Bob Duchesne

6 days ago | bangordailynews.com | Bob Duchesne

To become an experienced birder, you only need one thing. Experience. There are two ways to get it. You can just get out there, do it, make every mistake in the book and learn slowly. Or you can borrow experience from someone else and speed things up a little. I wish I had taken the faster route. I’m a pretty good birder now, but it took me about 65 years to get here. Penobscot Valley Audubon has launched this year’s series of Neighborhood Bird Walks. Each is led by experienced birders.

1 week ago | bangordailynews.com | Bob Duchesne

Migration is well underway. The second wave of songbirds arrives over the next few days, and they’ll be singing upon arrival. It’s about to get loud wherever you are. You can use all this singing to figure out what birds are in your neighborhood. Many of the most common backyard birds don’t visit feeders, and don’t forage in plain sight. They lurk in the bushes and treetops. They might not be noticeable, except for the noise they’re making. Use their noise to find and identify them.

2 weeks ago | bangordailynews.com | Bob Duchesne

This story was originally published in April 2023. Forest bathing is the practice of sitting quietly in the woods, relaxing in the presence of nature. Although humans have been doing that since the dawn of time, the Japanese are credited with raising it to a meditative art form in the 1980s. I don’t do it that way, but I think I just invented forest showering this week — walking quietly in the woods, letting the sounds of nature wash down over me. Easter Sunday was a windy day.

2 weeks ago | bangordailynews.com | Bob Duchesne

I always expect ruby-crowned kinglets and yellow-bellied sapsuckers to show up in my yard on the day of the Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race, accompanied by pine, palm and yellow-rumped warblers. They all arrived two days late this year. I can’t blame the birds for choosing not to arrive on Saturday. Anyone who paddled in the canoe race will agree that it wasn’t the best day for travel. Sunday’s gale didn’t help much, either. Fortunately, the winds died off overnight.

3 weeks ago | bangordailynews.com | Bob Duchesne

This story was originally published in May 2022. I love birds. Indeed, I love all wildlife. Well, OK, not black flies. Or ticks. But I love all other wildlife. Umm, maybe not bears on my porch. Word had come down a week earlier. A bear and its two yearlings were visiting houses along my quiet, rural road after dark. Neighbors were urged to take precautions. I didn’t. I live at the end of the road, surrounded on three sides by habitat that is unattractive to bears.