Nature Done Wright

A painting entitled “The Beast of State Line Lookout” now adorns the cafe there.

The pastel by Laura Sullivan was dedicated yesterday (09/16/26) in memory of Stiles Thomas, who started the Mount Peter and Hook Mountain Hawk Watches and rejuvenated the State Line Hawk Watch.

We chose Sept. 16 because Stiles always insisted that Sept. 16 would be the big migration day for broad-winged hawks. As it turned out, Stiles’ prediction was a little off. We only had two migrating broad-wings, as opposed to the 1,000+ we might have hoped for.

It was a red-letter day nonetheless. After Laura Sullivan unveiled the painting, we displayed one of Stiles’ carvings — of a boxing duck known as the Canvasback Kid (it’s a long story) — and the assembled folks yodeled in Stiles’ memory. (Stiles liked yodel.)

“The Beast of State Line Lookout” is on permanent display at the State Line Cafe. Yodeling is optional.

A link to the very brief yodeling video by Jim Reilly is here: https://youtu.be/38ztDZh_YbU

Laura’s painting is now on display. Photo by Jim Reilly.

Photo by Jim Reilly.