This November was milder than usual here in Brooklin, Maine. Our average temperature in Fahrenheit degrees was 56 with a high of 70 on one day and a low of 20 on two days. Our one and only snow storm was just a duster on November 3. Below, you see Acadia National Park across Blue Hill Bay on a sunny day. You also see the snow-dusted woods during the storm and two local ponds, one after the snow and one in sun.
We did have quite a few days of blustery winds that whipped up the coves and grasses. The highest November gust recorded here was 53 miles per hour, which occurred yesterday.
In terms of wildlife, November was the best month of the year for one reason: I finally “caught” the big male bobcat that I’ve been trying to “shoot” for years. He usually travels at dusk or later in the night, but, on November 6, he was slinking across our field while I was hidden near there with a big lens. He heard the clicks, looked my way, and slinked off into the woods.
The snow shower didn’t slow down any of the White-Tailed Deer that consider Barbara’s garden to be a charity kitchen, nor did it bother our resident porcupine pup that refuses to leave our property despite multiple incentives.
Due to our mild October and November, many trees had not turned color when the snow storm came early in the month. The leaves on the sugar maple below were green when the snow came. They soon turned yellow and dropped. Our famous Camperdown elm in Brooklin Cemetery, however, dropped its leaves in October and was ready for the snow in November. The leaves on Amen Farm’s signature weeping beech also turned and dropped during November.
Winterberry and vibernum bushes also got caught with some of their leaves on when the snow came.
Among the most colorful inhabitants of our woods has been, unfortunately, invasive Asian bittersweet, which kills native trees and bushes.
November on the waterfront is when many of our fishermen pull their lobster traps and store them for the winter.
Some fishermen will also store their boats and pursue other goals during the winter. Others refit their lobster boats with a mast and boom and the rest of the equipment to dredge for delicious scallops in November, when that season starts in earnest.
November is a voting month and this one was special: a Presidential election during a pandemic. Below, you see Brooklinites wearing masks and practicing extra-large social distancing as they line up to vote at the Town Office. (We’re aware of no Covid 19 cases in Brooklin, as of this writing.)
The prime of deer hunting season is in November (bucks and does with the right permit). The harvested animals have to be weighed and tagged at an authorized inspection station.
Of course, Thanksgiving occurs in November, plague or not. Many here decided to stay isolated and send Thanksgiving cards, rather than have their family members try to come in from out of state. There also is November’s Beaver Full Moon, which occurred last night, but was not visible due to wild storms. However, we have the next best thing — the virtually full moon that flew over through a clear November sky two days ago.
Speaking of clear skies, the winter skies in Maine, starting in November, are among the cleanest there are. That absence of haze, dust, and other pollution helps create the most colorful sunsets of the year here.
(All images here were taken in Brooklin, Maine, in November 2020.)