Tuesday, March 26, 1996
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This week's reports | Special report on lakes and ponds in Northern Maine |
Monday , March 18, morning. Orland (Map 23) Mallards rested in the water under our trees
20' from the house. Later they were squatting on a bolder 75 yards out. W.D.
Tuesday, March 19, daytime. Otis (Maps 23/24) Saw my first junco of year for my area and it was singing. B.G.
Tuesday, March 19, 6:30 a.m. Orland (Map 23) 4 American mergansers, 1 female and 3 males were cruising upwind and up this now 150-200 yard stretch of thawed lake. Later they fished in the shallows of a wilder spot a hundred yards across. W.D.
Wednesday, March 20 Fort Kent (Map 67) What is noticeable is the lack of ice on the rivers. The Fish River which flows by the campus [University of Maine at Fort Kent] is free, and has been most of the winter. D.R.
Thursday, March 21. Winterville Plantation (Map 63) One of my colleagues at UMFK has just supplied me with 34 years of ice out data from St. Froid Lake. Earliest ice out date--April 19 (1987) and latest was the next year (1988)--May 28. Average ice out is between May 7 and 8. S. Z-B.
Thursday, March 21 daytime. Wallagrass Plantation (Map 67) . Redpolls and White throated sparrows have just arrived back in the woods around my Wallagrass residence. S. Z-B.
Friday, March 22 daytime. Blanchard/Monson (Map 31) Snow depth in the woods is approximately 2 feet, varying to 3 to 4 feet in hollows and clearcuts, and less than 1 foot under spruce-fir canopy. Yet there are open, muddy areas around seeps and springs, even where there is no running water nor daylong sun. The power of the Earth's heat alone! (The 40 degrees underground water temperature working continuously on the snowpack.) Observed a ruffed grouse and a snowshoe hare. Tracks of fox, squirrels and voles. No sign of deer nor moose anywhere on our 6.5 mile hike on the Appalachian Trail. F.W.
Friday, March 22 morning. Orland (Map 23) 2 males and 1 female mergansers cruised for most of the day [Toddy Pond]. W.D.
Saturday, March 23 daytime. Wallagrass Plantation (Map 67) . A loud crash and thump on the deck signalled the arrival of a merlin (pigeon hawk). I was fortunate to be able to watch him during the recovery period and so have absolute identification. I rather doubt if I could have identified him flying or in a tree at a distance. All the birds who normally congregate at the feeder were noticeably absent until the merlin recovered and flew away. Merlins catch small birds on the wing and apparently this one got too close to the house while trying for one of the "feeder" birds. I have also noticed that our four to six flying squirrels have not been around the feeder lately. I wonder if the presence of the fisher two weeks ago correlates nicely with their absence. Since both are nocturnal it seems likely. S. Z-B.
Sunday, March 24 afternoon. Mount Desert (Map 16) At Otter Cliffs most snow is gone. Many eider ducks, males and females clustered several hundred feet off shore and diving for fish and sea urchins. Observed include Barrows goldeneye, and three other duck species, possibly harlequin, canvasback and a tufted. S Q.F.
Sunday, March 24 daytime. Bangor/Brewer (Map 24) Rte. 395, noticed a grackle by a roadside puddle (my first). B.G.
Monday, March 25, morning. Orland (Map 23) 3 mallards paddled around this open water which now extends a couple hundred yards up from the dam {Toddy Pond}. At our feeders there is still nothing more than chickadees--and persistent raccoons. W.D.
Tuesday, March 26. Otis (Maps 23/24) Although ravens are the dominant crow-type bird in
my area, am pleased to notice so many crows have returned. My pond is still frozen. The
outlet of Floods Pond has open water, but the pond is still frozen. The last two springs,
my pond was ice free before Floods. I am waiting to see if that will be true again this
year. Floods Pond (source of Bangor's drinking water) is a much bigger pond.
Did see a great view of the comet from my back stoop. Can see why it would awe the
'"ancients." Am looking for my first robin for the year. Typically Otis is
behind Bangor. We had enough snow last Saturday a.m. that the plow was out sanding. No
sign of it in Orono at 6:30 a.m. when I arrived at the University. B.G.
Special report on lakes and ponds in Northern Maine
Tuesday, March 26 Aroostook and Piscataquis Counties (Maps 45, 55, 53, 56) This past
weekend was another most interesting experience with ice conditions. On Saturday, I was on
Chamberlain Lake (the Allagash Waterway, Maps 55/56). The ice on the lake was still a full
28-30 inches.
On Sunday, I went to East Grand Lake (the boundary waters with New Brunswick, Maps 45/53).
The ice on the lake is 18 inches thick. When looking at a map, it is interesting to see
that both lakes are 100 miles from Fort Kent. However, one is in Western Maine and the
other in Eastern Maine. Although the lakes appear to be on the same parallel, the
difference in ice thickness amazed and surprised me. The ice conditions on East Grand are
so different from what I have seen in the Western Maine lakes. The ice conditions on East
Grand are much more spring-like with a mealy surface. What was also so surprising on East
Grand was the clarity of the ice. Either the water is clearer in East Grand, or there was
less snow involved in the ice formation. D.R.
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