Lake Umbagog.
1909.
June 11 [June 11, 1909]
  Clear & warm with fresh westerly winds. A great singing
day for birds & Batrachians of almost every kind.
  This must be about the height of the nuptial season
of most of the smaller birds. They sang all day long, almost
without rest but most ecstatically at morning & evening. The wooded
shores of our little cove fairly rang at times with their voices.
I heard there most of the species found about this part of
the lake. It was one of the most delightful concerts I
have listened to for years. Among other interesting species were
the Bay-breast Warbler, Yellow-billed Flycatcher, & Winter Wren.
I saw a Pileated Woodpecker, a pair of Broad-winged Hawks,
a Bald Eagle, a Red-shouldered Hawk (soaring & screaming),
a Herring Gull on the lake, a female Whistler in the cove.
 The Muskrats were out nearly all day. One swam in directly
under the gunwale of my canoe & then dove to pass under
her keel. This happened half an hour after sunset.
Breeding
season at
its height
Interesting
birds.
  A Duck followed by a brood of 8 or 10 young appeared
off the mouth of the cove about 6 P.M. I did not identify
her satisfactorily but she looked like a Gooseander. She dove
repeatedly & the young raced off over the surface of the water - 
this when she discovered our boat. I launched a canoe &
followed her but the lake was rough & I did not see
her again.
Duck with
brood of
young
  At evening I paddled about for an hour or more over
the flooded meadows visiting the remains of the floating island
where the Bitterns used to breed. The larches are all dead & the
island no longer floats. It is still covered with green alders &
Cassandra now in full bloom. There was also a little Rhodora
of which I found a large patch in full bloom & making
a superb mass of color, on another island.
The floating
island where
Bitterns
used to
nest.