Please e-mail Frank
Wihbey, Editor: menature@maine.maine.edu Vol. 4, no. 48, Tuesday, November 30, 1999
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You are invited to report on any aspect of Nature in Maine
Please e-mail Frank
Wihbey, Editor: menature@maine.maine.edu
Report format = Day, date, [time]. Location (Maine Atlas Map number) Report text. Initials of correspondent.
Wednesday, November 24. Skowhegan (Map 21) Do you know what those insects that FW of Orono described are? We also saw them and wondered about the fluffy material on either side of the body. My daughter and I saw an enormous hatch of the tiny insects we call snow fleas on Sunday. Their numbers were so large that they formed moving black pools 3 or 4 inches across on the leaves. The sound they made was clearly audible -- like gently falling rain. J.F.
Wednesday, November 24. Grindstone Township (Map 43) About noon today I was treated to the sight of a snowshoe hare as it bounded through some hemlock saplings. Its coat was about 90 per cent white. What little brown was left tended to be on the lower legs and top of feet area. The nape of the neck and ears also had remnants of brown fur. It was a stark reminder of how unusual weather can indirectly affect the survival of certain animals. Last year at this same time that hare would have had over a foot of snow to blend in with. D.W.
Thursday, November 25. Orono (Map 23) On Thanksgiving Day my wife put out some food to cool on the wide railings of our deck. A few minutes later she noticed a squirrel and said "Oh how cute he is." Her expression suddenly changed when she noticed that the critter was going after the cooked winter squash, which was still in its green shells! Did he come there based on smell or sight? We had had squirrels feeding on the pumpkins and some squash in our garden, evidently to get the seeds. This was the first year we remember this happening. I wonder if anyone else has noticed squirrels going after pumpkins and squash? Also, I wonder if anyone has some Thanksgiving wildlife stories to share?! F.W.
Thursday, November 25. Farmingdale (Map 12) This week the deer are very active, being pushed by hunters. The grey squirrels are extremely filled out and have very dense coats this year. The usual visitors to our feeders and heated water are: .blue-jays, mourning doves, downy and hairy woodpeckers, nuthatches, tufted titmice, chickadees, juncos, and a pair of cardinals (resident year-round). The chipmunks have gone to bed for the winter. The grey squirrels (nine) are daily visitors. L.S.
Tuesday, November 30. Orono (Map 23) Concerning the Leonid meteors, in last week's report I forgot to mention that I began listening for radio reflections from meteor trails early on Wednesday evening, Nov. 18. Using an ordinary FM radio with an external antenna I found a dead spot on the dial (92.4 MHz) and waited to hear brief receptions ("pings") of distant stations. During the period 5:15-5:30 pm I heard about 4 pings per minute of a distant station that seemed to be in Massachusetts. Each ping lasted about 3 or 4 seconds. I listened again approximately 7:30-8:00 pm and heard very few pings. From this I concluded that either there was a brief flurry or that I was hearing the tail end of the big peak. (The latter appears to be correct because the part of the globe that was already in darkness, Europe and the Middle East, apparently got the best show.) It was fun to "observe" the meteors aurally, even before it was late enough for proper visual observation. F.W.
Last week F.W. filed this report,
which included a question (also see similar question in J.F.'s report from Skowhegan
above):
Sunday, November 21. Orono (Map 23) On this relatively warm
(50's F.) afternoon I saw numerous slow-moving, tiny insects. Because of their large
number and slow movement, and given the unseasonableness of their appearance, I at first I
mistook them for small tufts of fluffy white plant material, such as poplar seed or
milkweed fluff. The insect has veined, nearly clear wings, with a span of about 12
millimeters (1/2"), Its body is about 8 or 9 millimeters long, with two pods of
fluffy material on either side, below and partially to the rear of the wings. (If it was
an airplane I'd say they were "aft fuel pods"!)... F.W.
The following reply was received courtesy of Dick Dearborn, Maine Forest
Service:
The temperature here in Augusta fell just shy of 70° yesterday. It
will be interesting to see what all of this does to insect populations. The one you
mention is a starter. It sounds as though you noticed the fall migrants of the woolly
alder aphid, Paraprociphilus (=Prociphilus) tessellatus. These migrants often drift
lazily on air currents on warm fall days. This usually occurs in September and October but
the cold weather at that time may have delayed or broken up the flight period as it did
with our friends, the lady beetles.
The woolly alder aphid, also known as the alder blight aphid, is a very
interesting two host aphid. It normally cycles between silver maple and alder but may
recycle on alder. As it may occur in the absence of silver maple and may show great
population fluctuations in such areas, there may also be another host. There are still
questions on its biology. The stage on maple occurs primarily early in the season on
foliage. The stage on alder seems to prefer the stems (or trunks as you will) later in the
season. The fall migrants are the largest stage and fly to maple where overwintering eggs
are laid on the bark. Non-migrant stages are much smaller in size.
There are also several very interesting insect associations on alder.
One of the more interesting involves feeding by one of our few predacious butterfly larvae
(The Harvester, Feniseca tarquinius ) on the woolly aphids on alder. The butterfly
larvae seem to take on a woolly coat and live within the woolly aphid mats harvesting
their food as they go. The other association involves the cottony alder psyllid, Psylla
floccosa. This early season woolly creature on alder is often confused with the aphid
but differs in that psyllids jump and aphids do not; the psyllid occurs more on twig tips
and foliage and they occur early. D.D.