August 2025 Provincetown, Adirondacks

Saturday August 2 I'm in Provincetown for the weekend, to stand out on Route 6 with Susan as the Pan Mass Challenge cyclists ride into Ptown on Sunday morning at the end of their fundraiser for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (where Jeannie was treated). But first, Susan has tickets to go on a whale watch this evening with the Center for Coastal Studies, which studies marine ecosystems and tracks whales. Before we even got to Race Point at the tip of the Cape, we spotted a fin whale, the second largest living being on the planet (after the blue whale), very exciting! They are typically 80 feet long, weigh 40-80 tons and can live up to 80-90 years (according to NOAA Fisheries).

Further out, we spotted several humpback whales, and watched two that appeared to be hunting together. One, Salt, named for her white scarring on her dorsal fin, has been sighted in Massachusetts Bay every summer since 1975. You can read more about her on the Coastal Studies website and this Boston Globe article.

 

Salt, a humpback whale

 A little later, another fin whale swam by; the guide noted that at some point in the past it had been struck by a propeller - we could see the parallel scars on its back when it surfaced.

Fin whale

 

Sunday August 3 Here's my friend Linda Weiner, on her way into Provincetown at the end of the two day Pan Mass Challenge bike ride from Wellesley (a suburb of Boston) to Provincetown (162 miles). This year the PMC raised $75 million; over the last 45 years, PMC has raised over $1 billion. Amazing!

Susan Brand

 Tuesday August 5 I went to a "flower bunching" event at Allandale Farm in Jamaica Plain this evening. The farm had set out lots of buckets of various flowers for each of the dozen or so of us to make a bouquet. Best of all, we got to walk over to their flower plot.

I laughed at the cabinet with a Highland cattle motif in the farm building, in honor of their two Highland cattle, Willard and Curtis (sadly, Willard died earlier this year).

Monday August 4  On my way back from my morning walk, I watched a juvenile robin chasing one of its parents along my street, screaming to be fed; the adult eventually flew away, leaving the young one to fend for itself.

Tuesday August 5  I ran into Mary at the pond this morning - she'd just seen an osprey dive down to catch a fish and pointed out to me a second one that was still circling around.

And on the way back, I spotted an adult robin land near the eaves of her house and then realized it was feeding two young in its nest. It was hard to get a good photo of the adult on the nest, but here are the two young, waiting for the next food delivery.

Wednesday August 6 Walking along Orchard Street this evening, I heard a thud as I passed a large horse chestnut tree near the sidewalk. I thought perhaps a branch had fallen, but it wasn't at all windy. When I looked around the base of the tree, there was a young raccoon picking itself up; it must have fallen out of the tree. As it made its way back up the tree it stopped to give me a good look. 

Thursday August 7 Very still this morning. Ethereal view over the Charles River at MIT with the speckled clouds reflected in the river.  

Saturday August 9 At the Mass Audubon shop in Lincoln, spotted this classic field guide to the West Indies, written by the ornithologist, James Bond. Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond spy stories, was a birder and had a copy of this book at his estate in Jamaica. Wikipedia says "[Fleming] later explained to the ornithologist's wife that "It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born".

This evening, one of the baby robins is out of the nest, perched on the wood trim next to the nest. This is the last time I saw either of the babies - they must have fledged right after this.

Sunday August 10 The hibiscus in my front yard is blooming; each flower only lasts a day or two, but there are lots of buds yet to bloom.  

And the packet of seeds I scattered onto one of my raised beds in the spring has transformed into this:

 
 Monday August 11 Spotted a muskrat at the pond, swimming over to the island, clutching a clump of dirt with grass growing out the top as it swam.  Strange to see the grass making its way across the water.

Thursday August 14 I watched an osprey land on the top of the mast of one of the sailboats at the pond this morning. It surveyed the pond for a bit and then took off again. 

 

The heatwave over the last few days was broken by a thunderstorm late this afternoon. Darkening sky, big booms of thunder, torrential rain, sirens in the street. And at sunset, spectacular clouds.

Sunday August 17 Drove up to White Pine Camp at Paul Smiths NY in the Adirondacks yesterday. Spotted a bald eagle circling over the interstate highway in New Hampshire at one point. Beautiful drive up through New Hampshire, across Vermont to the southern tip of Lake Champlain, and then into the High Peaks around Lake Placid.

Early this morning, looking out over the pond at the cabin, saw a belted kingfisher land in a pine tree. It preened for a bit before taking off again. From the dock I could see a bald eagle perched by its nest. If any of the young managed to fledge, they would have left the nest weeks ago. A lone common loon was diving and surfacing. And I heard, but couldn't spot, a pileated woodpecker in the trees at the edge of the pond.

