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Wednesday, December 12. Caribou (Map 65) My wife and I keep monthly charts of these sightings year around.
C.B.K.
. Bird count for November 2001:
Blue jay 73
Chickadee, black capped 52
Crow 3
Dove, mourning 203
Finch, purple 0
Goldfinch 18
Grackle, bronze 3
Grosbeak, evening 20
Grosbeak, pine 86
Hawk, Cooper's 1
Junco, gray eyed 13
Nuthatch, red-breasted 1
Nuthatch, white-breast 11
Robin 36
Starling 129
Waxwing, Bohemian 148
Woodpecker, downy 21
Woodpecker, hairy 18
Waterfowl at Collins Pond:
Ducks, various 171 (mostly mallards, occasional common mergansers, 6 goldeneyes)
Goose, Canada 3414
Gull, herring and Black backed, mixed 2024
. Daily bird totals: 6445
. Small mammals:
Squirrel, red 43
Squirrel, gray 18
Chipmunk 14
. Average daily temperatures (unofficial)
High = 47.1 °F.
Low = 31.7 °F.
December 12, Caribou. (Map 65) No snow on the ground except where piled or drifted after storm on September 29th. A tardy chipmunk was visiting the bird feeders daily until September 26th. Collins Millpond (in town) is now completely frozen over. In the Aroostook River: quiet water above the dam is covered with ice, smooth near the shores, and rough in the middle where drifting floes jammed before freezing together. Beavers cut more than a dozen poplars up to 8" diameter along the west shore above the dam before the water froze. Nearby is a large hornet's nest about 30 feet up in a Poplar tree. Mergansers and goldeneyes were seen recently in the open water below the dam. Robins, cedar and Bohemian waxwings, pine grosbeaks and a few starlings stripped nearly all the tiny apples off a flowering crab tree on our lawn before finally moving on. C.B.K. and G.E.K.
Friday, December 14. Presque Isle (Map 65) It has been unbelievably warm here, although we still a few piles of snow here and there from the storm the other day. Some of the ponds have a very thin skim of ice left ,but that too has melted down. I'll keep you posted! V.F.
Friday, December 14. Mount Katahdin Township,
TA R7 WELS, and Lincoln (Maps 51, 43 and 44) There is snow and ice on Katahdin but we have mostly open ground down low.
Upper and Lower Togue Pond were open this morning but "trying hard" to form ice from the center.
If we do get 3-5" of snow on the very thin ice layer that might develop by this evening on the Togue Ponds, there will probably be very little solid ice formation happening for a while, a treacherous situation for the unknowledgeable, getting outdoors during the holiday break.
Dolby Flowage looked frozen early in the week but has opened in places again.
Down in the Lincoln area, we watched ice building and forming on all the small ponds last Sunday but by mid week it was opening up again!
The ground in Lincoln is still not frozen hard. We are seeing a lot of green grass instead of the frosted brown you expect before snow comes. My husband and I both heard a loon call, the latest we have ever heard, the afternoon of Dec
12. It was coming from the direction of Center Pond or Stump Pond in Lincoln -- we are up on the height of land to the northeast of those ponds and with experience have learned to distinguish the general location of the calls as they come from
Cambolasse, Long, Egg-Caribou, Center and Stump Ponds. He heard it call about 4
pm and I heard it when I was out feeding the horses at about 5:30 pm. When I heard it, I wondered if it was one that was trapped in an ever-shrinking piece of open water with ice "growing" in towards it, not a pleasant thought.
I've only lived there through four fall seasons, but have never heard one this late, either there or anywhere else! J.H.
Saturday, December 15. Orono (Map 23) The area's Audubon Christmas Bird Count occurred on a day when the birds generally seemed inactive. I speculated it was because it was a day of changing weather, and followed the first snow cover. Perhaps the birds were hanging out in the shelter of trees and not flying much while the cold front brought in blustery winds and clearing skies? F.W.
Monday, December 17. Fort Kent (Map 67)
I have traveled the State this past week and I must admit that the only snow that I saw was in the Bangor area. The inch or so of snow made the trees so pretty this weekend.
Here in Fort Kent, we have no snow on the ground. It is so unusual since we usually have about 8 inches on the ground at this time.
The lakes and rivers are so close to freezing but still most are ice free. The smaller ponds (like the 200 acre pond in front of the house) is frozen over.
Portage Lake and Cross Lakes (2,000 acre lakes are frozen. But any of the larger lakes are clear.
But tomorrow morning, the temperature is to be in the single numbers. This could change all the other lakes. D.R.
Monday, December 17. Orono (Map 23) The Stillwater River is finally frozen. There are some holes, and there is open water below the Ferry Hill Bridge. But this is the first time there is ice from bank to bank. F.W.
Tuesday, December 18. Orono (Map 23) Preliminary results of the Orono-Old Town Christmas Bird Count indicate a near-record number of species in this warm fall with open water. Final numbers are not yet available, but rarities and choice species include: Black-Headed Gull, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, and over 30 each of Barrow's Goldeneyes and Hooded Merganser; Black-Backed Woodpecker, Osprey, Northern Flicker, Belted Kingfisher, White-Winged Crossbill, C. Redpoll, Snow Bunting, Evening Grosbeak, and good numbers of Pine Grosbeak and Bohemian Waxwing. J.K.M.