- Up next on "Borealis."

(mellow rock music) Adventuring with a wildlife photographer on Mount Desert Island.

I like the solitude of being alone in the woods.

I feel relaxed.

I feel recharged.

- [Aislinn] One man's hobby has become a valuable tool for biologists.

- [Jake] Maybe this drone work that's being done by Jason could help us pinpoint locations to sample those fish.

- [Aislinn] Astronomers and astrophotographers celebrate Maine's dark skies, exploring the Milky Way and observing amazing celestial events.

- We're a bunch of nerds.

And a nerdy thing is the best thing you can do for yourself because you have a bond with people who appreciate the same things that you appreciate.

- Stay with us.

- [Announcer] Production support for "Borealis" is provided by.

(uplifting music) (bicycles wheels clicking) (plane whooshing) (uplifting music continues) - [Narrator 1] At Poland Spring, we've called Maine home since 1845 and are proud to be part of the community over the past two decades, investing over $14.5 million in the place that we call home.

Poland Spring, Maine's spring water.

- [Narrator 2] The Nature Conservancy in Maine, joining science, action, and innovative partners to help connect communities and address the global climate crisis.

From our forests to our rivers to the Gulf of Maine, learn more at nature.org/joinmaine.

- [Announcer] And by viewers like you.

Thank you.

- You guys ready to hike?

(chuckles) (mellow pop music) (bird calling) ♪ I wanna get lost ♪ In the wilderness ♪ Ooh ♪ Of you, darling ♪ I wanna get lost ♪ In the rivers ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ And the roads - Yeah!

- Whoo!

- Whoo!

♪ Get you up ♪ On the mountainside ♪ Ah ♪ And we can just climb (waves crashing) (birds calling) - Welcome to "Borealis."

I'm Aislinn Sarnacki, and I'm walking along a trail at Holbrook Island Sanctuary State Park, over 1200 acres of land gifted to the state by Anita Harris in 1971.

Here, if you're quiet, you might spot a wide variety of wildlife from white-tailed deer in the forest to eagles fishing just offshore.

But what does it take to capture some truly beautiful images of those creatures?

For our first story, we join a devoted wildlife photographer on an early morning outing on Mount Desert Island.

(gentle music) (wind blowing) (birds chirping) (gentle music) (rustling) - This is a good place to see bugs.

- [Aislinn] It's late fall, and I'm joining Laura Zamfirescu for a morning excursion to photograph wildlife.

We're driving around Mount Desert Island to scope out a few places where she's seen animals before.

- Most of the animals that I photograph and find, except moose, they're in town settings, you know?

Like in the woods near a town, in backyard.

- [Aislinn] Our goal for the morning is to find bucks with big antlers, but we'll take anything we can get.

- When I started photography, I started bird photography.

And most of the birds I photographed, they were in my backyard.

And I kept a journal of the numbers of different species of birds.

And I'm at 126 different species- - Wow.

- Just in my backyard.

The best bird I had, and the bird that actually got me into photography, was a snowy owl I had in the backyard.

- [Aislinn] Wow.

- Yes.

I didn't even know what it was at that moment when I saw it.

I had a small point-and-shoot camera and I got a few pictures of it.

And of course, they didn't came out very good.

And I complained to my husband (both laughing) and he got me a Canon kit with three lenses.

They still have it.

And that's how I got into photography.

- [Aislinn] Since then, Laura has had the chance to photograph several snowy owls and many other equally majestic creatures.

(gentle music) - For me, it's not actually about chasing the perfect picture.

It's doing this, being out, see stuff, listen to get away from all the madness in this world.

I feel recharged after I'm doing this.

If I get a few good pictures, even better.

(gentle music continues) - [Aislinn] In the process, she's learned a great deal about Maine's wild animals, so she can anticipate where they'll be and when.

(gentle music continues) - The animals usually are up until couple of hours after sunrise, couple of hours before sunset, and that's the best time of the day to see something.

- [Aislinn] She researches in books and online, but she also learns a lot through hours and hours of observation.

For example, she knows that the deer of Mount Desert Island tend to retreat into the woods at about 8:00 a.m., so we had a short window of time to spot them.