 After breakfast, I went to the nearby Visitor Information Center (VIC), run by Paul Smiths College, for a walk. Going along the Heron Marsh Trail, I spotted a great blue heron take off, then saw it later on standing on a beaver lodge, looking a bit ungainly.

 Exploring further, I was struck by these leaves, saying fall is on its way. This afternoon, a cold front came through, dropping the temperature from 74F (23C) to 59F (15C) in a few hours. And the low here tonight is 47F (8C)! Definitely feeling like fall is knocking at the door.

 Monday August 18 My friends Beth and Dale have arrived for a few days and I want to show them the things I love here. First, we go for a walk at the Visitor Information Center (VIC) and walk the Heron Marsh trail. Lovely views over the marsh, a few wood ducks puttering about. A few days later I saw juvenile ruddy ducks doing their hop-dive, where they leap up a little before diving into the water.

Next up, the Wild Center in Tupper Lake, a natural history museum with a special feature - a boardwalk, up 20-30 feet up in the air, among the treetops. We were so excited we forgot to take photos. But you can see photos and a video at the Wild Center website.  At one of the towers, we saw this display: Bills are the Swiss Army knives of the bird world. It's Figure 4.1 in the bill chapter in my bird book.

Bills are the Swiss Army Knives of the bird world.

Tuesday August 19 Dale took this video of the morning mist over Osgood Pond at White Pine Camp, with the loons calling. Later on we canoed across Osgood Pond to the eagle nest. 

Saranac Lake is having its annual artist Plein Air festival this week. We've been seeing people painting at the VIC, in town, in all sorts of places.  We saw this artist on our afternoon walk.

Wednesday August 20 Beth and Dale wanted to ride the Adirondack carousel in Saranac Lake so we stopped there on their way back to Boston. I love the carved animals.  The guy who ran the carousel said that someone in the town had the idea of the carousel 25 years ago; it took 13 years to raise the funds for the building and the carousel itself. He also told us that the woman who carved the wood thrush asked if she could carve a bird because when she was a little kid, riding a bird on another carousel made her feel like she was flying and she wanted other kids to have the same feeling. 

My mount on the carousel.

 

I wanted to ride the otter but was beaten to it by a 3 year old.

Thursday August 21 Tea house in the mist this morning. 

Beautiful bike ride on the rail trail between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid this morning (I rented an e-bike). Passed a beaver dam. Lots of ponds and streams along the way. And remarkably flat. 

 

The Saranac Lake Historical Society runs a museum devoted to the TB research lab and sanatorium that operated from the late 1800s until around 1960.  I donated to have a paver installed in memory of Jeannie; she loved visiting the museum with its emphasis on public health in the Adirondacks.

 Friday August 22 A great blue heron was posing in the mist on the small rock in the pond this morning.

 

At the plein air art show in the town hall this evening, I noticed this painting of the view of the High Peaks from Norman Ridge Road. I told a couple who were also admiring it that I had biked along the road many times; this was one of Jeannie's favorite bike rides and we always did it on our trips here. The couple told me they own the farm in the painting, so we chatted about how beautiful it is.

 On the way back to the cabin, I stopped to take this video of the view of the High Peaks.

 And back at the cabin, the loons were calling. I went down to the main boathouse and there they were: a pair diving and surfacing by the bridge to the tea house.

Wednesday August 27 On my walks, I often see a bald eagle perched high in the tree above its nest (sometimes an adult, other times a juvenile); the kingfisher cackling about from branch to branch overhanging the pond (one evening I saw a pair of them together); the great blue heron fishing; and the loons. Other bird sightings: hairy woodpecker, ruby-throated hummingbirds, chickadees.

The weather has felt like fall the last few days; at the visitor center, I saw these leaves looking ready for fall, too.

On one of the trails at the VIC there's a wood duck nesting box on a tree at about my height. Nesting season has been over for quite awhile, so I thought it was safe to open the hinged lid on the box to see what it looked like inside: some leaves and grasses deposited by the parents. 

 

Thursday August 28 On my morning walk around White Pine Camp, I saw these footprints, left by somebody who got a little too close to the white paint can lid in the utility room.  Possibly a red squirrel.

Driving down the lane on the way out of White Pine Camp this morning, I saw a fawn nibbling on the grass. After it walked off into the woods, I stopped where it had been and found the mom hidden in the bushes, watching after the fawn.