Tuesday, April 9, 1996
Quick jumps:
This week's reports | Conferences of interest in the state | Downeast Birdline -- transcript of telephone message |This week's reports
Report format = Day, date, time. Location (Maine Atlas Map
number) Report text. Initials of correspondent
Tuesday, April 2. Northfield (Map 25/26) Yesterday, 4/1, the ice was about 1/3 of the way
out of Fulton Lake in Northfield - about 2 weeks sooner this year than the last few years.
I expect it will be well over 1/2 out by the time I get home today. N.P.
Tuesday, April 2. East Orland (Map 23) A hooded merganser male swam for more than an hour, skirting the territory of a few mallards. W.D.
Wednesday, April 3, midday. Garland (Map 32) A mixed flock of about 200 birds (grackles and red-winged blackbirds) blackened a section of the lawn at midday. This same lawn area had, the day before, been the site of a large hatch of some sort of fly. The temprature had dropped a good bit from the day before. Were the birds feeding on cold-stunned flies? M.J.
Thursday, April 4, 9 a.m. East Orland (Map 23) A robin bounced across the snow-laced grass kept by a sunny 29 degrees. The earliest robin sighting for this area as noted in our newspaper, _The Enterprise_, was March 23. Loons were reported on Second Toddy Pond this week. W.D.
Saturday, April 6, noon. East Orland (Map 23) The first of the loon pair that has
nested near the dam returned and remained calling near the boat landing edge of their
territory. This boat landing will be crowded with bathers, "happy" partiers,
motor boaters, and jet skiers in 3 months. That yearly migration strains the ecology.
Ice has been half out of First Toddy for several days, clearly dismissing the notion of a
perennial "ice out day". According to one resident, all the ice has been out of
Second Toddy for a few days. W.D.
Saturday, April 6, daytime. Otis (Map 24) Pair of mallards in water fringing edge of Morrison Pond. B.G.
Sunday, April 7. East Orland (Map 23) We finished the log structure of a floating island for the loon pair that nests near U.S. Rte. 1 and the dam, an unusual nesting spot. This pair has not successfully nested for 4 years. They had been successful for about a decade before that. Alamoosook Lake, downstream, has had residents demanding more water from Toddy Pond. Toddy Pond's lowering level, extreme for this time of year, has made our loon pair's nest even less an island and closer to shore than its usual few inches. So, we decided to build an island, like one described in the North American Loon Fund plans. We will locate the island in a more protected cove and in deeper water. We will note progress with loon use of this island. Sunday evening we filled the island with carefully gathered debris and wetland vegetation. W.D.
Monday, April 8, daytime. Otis (Map 24) Hoary redpoll in flock of common redpolls. B.G.
Monday, April 8, noon. East Orland (Map 23) Our high traffic area's female loon arrived today, 2 days after the male. We launched and anchored our floating island, hoping these two, who have unsuccessfully nested the last 4 years, will give the island a propagating trial. The island is located about 100 yards across the pond from the pair's old and poor nest. W.D.
Tuesday, April 9. Otis (Map 24) It appears that the pond will be ice free any day. The ice is rotting this year. The previous two years, shortly after there was water on the fringe s of the pond, a good wind broke up the ice within a day. This year it is slowly decaying. There could be water in the middle now. With the snow it is hard to determine if it is just melted snow or open water. B.G.
Conferences of interest in the state
Downeast Birdline -- transcript of current telephone message
Downeast Birdline for April 4, 1996
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