RESCUED FEMALE ORIOLE B-14-12

We rescued an immature female oriole during a snowstorm in mid-January. The dog found her on the ground and was picking her up in her mouth when I happened to look out the window. The bird allowed me to take her into my cupped hands after Goldy spit her out. In the house, I held the chartreuse-tinted bird near the wood stove until we rigged up a plate with a towel for bedding and a cover using the inside section of a salad spinner, the piece full of holes.

This cold little bird, her legs frosted with snow, sat by the fire while we consulted with the York Center for Wildlife. They wanted to see the bird that day to make sure she could be treated for whatever injury sent her to the ground.

This wonderful organization takes in birds and critters that have been injured and nurses them with the goal of returning them to the wild. The unfortunate birds who cannot return to the wild, many of them birds of prey, find a permanent home in the unique buildings constructed to house owls and falcons.  Owls are most commonly injured by cars, a sad commentary about modern life. They go to the streets for road kill or are hit as they swoop for prey.

It’s worth a trip to the Center to meet Freya, the peregrine falcon who is now the office mascot. She perches atop a swivel chair in the entry room that serves as an intake and reception center. Freya was so young when she was brought to the Center that she imprinted with the people and now cannot return to the wild. It’s an indescribable thrill to be within 4 feet of a magnificent creature like her.

The injured female oriole, B-14-12 (B for “bird”, 14 because she was the 14^th rescue bird and 12 for the year of her rescue, 2012), has been convalescing at the CFW for about a month now. She spends 24 hours a day in the outdoor aviary where she is able to perch and is relearning how to fly. The CFW staff will let us collect her for release in our yard when the rest of the orioles start coming through again on their spring migration north.

This immature female was one of 3 immature or juvenile orioles who visited our suet bag this winter, one female and two male. They didn’t have the sense to leave Maine last fall. Probably they were lulled into staying by the unseasonably warm weather and lack of snow cover. CFW says many songbirds failed to migrate this year and were caught unawares as the inevitable cold and snow settled in.  My neighbor thinks these birds should be tested for mercury poisoning as their failure to migrate south indicates that they are brain-damaged.

One of the 2 males continues to visit our suet bag daily.  Every morning I watch for him. Is it too much to hope that he might eventually be reunited with his once weaker but perhaps now stronger companion?  Let us hope that the older, more experienced orioles will figure a way to force these two reckless juveniles north to breed and nest and then south again next fall.    

TO BE CONTINUED…..

't ain't Town No More

There was a time when locals referred to Lower Village as “'t ain't Town.” The derogatory nickname derived from the comparison of Lower Village to downtown Kennebunk and to Dock Square in Kennebunkport of which it was neither. Lower Village defied definition but it did have a personality of its own.

Over time, retail shops in Lower Village have tried to capitalize on what was perceived as Kennebunkport’s cachet by listing their address on shopping bags and advertising as ”Kennebunkport.”  A friend and her houseguest spent a frustrating morning trying to locate an antique business which advertises itself as being located on Route 9 in Kennebunkport, but which is physically located on Route 9 on the way to Wells, about a mile from Dock Square and on the Kennebunk side of the River  - just outside of Lower Village.

Essential services which used to be located in Kennebunkport – the hardware store, gas station, grocery store, Laundromat, among others - closed or migrated across the river. Over time, Lower Village became the “downtown” service center Kennebunkport lost as its “downtown” was converted to tourist-dependent retail stores and restaurants.

                                                                                

Those familiar with Lower Village for a half century or so hardly recognize the place today and those who do remember it are concerned about what is happening.

A few years ago the Town of Kennebunk relaxed parking standards on many structures in Lower Village. For years, property sales and commercial development were held back by the requirement that parking be located onsite. The relaxation of the parking requirement was directly responsible for what seems like a commercial development boom.

The first conversion from a home to a business which produced a collective jolt was Tia’s Restaurant. The stately home which was a private residence only 18 months ago has morphed into a 2-story seasonal restaurant with no parking but plenty of tiki-torches and even an outdoor fire pit.  Next door, an art gallery lawn is littered with sculptural whirly-gigs, death to all birds who venture near.

And now everyone is talking about the shocking transformation of a federal-style farmhouse, whose proud façade graced Chase Hill since its construction 150 or more years ago. The new structure, modestly labeled “The Grand” but more accurately described as "The Super-Colossal", is over-scaled, too high and too large in volume.  It towers above everything around it and seems especially imposing as it sits on a high point overlooking the river basin.

Ironically, now that the Town realizes that relaxing the parking requirement worked too well, there is no place for the patrons and employees of all these new businesses to park! Tax payers are being asked to foot the bill for a public parking lot. Stay tuned, there may be trouble ahead on that front.

Old timers in Lower Village are beginning to throw in the towel and put their properties up for sale. When the Town undermines the zoning ordinance that provides protection to the value of your greatest asset, your home, it’s time to take the money and move on.  I feel sorry for people who bought a house as part of a residential neighborhood and now find themselves surrounded by commercial enterprises in structures that once housed families.

Still to come is a large scale overhaul of the Lower Village “streetscape”, beginning in April 2012. There will be new sidewalks, new lighting, a proposal to cantilever a walkway 20 feet into the River, replacement of the wooden railing along the Riverside and many more “improvements”.  It seems like too much to take.

Goodbye, 't ain't Town. We didn't realize how much we liked you until you changed. We took you for granted and now you are gone.