- [Laura] See?

He's moving there.

See?

- Oh, yeah.

- Yeah.

- There's another deer up- - [Laura] Oh, okay.

- [Aislinn] To the right of him.

Was by the (indistinct).

- Oh, I see him, I see him.

(gentle music continues) (camera shutter clicking) - It's so pretty.

(laughs) - Yeah.

- Look at that.

- Right in the backyard.

(laughs) - [Aislinn] Laura considers wildlife photography to be a hobby, one that she devotes a great deal of time and money to pursue.

And she's not alone.

Maine is full of wildlife photographers, people who are incredibly talented at finding wild animals and capturing seemingly magical moments in the wilderness.

- I have a few good friends that have done this longer than I did, and they are always giving me tips, tricks, where to go, what to do.

In wildlife photography, you have to be patient.

You have to learn to be patient and take hours just to get a picture or wait for an animal to show up.

You know it's there, like a moose.

You know it's behind those trees and he will come over.

You have to have patience.

- [Aislinn] So you're self-taught pretty much.

- [Laura] Yes.

Books, internet, trial and error.

- So just takes persistence?

- Yes.

- And hard work, like most things.

- And be out.

That's the most important thing.

Be outside.

'Cause you'll not find animals in the house.

- (laughs) Good point.

Laura works two jobs that offer her flexibility with her schedule so she can plan trips to see wildlife.

Though, often, she finds plenty to photograph right in her backyard in Monroe.

- For me, personally, I don't have any goals to go to National Geographic or things like that.

No, it's just for me, and to show people some things that, most of them, they don't get to see.

- She certainly has an audience.

On Facebook, where she posts daily, her photography page has more than 18,000 followers.

She also belongs to a popular Facebook group called MAINE Wildlife, which has over 187,000 members.

Our next goal for the day is finding an owl in an area of the forest where Laura frequently spots them.

There must be days where you just don't see what you're hoping to see.

- Oh, there are a lot of days where you don't see a thing.

(chuckles) Last year, I was here.

- [Aislinn] Mm-hmm.

- There was a bobcat walking in front of me.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

(Aislinn chuckles) A bobcat.

He never turned his head, though, to look at me, but he just walked.

- (laughs) So did you get bobcat butt pictures?

- Yes, yes.

- Yeah.

- You get a lot of butt pictures.

(Aislinn laughs) - [Aislinn] So when you look for the owls, are you looking like midway up a tree?

Or where do you typically see them?

- [Laura] Well, you know the color of bird, owl.

- Mm-hmm.

- They kinda are blending in with the trunk- - (chuckles) Yeah.

- So it's very hard to see them.

- [Aislinn] Spotting wildlife can be challenging.

Many animals have evolved to blend into their surroundings.

For example, the barn owls we're looking for have brown and white feathers that look a lot like tree bark.

- Oh, my god, look at that.

Look how good he blends.

Can you see it?

- What?

- Can you see it?

- No.

Is he close?

- [Laura] Oh, he's right there, but he's right in the trunk.

- [Aislinn] Oh, I see it.

I see him.

(chuckles) - Let me just take a picture.

(camera shutter clicks) - That's so crazy.

(camera shutter clicking) How did you see that?

(Aislinn laughs) That's freakin' good.

He flew, didn't he?

- [Laura] He's on the ground.

- [Aislinn] Oh, he's on the ground.

- [Laura] He got something.

- He's getting a mouse.

(chuckles) That was so neat.

We knew he was hunting, but I didn't think we'd actually get to see him get a mouse.

- I like the solitude of being alone in the woods.

I like the quiet.

I feel relaxed.

I feel recharged.

I find my peace.

I'm ready for another day.

(chuckles) I don't know.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Feels good.

- Mm-hmm.

- Feels good.

- Mm-hmm.

- Feels good.

- Photography has come a long way in recent years with one of the top advancements being drones.

When we think of drones, we often think of machines flying and hovering through the sky, but some drones explore an entirely different realm, and they're uncovering things that we might have not even known existed.

