Bird Hunting Trip

Last Saturday, 4:15 shown brightly on the alarm clock when my eyes squinted to read the green blur.  It was set for 4:30, but I was already awake, so I figured I might as well get up.  Quietly I got ready and headed out to meet up with a couple of friends, Justin Dubois and Dave Saucier.  We were leaving town at 5 to try and beat the other hunting parties to the woods that lie along the Northwestern border of Maine.  Truly a beautiful spot, and once you get off the main logging road, people are a scarcity.  An hour and a half later, we had gone through the North Maine Woods gate, and were sitting at the mouth of a branch road that in the past has produced large quantities of birds.  We hadn't gone far when we saw our first bird, but we were still half asleep, and almost ran over him before seeing him, so we were unsuccessful on our first sighting.  It wasn't long before I happened to catch sight of another one feeding along on the bank that ran along the road.  That one did not manage to sneak away, and some of the pressure was relieved that at the very least we would not be skunked!  That was the end of the birds on that road, so it was on to the next road, and we hadn't gone far before Dave and I both spotted a bird at the same time, but it took us a second to realize we weren't looking at the same bird, and we were in pursuit of a double.  I managed to scare both myself and the bird I went after.  I had walked right up to him without realizing it, until I stepped around a tree and there he was a mere 10 feet away.  Let's just say his reflexes were a little slower than mine, and bird number two was in the truck.  As the day continued, we saw several more birds and Justin was able to pick up two, and Dave snagged one.  All in all we had a great day, and saw 14 birds total.