Vol. 7, no. 8, Tuesday, February 19, 2002
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Friday, February 15.
Caribou (Map 65) Despite the low of -22°F. yesterday, chickadees have been
heard singing "She's Pretty" as if they thought spring was nigh.
Flocks of doves that had been coming to the feeders have disappeared since a
Cooper's Hawk slightly injured one of them a few days ago. A small flock
of 20 redpolls appeared yesterday and focused their attention on a feeder filled
with niger seeds. On the coldest mornings, hairy and downy woodpeckers,
red- and white-breasted nuthatches, chickadees, and the now-familiar Carolina
wren ignore seed feeders and go straight to a peanut butter-corn meal-rolled
oats-ground nuts-shortening mixture pasted on the rough bark of maples and a
black ash tree, and stuffed in holes drilled in a hanging stick.
Two red squirrels also enjoy it, but nuisance gray squirrels
have been noticeably absent for almost two months. Since they have
eradicated the domestic cats that once haunted the bird feeders, maybe the
coyotes are now dining on gray squirrels. The Aroostook River below the
Caribou Dam is now almost entirely frozen over, but this afternoon five common
goldeneyes were diving in the swift current while two common mergansers were
asleep on the edge of the ice. C.B.K.
Sunday, February 17. Saco (Map 4) I have a male Cardinal that is singing his heart out every morning beginning at about 0600 here in Saco. He has been doing this for almost 2 weeks now! Hopefully he knows something that we don't! Can spring be around the corner? J.B.
Sunday, February 17. Caribou (Map 65) On the ice adjacent to a stretch of open water below the Aroostook River Dam: about 160 greater black-backed gulls, most apparently sleeping, and a few bathing in a shallow riffle. At sunset, a ruffed grouse was seen picking buds in a willow bush beside the Caribou Lake Road; we also saw a small flock of 17 snow buntings perched on a residential power line. On the Coffin Road, another flock of about 40-50 snow buntings flashed white undersides as they turned toward dark evergreens bordering an open field, then disappeared as they rose higher against the still-light sky. In the past week a few (2-17) redpolls have appeared and are only interested in feeders dispensing niger seed. C.B.K.
Tuesday, February 19.
Skowhegan (Map 21) Snowshoes have not been much in
use the last couple of weeks because the crust is so firm I slide around
uncomfortably. However, here in the yard we regularly see some very large fisher
tracks -- even crossing the end of our driveway. I believe a pair must be denned
up nearby.
We have seen two injured deer that seem to be managing so
far, which tells me that the coyotes have moved out of the area or these two
deer would be gone. We had a one day visit from a pretty male pheasant a week
ago. He appeared under the bird feeder and spent the day around here.
I saw him
walk down the driveway and up the road at dusk.
Raccoons have been out and a porcupine has taken up temporary
(I hope) residence under one of our buildings. He comes out and browses on a
nice hemlock that could do without his attention! When I last did snowshoe I saw
a few rabbit tracks and a very few partridge tracks. Both of these creatures are
down in number here.
We constantly hope to see the Northern Lights but no luck
so far.
We have a snow cover of at least 2 feet in most places. And
we hope for an early spring! J.F.
Seals on land no fish out of water
by Mary Anne Clancy, of the NEWS Staff
Bangor Daily News, Monday, February 18, 2002, pages B1, B5
MACHIAS — The seals that pulled themselves out of the water in Addison and Steuben last week may have looked like they were in trouble, but the animals were doing what comes naturally. "Seals haul out for a number of reasons," said Rosemary Seton of Allied Whale’s marine animal stranding program at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor. "They have a good blubber layer so they won’t freeze to the ice or get cold." Seton responded to the Addison and Steuben calls and said there have also been reports of seal "strandings" in Blue Hill and Stonington.
The animals aren’t really stranded, she said. Seals come out of the water to rest, pup and shed old hair. The only time they will stick to the ice is when they are dead, Seton said. The seals people are seeing at this time of the year are primarily juvenile harp or hooded seals. Collectively known as "ice" seals, they live around and haul out on pack ice in Canada for most of the year, Seton said.
The young harp seals, referred to as beaters, and the juvenile hooded seals, called bluebacks, have claws on their front flippers that help them maneuver over the ice, she said. Unlike the colonies of harbor seals and gray seals that usually are seen off the Maine coast, the Canadian ice seals tend to be solitary, she said. The Steuben seal was spotted near the Pigeon Hill Road in a marshy area not far from the water, she said. Staff members at the Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge were keeping an eye on it, she said.
The Addison seal was reported Tuesday on the ice near the bridge. Seton said she couldn’t walk out to it. But seen from the distance, it appeared fat enough and was alert. She said Friday that the last she heard, it headed back into the water. Seton said seals are protected by the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act and that it is illegal to feed or harass them in any way.
