Maine Nature News
Vol. 6, no. 2, Tuesday, January 9, 2001

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Thursday, January 4. Pembroke (Map 27) An immature Northern Shrike (Lanius excubitor)  visited our birdfeeder and scared away all the juncos and goldfinches.  He flew underneath the little balsam fir tree nearby but his hopes for a hesitating junco were in vain.  It was hard to decide who to root for; my happy little juncos or the much rarer shrike that is experiencing his first and most perilous winter.  F.G.

Saturday, January 6.  East Millinocket (Map 43) While snowshoeing today in the vicinity of a couple of major deer trails I re-checked areas where yesterday I found three "sets" of deer beds.  There were three beds in each set.  An inch of new snow had fallen and after covering, in a meandering fashion, probably two linear miles, I only cut one set of fresh deer tracks.  I know the area extremely well and am sure the deer had taken temporary refuge in a nearby cedar swamp (probably expecting more snow!)  I chose to stay on the  higher, more open ground as I was scouting a new snow-shoe trail in the proximity of our cross-country ski trails.  All of the beds were on the tops of either knolls or "horsebacks" (eskers).  Two sets were quite exposed that afforded views to the land that sloped away to the south.  Each bed in these sets were within a few feet of one another.  The other set I found on a rounded knoll in the midst of a copse of very young firs and hemlocks.  From these beds, which were separated by several feet (15-30), the deer had no view of  approaching danger but they were very well hidden, laying between two main trails.  I also noticed that a few of the beds that been in the open areas were right between two fallen trees that converged, the deer having lain down as tight into the "V" as they could get, hiding them somewhat from predators' eyes closer to ground level than my own.
    There seem to be plenty of hares in the vicinity this winter, as well as squirrels.  About a foot of snow lies on the local ground.  D.W.

Sunday, January 7.  Medway (Map 43)  While hiking upstream along the west bank of the East Branch of the Penobscot River today (on our snow shoes) my wife and I noticed a startling amount of tiny rodent tracks leading a short way from shore not only out onto the snow covered ice, but in and out of the cavities formed by the jumble of ice blocks.  We could see where they had emerged and re-entered tiny holes in the exposed frozen soil of the undercut riverbank.  Voles, mice, or tiny shrews, I'm not certain, but it was easy to see what they were after.  Everywhere we saw the tracks we saw the remains of yellow birch cones, their trident shaped flakes strewn all over the snow.  Looking closely we were able to find some seeds that hadn't been gathered yet.  Whether the cones drop on their own due to strong winds or they're felled by birds (such as grouse) I'm not sure, but in one area we saw several square meters completely covered in tiny tracks.  Literally thousands of tracks made since a light new dusting of snow since the previous afternoon.  Looking closely at the tiny remnants of birch cones, I found it interesting they were similar in size and shape to tiny rodent feet.  My wife saw them and was reminded of the silhouettes of thousands of birds seen from a distance against a white sky.  D.W.

Sunday, January 7.   Orono (Map 23) Something ordinary perhaps, but it struck me as fascinating… Today I took our Christmas tree out for recycling.  As I toppled it over onto the snow on our front lawn I felt a bubble – I guess that would be the right word – of warm air sweep over me.  I immediately turned around to see if I had left the front door open, but had not.  I then realized that the air had been trapped under the horizontal balsam fir branches until the tree was tilted, then rose up and out, swiftly through the colder outside air!  I wonder if microclimates like this exist in the forest, making a modicum of shelter for living things, perhaps at least protecting body heat from loss due to wind?  F.W.

Monday, January 8.  Detroit (Map 22)  The cross country skiing has been excellent.  I observed a great variety of wildlife tracks this and last weekend.  We had a flock of juncos in the garden eating weed seeds along with a couple of gold finches last weekend.  Yesterday a large flock of evening grosbeaks in the back yard.  While skiing I spotted a downy and a pileated woodpecker.  J.B.