Early Arrivals, the Migration in Maine

The fall migration was in full swing on Haley Pond in Rangeley Maine. It was 20 October and all the trees should have been bare. As I woke, the morning light outside my window in the Rangeley Inn was decidedly gloomy but I went out to see the pond anyway. As I was standing at the side of the pond, the sun began to rise higher behind the eastern hills. My pulse quickened with what I began to see.

Early Arrivals the Migration in Rangeley Maine, view in my gallery

This was to be one of those autumn mornings where the sun passes through the chill air filled with fog, but it seldom visits for long. At first, I could only hear an occasional quack of waking ducks. It appears this is a stopping point for many different waterfowl. Looking down the grass was wet with the dew but I could still see frost from last night’s temps in the low 30s. Ice crystals ran along the edges of the grass and fallen leaves.

maple leaves in the grass rimmed with frost crystals — The maple leaves, once vibrant with shades of fiery red and burnt orange, now lay upon the grass like frozen works of art,

On Golden Pond but not…

The light started to take on a golden glow as the sun was close to climbing over the eastern hills. At first, there wasn’t much light, every few minutes a new group of birds would land on the pond as if this was the place to stage from before they would begin the next push south in their migration. I was trying to not spook them by not making noise…

A Cold Autumn Morning at Haley Pond, Maine — The world seemed to hold its breath in anticipation of the daybreak. View in my gallery.

Then the Magic Happened

I had thought the morning was going to be crap but I quickly saw the colors on the nearside of the pond were being backlit by the rising sun. The colors that were still on the trees were really striking. Then I saw that on the far side of the pond, the colors were showing through the fog.

I could see a home on a spit of land sticking out into the pond and the trees on this island in the fog were still fully leafed. What people fail to remember is that the fall colors are always late to change and if a late-season storm doesn’t take them down prematurely, then we get…

Exploring Rangeley Maine

Lisa and I have done articles on the Rangeley Inn before so please read those if you want to know more about our stay(s). I do want to say that where I was photographing is private property. When you go out to the pond you are actually in front of cottages that belong to the Inn that looks out on the pond. I had one person staying there come out to see what I was doing, but when I told him I looked out from my room at the Inn, he was okay with it since I was a paying guest.

I don’t know if they would come out and ask you to leave, but imagine if you were staying in these very nice cottages, and several people were talking and hanging around. I might make a call to management. So save yourself some possible hassles and stay at the Inn. You get to wake up and slide into your boots and some warm clothes, walk out the door, and you are there. Convenience, and if I say so myself, wonderful images.

You can see more images of Haley Pond in Rangeley Maine in my Photography Gallery online.

Preparations to think about

The first thing to think about that is critical to your planning is reservations, Yup, we made reservations, from the parking lot of the Rangeley Inn via my thrifty Lodging app on my website. We got a beautiful room for around $95 🙂 (That was in 2018, and I believe they have done some updates, and charge a bit more now. Also, we no longer recommend ‘winging it’ for lodging.)

Next, plan on it being cold at dawn so plan on layers and gloves! Now, a photographer I know says his wife loves to go along until he tells her how early??? Well, here you can score points. And to be honest, it goes both ways because there are lots of women photographers whose husbands also shy away from a 5:30 AM wake up, or let’s face it, even earlier to get to the locations we want to get to.

While you are here at the Inn, your spouse can sleep in while you are outside doing your thing. A few hours later they can get up, shower, and meet for a wonderful breakfast, please tell me if that is not a win-win!

As you can see below, I made some magic this morning, and to be honest, the foliage on the hills was pretty much gone. But the morning fog and migrating birds and the bright colors along the water made it wonderful.

Jeff Foliage Folger

Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage

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