According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, people should not approach seals on land or in the water. The animals can become aggressive when threatened. They will bite people and pets, possibly transmitting serious infections. Warning signs that a seal is threatened include: increased vocalization; movement back into the water; and disturbance from a normal resting position, such as lifting a head to watch an intruder.
e-mail Mary Anne Clancy at maw@ctel.net
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State seeks to ensure eagle recovery
Wildlife department proposes adding 117 nest sites to protected list
by Deidre Fleming
Bangor Daily News, Monday, February 18, 2002, pages A1, A4
Envision every large lake in Maine having a bald eagle soaring above it, and every coastal town with several pairs flying around the waterfront. It’s possible, according to state wildlife biologist Charles Todd. “There are parts of Washington County that are already like that,’’ said Todd, the eagle expert at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. “They are moving into other parts of the state.’’
To help encourage the threatened birds’ recovery in Maine, DIF&W has proposed adding 117 new nest sites to the list of areas protected as essential habitat for bald eagles. There also would be 64 nest sites taken off the list because they are no longer being used by the birds. That would bring the total number of protected nesting sites to 393. The changes require approval by the DIF&W Advisory Council after a period of public comment. There will be no public hearings, but landowners have been contacted and those with questions have been encouraged to call Todd. The biologist has been contacted by more than 50 landowners in the past week.
Habitat loss and human disturbance have long been factors limiting the birds’ return to the area. However, in 10 years DIF&W has reviewed 100 cases where landowners wanted to build in essential habitat zones and only two permits were declined, according to Mark McCollough, head of DIF&W’s endangered species group. The department has been designating essential habitats around nests for more than 10 years and there are now 340, McCollough said.
The Maine Endangered Species Act allows state biologists to establish essential habitat for bald eagles, piping plovers, least terns and roseate terns. No new eagle sites have been added to the list since 1998, however, because of the possibility they would be taken off the federal endangered list. Eagle nesting sites tend to be near lakes, rivers or on the ocean coastline. The protected area is within a circle with a quarter-mile radius. So the 117 sites spill over into 131 communities. Once the sites are listed, a state agency or municipality cannot allow development within the area without a DIF&W review to see if it would conflict with the eagles.
Bald eagles were downgraded in 1997 from endangered to threatened, because of the increase in the birds’ numbers -- from 62 nesting pairs in 1978 to 269 today in Maine. And in 1999, the federal government proposed “delisting” them, but that never happened.
McCollough said the switch in personnel that followed the change in presidential administrations slowed the process, but delisting is believed to be pending, he said. As the environment has gotten cleaner, with regulations against contaminants like DDT and mercury, the eagle population as been growing about 6 percent a year for the past 20 years, McCollough said.
Before they are delisted, however, DIF&W would like to have 200 eagle nests that are permanently protected by public land acquisition or voluntary long-term agreements to provide a “safety net,’’ McCollough said. Right now, there are 130 pairs nesting in territory that have long-term habitat protection. If bald eagles are delisted in Maine, they will no longer be eligible for essential habitat protection and DIF&W will have to find new ways of protecting the nest sites. McCollough said that back in the 1970s and ‘80s, DIF&W used other methods that worked, particularly the cooperative management program, where state biologists negotiated voluntary arrangements with landowners. “They are still not that abundant in the state so we can turn our back on habitat protection,’’ McCollough said.
There are, of course, still large amounts of mercury in Maine’s waters from paper plants, and McCollough said that is a concern to the eagles. “Mercury affects eagle reproduction. They do quite well first, but in the next five-to-six years, as they get older, the chemical accumulates and the reproductive rate starts to fall,’’ he said. Eagles don’t migrate from Maine, but they may use several different nests. They can live about 20 to 25 years in the wild and may return to the same nest year after year. As they use a nest over time, they add to it, and it can grow quite large. McCollough said a nest on the Kennebec that grew to almost 25 feet high was one of the largest nests found in North America.
Other sites may be abandoned, and then reoccupied many years later. One nest site on Pushaw Lake was occupied by eagles in the late 1800s and is now being used again, McCollough said. As the birds’ population expands, he said, they become more accepting of people. This is the case on Mount Desert Island, where a pair built a nest 50 feet from a house and have raised young there since 1997. “Typically, they are very shy, very reclusive, and very sensitive to human disturbance,’’ McCollough said. “But there is this broad spectrum of behavior.’’
Designating essential habitats is something DIF&W normally does once a year, using aerial surveys to find where eagles have settled in new nests. The annual survey has been done for 20 years. Using the survey, DIF&W biologists determine where new nests have been created. They map the essential habitat that encompasses a quarter-mile radius around the nest. Then those maps are distributed to each municipality or state agency that oversees the different areas.
Even if the bald eagle is removed from the endangered species list, Todd said there is nothing stopping it from becoming as common around the state as it is in places like Cobscook Bay. He said there could one day be as many as 600 pairs of eagles.
Todd is optimistic, but realistic. He said it took two decades to get the population to where there are safe numbers. In western and northern Maine, the birds remain a rare sight, but are becoming a familiar one in Washington County and in the Penobscot River valley, he said. “They’re moving into the landscape more. We hoped they would show more flexibility, and they’re doing so in the short term,’’ he said. “There is a pretty strong concern about what would happen if we take away the protective regulations. We are seeking alternatives so we don’t slip in the future.’’
Deirdre Fleming covers outdoor sports and recreation for the NEWS. She can be reached at 207-990-8250 or at dfleming@bangordailynews.net.