Vol. 2, no. 2 Tuesday, January 14, 1997
Quick jumps: | This week's reports | Downeast Birdline -- discontinuation announcement | Meeting of new group: Greater Portland Naturalists Forum | Publication announcement: Biological Diversity in Maine: An Assessment of Status and Trends in the Terrestrial and Freshwater Landscape |
You are invited to participate. Your reports are always welcomed!
Please e-mail Frank Wihbey, Editor: menature@maine.maine.edu
This week's reports
Report format = Day, date, time. Location (Maine Atlas Map number) Report text. Initials of correspondent
Tuesday, January 8. Otis (Map 24), a single tree sparrow arrived at my feeders and was around for several days. At first, the tree sparrow would only feed on the ground, but then started using a pole feeder. I haven't had any sparrows for ages! B.G.
Friday, January 10. Otis (Map 24), after months of not seeing a brown creeper, I spotted a brown creeper in the yard. B.G.
Friday, January 10. E. Orland (Map 23) Wind/open water saga continued: We had 3 or four days of temperatures lowering to the low teens this week. During that time the quarter acre of open water at this, the downstream end of the lake, _opened_ to about 2 acres. The winds were harsh out of the north. Yesterday the temperatures went up to the twenties, but the winds subsided. I assume the calm air is what allow the open water to just freeze-over this morning. However, the light snow created a slush and the south winds have slopped the slush around enough that the water is once again opening. W.D.
Saturday, January 11. E. Orland (Map 23) Ducks, a fox, and crows hung around this little remaining (now about 3 acres) open water. The fox sat in the sun camouflaged behind brush for 15 minutes. 5 neighborhood crows decorated a tall sapling just above the fox. The fox moved cautiously around to the highway, then I lost sight of it. A female merganser (hooded?) fished all morning and worked on one 8" fish at the surface for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, an American golden-eye dove nearby. Later the two paddled quietly together in a cross species affair. A lone female merganser has visited here often the past few days. I wonder if it is the same one that was the odd-man-out and shunned in the group of seven I saw a few days ago. W.D.
Sunday, January 12. Southwest Harbor (Map 16) Strange mushroom-shaped ice formations,
some as wide as two feet in diameter, at South end of Long Pond. These apparently formed
on any singularities near the water, in this case they formed on the vertical stubs of
branches from a cedar trunk that had fallen in the water. As waves lapped and water froze,
new layers formed, until the originating shape was no longer recognizable. Many other ice
shapes occur in the coves. One of special interest was a layering of ice
"confetti" consisting of 1 to 2 inch ice slivers cast upon the shore ice. How
did it form? Perhaps sudden wind-caused waves occasionally shattered the thin lake ice
sheet before it could deepen significantly.
Long Pond is still open except for an extent of several yards of ice at the South end, and
several feet extent in some protected coves. In contrast Echo Lake, on the opposite side
of Beech Mountain, is nearly frozen over. I attribute this to the difference in depth.
Wind perhaps stirs up the warmer layers in Long Pond.
Many sections of Mount Desert Island's hiking trails (not all!) are free of ice and snow,
depending on exposure and altitude. But wherever the terrain is ledgy with rock
outcroppings, especially on Northern exposures where any water seepage has time to freeze
and build ice up to great heights. These ice formations vary in color, perhaps due to
dissolved minerals. Many look like frozen waterfalls. F.W.
Monday, January 13. E. Orland (Map 23) With the stillness of last night, all remaining open water here finally froze solidly. The beaver(s) that has survived all the trapping--I saw it swimming in the distance a few times recently--must be awaiting a thaw in its lodge under our dock. W.D.
Monday, January 13. Otis (Map 24), observed a single, female purple finch at the feeders. B.G.
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