(mellow music) - As a kid, I always loved fishing, grew up fishing, and spending time on the waters, both in the summer and the winter, and always had a curiosity for what goes on underneath the surface.

Mid-July 2023 is when I started my YouTube channel, "Maine Freshwater Exploration Going Deep," and I've been uploading videos on that ever since.

I try to go along with the seasons and what's happening in the waterways in the state.

So whether that's springtime spawning with different fish, smelt runs, stuff like that.

And then, of course, we're in the fall now, so a lot of our cold water game fish are spawning, so I look to target those and visit different places like that that would have that available.

It amazes me sometimes just how much is happening underneath the surface of the water that could be just feet away, but you don't necessarily see it.

I know a lot of the different lakes that I've been to that have a real rocky shoreline, I'll be amazed at how just you get 10 to 20 feet down, how it just changes to a silty, soft bottom where I always had thought it'd be nothing but rocks all the way out.

And that was probably one of the biggest surprises to me was just how much the lake or river bottom can vary from area to area, and just all the different structures and formations that appear underwater that nobody ever really would get to see.

I saw some really cool ones in Sebago where there was some really sheer almost cliffs about 100 feet underwater that were almost bright white underneath the lights and were just extremely interesting and cool to see, something that probably not very many people have ever seen.

And I enjoy being able to find stuff like that and share it.

One of the really cool things that I came across this summer was I had a subscriber to my YouTube channel reach out to me in regards to coming down to Green Lake in Ellsworth to have a look to see if we could find a pair of sunglasses that had been lost in the water over the summer.

I agreed, and came down, and he brought me out on his boat.

And within a few seconds of searching, the area was in around 110 feet of water, I got down to the bottom, and I happened upon an Arctic char, which is a rare fish anyways in the state of Maine, but is something that is not seen very often in Green Lake.

(lighthearted music) So today, we're back at Green Lake.

We'll be going out with fisheries biologist, Jake Scoville.

And we're gonna be out seeing if we can replicate what occurred a few weeks ago when I was out here to the lake, see if we can drop down and find some Arctic char.

- Char have been present in the lake since we've been doing inland fish surveys since around the turn of the century, about 1900.

So we've known Arctic char to inhabit at Green, but they're kinda like a needle in the haystack.

They're very small, usually less than six inches or right around that when people encounter them or we have encountered them.

Inland Fisheries & Wildlife have tried to come up with a way to monitor that population, and it's proven to be difficult.

And we have had some success, limited success, with different types of nets.

And yeah, it's been tough to monitor them.

So basically, when we saw the footage that Jason got, it was, again, finding the needle in the haystack where he just dropped down and instantly saw a char where we've had to set hundreds of feet of net to find one.

So it kinda opened our eyes to maybe there's a few more out there than we might realize, but it brings it full circle to where our department in this region is gonna be exploring ways to help monitor that population into the future.

And maybe this drone work that's being done by Jason could help us pinpoint locations to sample those fish.

- The drone that I use, it's from QYSEA.

It's a FIFISH V6 EXPERT.

It has a 200-meter tether.

It hooks right directly to the unit, is on a big spool.

And then the controller I use, which is basically a video-game controller, is how I manipulate and maneuver the drone through the water.

(mellow music) - [Jake] Oh, there's char.

- [Jason] Nice.

- [Jake] Doesn't wanna move.

It's very small.

Almost positive.

- [Jason] Yeah.

- [Jake] Yeah, gotta be.

Blunted nose.

- [Jason] Awesome.

- That's crazy.

The last time we were successful at getting a sample of char was in 2019, and we were able to age those fish with their otoliths, which is their ear bones.

And a couple of those fish that we were actually successful at aging aged to be about like eight to 10 years old, somewhere right in there, maybe even nine, which is incredible because the fish that's living at 120 feet is nine years old at five inches long, so very cool.

Besides being able to go down and actually visually see them in their natural habitat and what they're doing, that's honestly, being in a place where you can't dive or other things, you just don't get that insight to visualize it, it's definitely a very neat technology that we're gonna be trying to use and exploring in the future.

- [Jason] The more that I explore the different lakes and ponds and find different things, the more curious that I get, and the more I look to find, continue searching around and seeing what other things that I can find and share with everyone.

