Maine...moose, puffins and lighthouses (Lots of photos)

For the past ten years, Randy and I have vacationed on the west coast every June, but this year we went east to Maine to get a few things that we missed last fall...moose, puffins and West and East Quoddy Lighthouses.

We spent the first few days at Baxter State Park. On Friday, June 22, we saw a total of 12 moose in and around Baxter.

This moose (probably a yearling) was swimming across Sandy Stream Pond. Notice all the flies. Once it came so close to me one time that I could have reached out and touched it.






A bull moose we saw later in the day outside of Baxter.


On Saturday we went back to Baxter and got to see two different moose cows with twin calves. We went to the park more prepared on Saturday, but never had to use our mosquito netting as the breeze kept all of the bugs away.




One of the twins posing.

Now for a few lighthouses. I took a flight out of Machias to view and photograph East and West Quoddy lighthouses from the air. Unfortunately I did not pay attention to the tide tables. Low tide exposed some ugly stuff...

East Quoddy Lighthouse on Campobello Island, Canada


West Quoddy Lighthouse, Lubec, Maine


I also flew by (just one pass) the Lubec Channel and Mulholland lights and circled the Little River Lighthouse in Cutler a couple of times.

I got to see East Quoddy lighthouse again when Randy and I went there a few days later.


The day we were flying home, we made a quick trip to Mount Desert Island.

Here's a harbor that we passed.



And Bass Harbor Head.



Well, my neighbor is waiting for me to go for a walk. I'll post the puffin photos later.

Oh, I forgot Prospect Harbor. We were driving around one day because I wanted to photograph a harbor, and I noticed this lighthouse on the map. It's not open to the public. So, this photo was taken just off from the road.



And now for some puffins. We did two trip out of Jonesport with Norton Tours and one out of Cutler with Andy Patterson.












And there's a bonus for birders who are also into lighthouses. There is a lighthouse on Machias Seal Island that is maintained by the Canadians. Here's a shot with the puffins in the foreground.

Tammy, you are truly a professional and master photographer. Your work ranks with some of the finest photographs I've seen.

We all will look forward to your future posting of your work. Thanks for sharing!

Bob

Wow! Brilliant pictures! What a wonderful trip you took us on! Thank you for sharing these photographs!

Great pics, Tammy !

I love the pics of the moose, especially the baby moose.

I don't think I've ever seen puffins before. Very qute!

And of cource the lighthouse pics are spectacular!!!

Awesome pictures Tammy!
I have never seen puffins before...very colorful birds.
From the looks of all these beautiful photos...you had a great adventure. Thanks for taking us with you!

Great stuff, Tammy! I especially like the Puffin who seems to be telling you to get out of there..

Sue said she is so jealous with all of the Moose sightings.. We haven't been to that State Park yet but it is our the list now. The next time we go to Maine, which if there isn't a Reunion next year may finally be our trip to Prince Edward Isle through Maine, we will the park a try..

Beautiful pictures, Tammy. How close did you get to the moose. It looks like you are REAL
close! What kind of camera did you use?

Those are so great I cant even show my husband because he will tell me "see now you dont have to go look at Tammy's pictures". Moose and puffins came out so fantastic I am sure I will one day see them on some Magazine cover. As for the arial shots they came out great. I don't see any ugly stuff!!!!!!!

Terrific Pics Tammy, those puffins turned out really wonderful, gotta love their colorful beaks and feet! The moose you took look like they were shot by national geographics.....very nice!! Looks like we will have to put that part of Maine on our "To See" list as well.....hey Paul and Sue Brady....can we tag along!!!
Anyway all the pics were really beautiful!
Kat & Larry Waterson

Fantastic photo's!!! Love the Puffins and of course the lighthouses.

Great shots!

Thanks everyone.

One thing I forgot to mention was how nice the people in downeast were...especially in Cutler and Machias. In Cutler, 90% of the people waved to us when we passed them in a vehicle. The store clerks and people who waited on us were very chatty. It's a different way of life there.

Fran, I posted a couple of close-up landscape photos that didn't emphasize the seaweed. Captain Andy called low tide an ugly bathtub ring...or something like that.

The photos were taken with a Canon 30D that I ordered a couple of days before the trip. My 20D malfunctioned during a game farm photo shoot in early June and wasn't back from repair, and the 1D Mark III I had ordered hadn't come in yet. I used my Canon 70-200 and 100-400 mm lens for most of the photos.

It's pretty easy to photograph the puffins. They are right there in front of the blind...on top of the blind...behind the blind. They are everywhere. You should be able to get decent shots without fancy equipment.

The yearling moose walked right in front of me when I was sitting on the boardwalk messing with my new camera. The moose at Baxter are accustomed to people but a few of them seemed a little nervous when we encountered them in the woods along the boardwalk. With the exception of the bull moose that I posted, we didn't get as close to the moose outside of Baxter.

Great photos Tammy. I always enjoy your pictures.

Fabulous photos, Tammy. Wow!
Judy

Great pictures as usual Tammy.

It looks like a nice time of year to be in Maine. Was the weather usually sunny? Is it busy with tourists in June?

Thanks for sharing.

Lorie,

We had a variety of weather during the 9 days, but most of the time it was decent. We had some drizzle off and on at Baxter. But I've heard it's difficult to photograph moose in bright sunlight. During the next seven days along the coast, we had a little fog, a little rain one day, and a lot of sunshine. The temps varied from the high around 60 to a high in the upper 80s.

Baxter limits the number of people they allow into the park. I think we got to the park around 6:20 both mornings. On Friday, there were only a couple of cars in the parking lot when we pulled in. But on Saturday, there were several cars in line in front of us. They only let in about 10 cars after us. Others in line probably had to wait for someone to leave.

After we left Baxter, we stayed in a beautiful log home by the shore outside of Cutler. That area doesn't cater to tourists. In Lubec and Machias there were some tourists, but it wasn't really crowded anywhere. I think there busy season starts in July. On the puffin trips and at Baxter, many of the other photographers I met were from Maine.

Tammy

Great pics, Tammy I have a very similar trip itinerary (sans Baxter State Park) in a few weeks (weather permitting). I'll have to get up to Baxter someday! The great part about going out to see the puffins from Cutler is getting to see Little River Lighthouse...it's a two-in-one deal