The star of the show. White-throats come in tan- and white-striped morphs, and this male is a brilliant white-striped specimen.

A lovely and complete ground nest.

Sparrow nesting heaven. Those short plants carpeting the ground are called bunchberry (or Canadian dogwood), and by now the white flowers have been replaced with toxic-looking clusters of red fruits.

The previous picture was taken not in the forest where we work but in Bangor City Forest. I went there on one of my days off to wander the trails and do some proper birding (i.e., with binoculars and without a stick in my hand). The city forest is home to an amazing bog boardwalk featuring a spruce bog, one of the most eye-popping ecosystems I�ve ever seen. Here�s the opening that uncannily resembles a tropical rainforest.

Imagine going through a normal-looking forest and then walking into a huge moss-covered clearing with 100-year-old trees that don�t grow past your waist because the soil is so infertile. They�re so tiny they knock off your perspective and make birds look huge in them. This place was awesome, and I�m going back to soak it in again.

And they�re back, the carnivorous pitcher plants feasting on insects to make up for the nutrients absent in the pH-4 soil.

Blue flag iris nestled among the ferns.

I had the following day off as well and visited an Audubon sanctuary a few miles away. The sanctuary was divided into a forest, a pond and this field, in which tons of song sparrows were trilling away. The drive here was really peaceful, and I passed a lot of people biking and walking down the road at 7 in the morning. When I grow up, I am living somewhere where I can do the same.

Here�s our bedroom in the apartment. It�s a little snug with three people living in it, but we�ve worked out our routines. Sharing one bedroom with two other field techs reminds me of freshman year, except it�s much nicer with these girls. Suffice it to say that a certain bathroom incident early in the season brought us close.

The apartment is in a little town near the Penobscot River, a major body of water that flows through Bangor. The three of us takes walks there occasionally, and we can see the old paper mill whose construction dammed the river. Information about the Penobscot Indians who live there is chronicled here.

Mosquitoes, the field tech�s occupational hazard. They eat you alive if you don�t have DEET on. Jan and I foolishly went without spraying ourselves to a nearby wildlife refuge and got slaughtered in the evening. Do you see 31 specks surrounding my head? I do.

We find nests of other birds as well. This is an extremely cute, extremely hungry hermit thrush chick that worried us when it didn�t close its beak the entire time it sat in Katie�s hand. The next time we were in the area, the nest was empty. :-(

Pickerel frog, one of many species whose names I've learned this season.

Strawberries, blueberries and two types of raspberry are fruiting now. It�s so cool to see everything come out. We stop to snack a lot.

Jan found this fading luna moth in the parking lot of the apartment. They don�t have mouthparts, since all they do is mate and lay eggs before dying. I�m glad I got to see one outside of those weird sleeping pill commercials where the fluttering moth lulls various insomniacs to sleep.

Pawprints of some mustelid (fisher? weasel?)...or a small child.

Eek, it�s super late. Today was the first scorching hot day, and I�m very much reminded of the dog days of the swamp. Except we don�t have AC here, so all I�m hearing are the fans in the room and the roars of the cars through the open windows. Time for bed.