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e-mail Frank Wihbey, Editor: menature@maine.maine.edu Vol. 4, no. 6, Tuesday, February 9, 1999
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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, February 3. T6 R12
WELS (Map 56) I was on Chamberlain Lake (in the Allagash Region)
yesterday. They are completely refrozen with no slush spots at
all. Two weeks ago, the lake was a mush with 8 inches of clear
blue ice, 3-4 inches of slush, 8-10 inches of snow, and then
topped off by 1.5 inches of a semi-solid crust. The subsequent
rain has collapsed all the snow to mush. This has refrozen. The
conditions are also the same on all the lakes in Northern Maine.
This past weekend, out on Chamberlain Lake, I also saw my first
Bald Eagle of the year. Last year I did see several (two adults
and one juvenile.
P.S. In mid-January I saw a Robin feeding in a Mountain Ash. I
was close to the bird. It was definitely a Robin. D.R.
Wednesday, February 3. Fort Kent
(Map 67) The lake adjacent to where I live never thawed during
the January warm spell. All we got was a little water on top of
the ice. I think a nearby brook started to run, but is now under
ice and snow. I am not sure though what happened to the local
rivers (Fish and St. John). I rarely see them now that I no
longer have to go to town to work.
It might be of interest, Frank, that the rain which we were
supposed to get today in northern Maine never made it up to us.
All precipitation came down as solid snow, about six inches of
it. E.T.
Saturday, February 6. T2 R10 (Map
50). Several deer have been active along the first 1/3 mile of
the Appalachian Trail (southbound from Abol Bridge), browsing on
cedar. I'm a little surprised they bother to eat it since they
they're being fed at the store just down the road (I saw ten
there at one time). I did see the tracks of two coyotes crossing
the beech ridge where I'd seen the grouse.
I heard two different woodpeckers today though I failed to see
either of them. One I guessed to be a hairy and the other,
unmistakable by its hammering, a pileated. No moose have been in
the area since I reported the tracks and beds in an earlier
report.
In three places further along the trail I saw scat that appeared
to belong to a fox. The accompanying tracks were barely
discernible but were generally the right size.
At the deadwater on Hurd Brook just west of the lean-to, a beaver
had been active since I was there last week. Tracks I guessed
were only a couple days old were plentiful on the snow around the
water that had opened up. By the looks of the numerous cavities
under beneath the top layer of ice, it looks like water rose over
the top of the ice and then fell a ways below it. Most of the
water that opened is frozen back over, clear and slick. One thing
that struck me on my hike today was the number of squirrels I
saw. Far more than I'd seen on other hikes this year--many of
them paired up. I saw few birds. A few black-capped chickadees, a
couple of blue jays, a raven, a pair of redpolls (in the road).
D.W.
Sunday, February 7. Bar Harbor
(Map 16) Gorham Mountain. A welcoming committee (or disparagement
committee?) of red squirrels and black-capped chickadees greeted
us with their calls as we entered the woods. Trails were very icy
in spots, but otherwise passable. There was a dusting of snow,
making it ideal for observing animal tracks. We saw tracks of:
red squirrel, raccoon, snowshoe hare, red fox, and meadow vole
(or field mouse?) We heard the calls of crows and heard what were
probably downy woodpeckers drilling on tree trunks. Springs are
running over the ice in some spots. This means animals need not
leave the uplands for a drink.
In Sand Beach cove we saw two groups of 25 to 30 eider ducks,
male and females in about equal numbers. At Hulls Cove we saw a
couple of small groups of Mallard ducks. F.W.
Sunday, February 7. Bangor (Map 23) The Penobscot River is ice free all the way up to the approximate location of the old hydroelectric dam near Eastern Maine Medical Center. This contrasts with recent winters when they had to send a Coast Guard ice breaker up to open a channel to the fuel oil depot on the river banks so tankers could come in. F.W.
Sunday, February 7. Cape
Elizabeth (Map 3) At about 3:30 pm, sun dogs were observed from
Two Lights State Park in Cape Elizabeth. They were 22 degrees on
either side of the Sun, and looked like short, vertical rainbows,
a beautiful sight.
That night, a Red Fox was trotting alongside Route I-95 in
Pittsfield. J.K.M.
Sunday, February 7. Orono (Map 23) A ruffed grouse appeared on the West shoulder of Kelly Road, about 3 pm, as we drove by. Very rare to see this bird on a moderately busy town road like this. It probably came up from the extensive Caribou Bog below. F.W .