Seasons endings and beginnings

Up in northern Maine it's the first of two weeks of the moose hunt. I was just down by the water enjoying the deep silence and heard eight shots - a couple of miles away. I'm hoping the lovely cow moose we've been admiring all summer is not the recipient. Fortunately tomorrow it will be raining, and that's the end of the first week. No hunting in Maine on Sunday.

Sunday is the last day of fishing season on most Maine inland waters. Today while walking I saw an up-lake neighbor out on his bass boat fly casting along the shore of a rocky cove, one last time. Most folks have their boats out of the water, save him and us.

On Monday, birding season starts so we'll be hearing the shots of folks going for ducks and geese and partridge.

For Maine's outdoors enthusiasts, the seasons change with the calendar. But the denizens of the forest and water have their own timetables. Right now a solitary loon is calling outside our cabin. He or she is cruising the 'stream', perhaps calling to others to join up for migration. There are still several weeks until freeze-up so he or she has lots of time to find a group to move off shore or down south.