Vol. 2, no. 11 Tuesday, March 18, 1997
Quick jumps: | This week's reports |Downeast Birdline -- discontinuation announcement | Meeting of new group: Greater Portland Naturalists Forum | Publication announcement: Biological Diversity in Maine: An Assessment of Status and Trends in the Terrestrial and Freshwater Landscape |
You are invited to participate. Your reports are always welcomed!
Please 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, March 12, E. Orland (Map 23) Toddy Pond near the dam: Two degrees here this morning. It appears from here that any water that had been open a week or two ago is iced over now. W.D .
Friday, March 14. Orono (Map 23) We saw Comet Hale-Bopp, prominent in the Northwest about an hour after sunset. It had an unmistakable tail, pointing away from the direction of the sunset point. This was our first evening sighting, following the many morning observations this year. F.W.
Saturday, March 15. Garland (Map 32) A saw-whet owl was found face-down in the snow, with no obvious signs of predation. Strangely, its wings were totally iced up. Perhaps it flew in the freezing rain of Friday and lost the ability to fly or move, thus freezing to death. M.J.
Sunday, March 16. Mount Desert (Map 16) Jordan Pond and Pemetic Mountain, near Seal
Harbor. Mostly sunny, very breezy and about +25 degrees this morning. Four to five inches
of crusty snow in the woods. Poor for animal tracking. A hairy woodpecker (?) was eking
out insects high on a spruce and numerous black-capped chickadees were active.
Many streams are running in the mountains on Mount Desert Island, some over frozen stream
beds, forming a stream-above-stream (reference my observation of February 25 about the
temporary topography of the ice world in late winter.) F.W.
Monday, March 17. E. Orland (Map 23) Toddy Pond near the dam. It was just in the negative temperatures this morning. The cold brought its associated clear sky and an excellent view of the Hale Bopp comet. We saw it and a few degrees of distinct tail in the NNW sky, between 7 and 8 p.m., as we traveled between Augusta and Belfast Sunday. Mars was, of course, very bright, coming up the eastern sky. W.D.
Sunday, March 16. Bowdoin College Grant East (T7 R10 NWP) (Map 42) Participants on a skiing trip into Gulf Hagas Gorge on the Ides of March found tracks & signs of beaver, fisher, long-tailed weasel, moose, otter.b They also had sightings of beaver and moose. The Gorge was beautiful in the snow, and the noise of waterfalls was muted by ice. J.K.M.
Downeast Birdline has ceased -- discontinuation announcement
Downeast Birdline -- transcript of current telephone message
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