- Here at Holbrook, there's access to rocky beaches plus hiking trails.

And if you're into history, there's remnants of old homesteads, including old family cemeteries.

I truly believe that everyone can enjoy nature, but sometimes I think that we forget when the sun goes down, another lovely spectacle emerges if you just go outside to see.

(gentle music) (waves crashing) (owl hooting) "There is no light in earth or heaven but the cold light of stars.

And the first watch of the night is given to the red planet Mars."

Maine poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, penned these famous lines in 1838.

If his writing is any indication, he was enamored with Maine's night sky.

If alive today, he'd be in good company.

(sled scraping) - This is called Donkey Universe Farms and this is Galaxy Quest Observatory.

The land was bought with the express purpose of escaping Camden's light pollution.

- [Aislinn] Jacob Gerritsen is a member of the Central Maine Astronomical Society.

And tonight at his private observatory in Lincolnville, he's hosting a star party.

- I just recently today took receipt of a night vision telescope that I'm going to marry with adapters to this telescope to see hydrogen-alpha emitting nebulae in the sky, and I'm super excited about that.

- [Aislinn] You may think it's extraordinary that he built his own observatory with a removable roof.

- Okay, so turn, turn.

- [Aislinn] But many amateur astronomers meld ingenuity with their hobby, constructing telescopes and buildings to house them.

- If we're gonna look at Saturn to start, it's gonna be there.

- I would push it forward.

- For some people, it's very scientific.

For others, it's very religious, looking at the creation.

But I think everyone is is awed by the beauty.

- We've got Venus already.

(tripod scraping) - [Aislinn] Astronomy clubs throughout Maine gather on a regular basis to share telescopes, knowledge, and laughter.

- Bam.

You can go online and look at more detailed views of everything that we're gonna look at tonight, no problem.

But there's something different about seeing it with your own eyes right there.

And the other thing to understand is that there's a lot to see up there.

You could spend a lifetime just seeing new things all the time, so it never gets old.

- [Aislinn] Most of Maine features a lot of trees and very few people.

That means very little light pollution and some of the darkest skies in the Eastern US.

But don't let the term, dark skies, fool you.

Maine's skies are dazzling, filled with countless stars and the glittering band of the Milky Way.

- [Jon] There's not enough overt appreciation for dark skies.

We can see things in Maine that you can't see even just a few hundred miles away in the cities 'cause the light pollution just obscures them.

- [Aislinn] In a world filled with electric lights, dark skies have become a precious resource.

In 1988, a nonprofit organization called DarkSky International was founded in the US to raise awareness about light pollution.

In 2019, Maine jumped on board with its own chapter.

In the following year, Maine's Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument became the first international DarkSky place certified in New England.

- People come from all over to come up here because we have some of the darkest night skies in the East.

- [Aislinn] Nathaniel Child teaches astrophotography workshops in Acadia National Park, which hosts a Night Sky Festival each September.

- I've been with a lot of people that had never really seen the Milky Way before.

So getting them out at a workshop and seeing their reaction when they get that first picture popping up on the back of their camera, it's a really cool experience.

And it's really cool to kinda help people experience the night sky because it is such an awesome thing to watch.

The northern lights are my favorite thing to photograph and just experience, because when you get a storm that's big enough where you can actually see the colors with your eyes, it just really blows your mind with everything that's going on, and just the shapes that are moving through the sky, the colors that pop up.

- [Aislinn] Nathaniel is part of a community of people who attempt to capture the beauty of the night sky through a camera lens.

Chris Shane, a filmmaker who specializes in outdoor adventure films, also belongs to that community.

- I would encourage anyone to get out.

And obviously, you don't have to take a photograph.

You can just enjoy it.

But we're so lucky to live in a place like Maine where there are so many incredible locations to actually witness the night sky.

And not just night sky, but like the real depth of the night sky where we have Dark Sky Reserves here, where it's really what it should look like and what it used to look like before we started making all these huge cities and stuff.

- [Aislinn] Chris often creates night sky time lapses.

