Maine Nature News
Vol. 6, no. 14, Tuesday, April 3, 2001

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Saturday, March 31. Cumberland (Map 5). West Cumberland.  I just had a first time visit  of a mink at our back door at about 4:30 this afternoon. Nose to nose at  the door, I could see the lovely chocolate brown fur, head to toe, with  a small lower chin patch of white.  It looked exactly like the minks I saw at the Maine Wildlife Park a year or two ago, except that the two in the Wildlife  Park were black. The tail was definitely too thick to be a long  tailed weasel.
    This fella was looking in the door as if to say, so where's the good stuff? He or she stayed around for a good 5 to 10 minutes, slipping in and out of what might be vole or chipmunk holes.  I tossed out some dry dog food kibble which evoked neither alarm nor interest. I watched it climb a good 12 to 15 feet up a big maple, then  back down. It seemed like it might be hunting though I realize minks are primarily nocturnal. The chipmunk was giving its alarm call through this.  Making a second trip to the door, paws up against the glass, it finally seemed to become aware that I was on the other side and left,  cruising back into the apple orchard.  L.P.

Sunday, April 1.  Warren (Map 14)  Ice has left the lower portions of the St. George River near Warren village, allowing small numbers of ducks to move upriver: American mergansers, hooded mergansers, black ducks, mallards and a few common goldeneyes.  During the past winter as many as 12 bald eagles occupied this section of river  (between the village and Route 1), with an adult pair which nests a mile down stream.  On March 29 an early ruby-crowned kinglet arrived at my suet feeder, but mostly foraged along tree trunks and branches.  It has come daily since then.  A chipping sparrow has overwintered at my feeders, appearing early each day for scratch feed thrown beneath overhanging shrubs. 
    Woodcocks are doing their best to make a go of it, despite several inches of snow on March 30. They are seen working the edges of bare, wet lawns and other places where soft ground is available.  Nightly courtship flights have begun.  More dark-eyed juncos this winter season than in recent memory, and hundreds of robins throughout the mid-coast area.  Very few winter finches. D.R.

Monday, April 2. Holden (Map 23) At the Fields Pond Nature Center, signs of spring, of which we are in dire need: Pussy Willows are out, and a Goldfinch is in bright spring plumage.  J.K.M.

Monday, April 2. Orono (Map 23) Another sign of spring:  two different crows in different Orono locations were each carrying a long sprig of nesting material in their bills.  J.K.M.

Monday, April 2. Pembroke (Map 27) Observed two fox sparrows under our feeders; also I saw a woodcock.
   I had a rat in my garage.  I live on the coast and my nearest neighbor is about a mile away, but Mr. Rat in his wanderings found us.  A very clever animal (I sort of taught him when I couldn't catch him with mouse traps).  He learned to evade all my rat traps, and I won't use poisons.  He would eat anything: vacuum cleaner hose; rubber boot on the shifting lever of my pickup; wood on my barbeque grill; grass seeds stored in coffee cans; plastic tops and the gummy worms for fishing for bass.  I finally dispatched him by closing up the garage and moving his hiding places until I shot him with a high powered pellet gun.  F.G.