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Editor's Column Notes, Announcements & Reflections Hello! We need a spring banner! There is still a lot of snow in parts of the state but let's nudge MNN into spring. Do you have a photo I can use? The current banner is 800 x 225 pixels. Something close in size will work. If you have a photo that I can crop to pull a banner from that will work too. There's a new question this week. The writer is hoping that the bird's hovering behavior is enough information to give her an idea of what to look for in her ID books. Congratulations to long time reporter Steve Hoad on his new grandbaby. I remember when he made the announcement months ago. Time flies unless you're the expecting mom. Friends are reporting half the normal maple syrup production because of the weather. I've noticed red squirrels with very thin tails the last few days. I suspect they're making nests now in anticipation of giving birth. Spring is a little late but catching up nicely here. Perennials are pushing up in bare patches right beside snow banks. The yard is covered in juncos, grackles, red-winged black birds and as of this morning, brown headed cowbirds. Two male pileated woodpeckers are banging out territory wars on the hollow trees beside the pasture. We can count five individual woodcock around us in the evening. If you have a photo I can use for the banner please send it to the reports address. I'll rotate through the photos. There is a new activity listed under Clubs & Organizations. Bernd Heinrich will be speaking. Have a great week! Robin Follette Editor/Publisher |
Maine Nature NewsApril 15, 2008
Vol.
13, No. 15
Tuesday, April 9 Orrington (Map 23 C-2)
The only open water on Swett's Pond is a small area at the dam, and very shallow areas along the shore. The pond was fished this winter, and a few holes remain. While driving down the Bett's Rd. this morning, I noticed a dark object on the ice in the middle of the lake. I stopped, grabbed my binoculars, and watched a river otter eat a fish it had caught. Five times I watched it disappear down a fishing hole, then return to the surface with another fish. One of the fish had to have been a foot long, while the others were smaller. JAS  Wednesday, April 9 Saco (Map 3)
The Peepers are back!!! Heard them down here at
Old Orchard Beach in the marsh near the railroad tracks. I can't believe that
they're out this early. I think they are usually out a week or so
later. EC
Friday night, April 11 Windsor (Map 13) I heard our first peeper: just one! Temperatures were dropping fast so its song was weak. Saturday night, there were a few others, but Sunday night's temperatures in the mid thirties kept them quiet. Monday, April 14, Today was quite windy and cloudy. Apparently coastal areas were warmer but here the temperatures struggled at the top of the forties all afternoon. Yesterday was similar, so much of the rain that fell Friday night and Saturday seems to have disappeared. Phoebes, wild ducks, and geese are visitors during the past week and the wild turkeys are calling and busily mating in the early mornings. And tonight? We set a "live trap" for some varmint who's stealing eggs from our pekin ducks. But the biggest news here is: My daughter left for the hospital, well into labor, to give us a new grandchild! posting from Emma's Family Farm, Windsor Maine, Steve Hoad Monday, April 14 Talmadge (Map 35) A barred owl was sitting on the Children At Play sign at the corner of Talmadge and Old Mill Stream Roads around 9:45 pm. It flew away as we drove by. TF |