For him, spending sleepless nights under the sparkling heavens is just one more way to appreciate the great outdoors, whether solo or with family and friends.

- Find a reason to get out.

Book a campsite at Baxter State Park, in Katahdin, and go out when it's clear.

Those experiences, seeing the night sky, will only enlighten you as a person.

It will elevate your trip.

And so yeah, I would encourage anyone to get out if they haven't, even for 10, 20, 30 minutes.

- [Aislinn] If you're eager to learn about the stars, amateur astronomers are often happy to share their knowledge at star parties.

At the Galaxy Quest star party, Tom Bucci of Camden is showing me a schedule of what we can see in the sky and where, something he creates for every star party he attends.

- This is relative sizes of the planet as they'll appear in the telescope.

They change- - [Aislinn] Yup.

- Depending on how close or far they are from Earth.

So Saturn's rings right now are almost edge on to us.

They're gonna be very skinny.

- [Aislinn] Tom became interested in astronomy as a kid and has been hooked ever since.

- I don't think my parents knew when I was six and got a toy telescope that it would be something I'd still be doing.

(Aislinn chuckles) But here I am.

- [Aislinn] He was 16 when he built his first telescope, using a book titled "How to Make a Telescope."

Over time, he replaced the wooden parts with metal and he continues to use it today.

- To me, this amateur astronomy is a merging of art and science in a way that I think captivates a whole lot of people's imaginations.

- That's cool.

- [Tom] And so you're looking at a gas cloud where new stars are being formed.

- Wow.

- That's what that is.

And it's 42 light years away from us, so.

One of the cool things about astronomy that always fascinates me is that you're looking back in time.

It's a kind of time machine.

Its light took 42 years to get here, so you're seeing back in time.

- Wow.

(chuckles) - Now when you look at the Andromeda Galaxy, you're looking 3 million years back in time.

- [Aislinn] The warm welcome we received isn't unusual at a star party.

(Jacob laughs) - When you come to a star party, everyone is happy to have you look through their telescope.

- That's so neat.

I can't believe I can see the rings.

(laughs) Is that the, what is it called, Pleiades?

How do you say it?

- Oh, let's see.

- [Jacob] Is this focused?

- And then that one's like orange-looking.

- [Jon] Mars?

- Is that Mars?

- We're a bunch of nerds.

And a nerdy thing is probably the best thing you can do for yourself because you have a bond with people who appreciate the same things that you appreciate.

I think nerds are the happiest people (Aislinn chuckles) because they have that thing, you know?

And I think everybody needs that.

- [Aislinn] Often, they train their scopes on specific objects, like our neighboring galaxy, Andromeda, or the beautiful Orion Nebula.

Yeah, you can point.

- This is Orion's belt.

- [Aislinn] Yeah.

- [Jacob] This is the red star, Betelgeuse, which they thought was gonna explode into a supernova, but it hasn't yet.

But it will the next 100,000 years.

(Jacob and Aislinn laughing) - [Aislinn] But you don't need a telescope to enjoy the stars.

Many planets, stars, and comets are clearly visible with the naked eye.

And each constellation has its own story.

- [Tom] It's kinda hard to imagine, but I think before we had electric lights, and everything was pitch-dark, people looked at the night sky and that was their TV, and they made things up.

- In the hustle and bustle of modern life, it can be easy to forget this beautiful tapestry of sparkling stories.

But if you make the effort to sit under the stars, you might experience the wonder and peace that have inspired so many.

(gentle music) If you missed an episode of "Borealis" or just wanna rewatch one of your favorite segments, head on over to our YouTube page.

You'll find full episodes, individual stories, and bonus content that you won't find anywhere else.

Watch "Borealis" anytime, anywhere on YouTube.

Next time on "Borealis."

(gentle music) (skates scraping) In some towns of the Northeast, pond hockey is a big deal.

This game brings together communities and forwards generations-long traditions.

Retirement means different things to different people.

To one Mainer, it means paddling his kayak every single day for a year, rain or shine.

NEVI Fest, a festival for blind and visually impaired skiers.

And we take you behind the scenes at Maine Wildlife Park in Gray in the depths of winter.

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues)