen to just what they're looking for.  There are layers for specific fish (for instance, our Arctic Charr), sporting camps (including, of course, your favorite place and mine!), and a host of other options.

If you already have Google Earth, you don't need to do anything special to use the Maine Fishing Guide; just download the file from the link above.  Those without Google Earth will have to download the program.  (Like most of Google's software, the program is free.)  It's definitely worth a look.

Unfortunately, the marker for Red River is pretty far off where it should be.  I've contacted the state, and hopefully it'll be corrected the next time they post an update.  (They warned me, though, that the next update could be a year down the road!)  So if you look up Red River on the Maine Fishing Guide, rest assured that we're still on Island Pond. 

Here's a screenshot of the Guide set to find Arctic Charr: