Please e-mail
Frank Wihbey, Editor: menature@maine.maine.edu
Vol. 2, no. 46, Tuesday, November 18, 1997
Quick jumps: | This week's reports | Informal plot of Nov.5 local earthquake intensity |Prior weekly Nature reports | Prior Black fly reports |
You are invited to report on any aspect of Nature in Maine
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.
Wednesday, November 12. Orland (Map 23)--Watched two pine
grosbeaks feeding in a highbush cranberry. The owner of the Castine Road home (located
across the road from the Penobscot River) told me a flock has been visiting for a couple
weeks. A life bird for me! They were eating the cranberry seeds, and spitting the red
fruit out. Is it unusual to see them so early in winter? C.P.D.
Note from J.K.M. -- Pine Grosbeaks are found in small numbers throughout the year in
Maine, and are a nesting species. However, one is more likely to see them in winter, as
most of their range is the Canadian boreal forest, and some wander irregularly south (more
in some years than in other years) to seek food (fruit, sometimes sunflower seeds) in
winter. That is why it's always a treat to see them.
Saturday, November 15. Orono (Map 23) The oaks here were
still shedding their leaves by the time of the Nov. 14 snowstorm. (All the other deciduous
trees here had already lost their leaves.) The morning after the snowstorm we were greeted
by an odd sight on the snow-covered ground: almost every fallen oak leaf was standing up
in the snow!
I experimented with dropping some oak leaves, but they always landed flat. However I did
observe that, due to the slightly curved plane of these stiff leaves, any breeze seemed to
"rock" them in place. Perhaps the rocking action helped gradually embed them
into the snow, eventually placing them upright as it accumulated around their stems? F.W.
Saturday, November 15. Fort Kent (Map 67) As for the last, Nov. 14, snowstorm, we no longer have any snow on the ground, although temperature is well below freezing (our lake was frozen over solid for the first time this fall). E.T.
Sunday, November 16. Orono (Map 23) The relatively thin snow cover (about 4 or 5 inches in the woods) made an excellent medium for animal tracking on this bright, cool, mostly sunny morning. Plenty of evidence of squirrels hopping across woods roads. Mice (or voles), who could not walk on top of the snow, left thin grooves the width of their bodies, instead of individual tracks, as they literally snowplowed their way to feed. Deer tracks everywhere. F.W.
Tuesday, November 18. E. Orland (Map 23) Toddy Pond near
the dam: This end of the lake had a thick skim of ice this morning for the first time this
season. The air has been about 14 degrees these last two mornings, creating a mist I don't
know whether to call a fog or Arctic sea smoke. Some ice flowed narrowly down the middle
yesterday morning, and the south shore has had an ice band a few feet wide for most of the
week.
Eight hooded mergansers (3 females) have been fishing here for about 2 days. (A cardinal
came back for one more visit last week.) (I have yet to identify the red berries or leaves
decorating dozens of yards of the opposite shore.) W.D.
Tuesday, November 18. Orono (Map 23) There is now persistent ice in the Stillwater River. It has yet to attach itself to the river banks. F.W.