Maine Nature News
Vol. 6, no. 18, Tuesday, May 1, 2001

Check out our redesigned home page.  You can now read the current report right on the home page.

Sunday, April 22. Stockton Springs (Map 15) The peepers started peeping in the pond across from us in Stockton Springs this evening. (The "clucking" frogs had started about a week before)
    The ice left the northern end of Toddy Pond in East Orland this morning.
    This weather has been so perfect, with sunny bug-free days,  I'm sure we will pay for it later!  R.S.G.

Wednesday, April 25. Alfred (Map 2)  Canada Geese have been in the river for about a week, Blue Heron are back and so is the good weather (83 degrees yesterday).  Deer have been coming to the fields in bunches.  
    First mosquito kill of the year was last Sunday (4-22-01) and ticks are starting to appear.  I have seen two. The vet is warning people to start protecting their pet so lets make the summer easier on them and do it.  Have a great spring.  P.C. and J.C.

Thursday, April 26.  Talmadge (Maps 35/45) Mosquitoes appeared today. Deer are moving about a lot on our road.  I saw six on a 1.5 mile stretch this morning. They all look healthy.  A bumblebee spent a few minutes around the yard.  Our tulips and crocuses are just breaking ground so it didn't stay long.  R.T.F.

Thursday, April 26. East Millinocket (Map 43) I decided to check a bog on the Madden Road for signs of amphibians (actually its the extreme Northwest end of Partridge Brook Flowage that the road  has been built through).  After looking among the cattails and swale grass for about one half hour I failed to see or hear signs of frogs or salamanders yet. (Just three days ago the bottom was covered with submerged chunks of rotten ice that had sunk).  However, just as I was returning to my truck I was pleased to hear a wood frog croaking, then another and another until about a dozen were competing.   These were the first frogs I've heard this year.  I hope to return at dusk tonight (the 27th now) to check for peepers. 
    Also to report:  spiraling above me over the road and bog were three bald eagles.  One adult and two below (her?) with immature plumage.  They circled in a tight concentric pattern with about 150 meters of air between each bird.  D.W.

Saturday, April 28. Skowhegan (Map 21) This week concluded our coyote watching.  On April 5 we discovered the remains of a deer in our orchard.  Since we could observe them from the house we have spent some time watching to see what might feed on them. A week after the discovery I saw a very healthy-looking coyote at the carcass at 8:30 a.m. It fed for several minutes and then pulled the remains partly into the underbrush and then left.  A few days later we both saw a buzzard at the remains.  Yesterday the remains seemed to be gone but looking around I found what little was left farther into the woods. The coyote's practice of pulling out great mouthsful of hair has left lots of good nesting material for the birds, although each year the number of birds using our nests declines.
    We also were able to watch 2 groundhogs engaged in a territorial dispute.  It was quite entertaining. The two would square off, chest to chest, with tails raised and twitching furiously. Then they engaged in serious wrestling, biting, and rolling about. Eventually one left after several attempts to feed near-by.
    I saw several Myrtle (or, if you must, yellow-rumped), warblers a day or two ago. This is an early sighting for me. We have seen a bluebird at one of our nests a few times.  Woodfrog eggs are in our little ponds and the spring peepers are around.
    That's it from Skowhegan. (Will keep an eye out tonight for Northern Lights. Most of the nights that they have been announced as visible we have been in the midst of some form of bad weather.)  J. F.

Saturday April 28. Orono (Map 23) Participants in a Fields Pond Nature Center Salamander Search found about 15 Blue Spotted Salamander egg masses, 1 Spotted Salamander egg mass, and 11 Wood Frog Egg masses. They also saw about 15 Wood Frogs, several in amplexus and several singing. Wood Frog air sacs bulged behind their front legs momentarily as the males sang.
    About 20 each of spotted Salamanders and Blue-Spotted Salamanders were seen. J.K.M.

Sunday, April 30. Bar Harbor (Map 16)  Dorr Mountain.  What is green now?  Checkerberry, partridgeberry (still with red berries left over from last year!), sedge, some grasses, sheep laurel, moss, and even some ferns that were in a moist ravine protected from weather extremes. 
    I saw a red squirrel nibbling on a leafless branch (looked like a short dogwood or birch), but never knew of twigs or branches as a food source for them.
    Heard or saw:  downy woodpecker, raven, black-capped chickadees, and possibly a hawk.
    Two or more years after apparently abandoning the pond at Canon Brook near the trail of the same name, the beavers have returned and rebuilt their dam.
    Bees, each about 3/4” long, somewhat stubby in shape, with patches of pale yellow fuzz on each “shoulder” were digging holes in a tiny, south-facing sandy bank on the trial.  There were about 40 holes, one per bee.  I saw some ant hills there and wondered if they were feeding on ants or just nesting.
    The snow is almost gone on Mount Desert Island, except for a very few patches in the deep woods away from direct sun.  What a difference a single week made in the snow cover!  F.W.

Tuesday, May 1.  West Cumberland (Map 5). With the temperature in the seventies, I walked down to the river to sit a spell. The trout lilies are growing in force, and I saw the growing tips of a few trilliums.  By the river, the grackles were bathing and doing a bit of fishing, or insecting, off a partially submerged tree trunk.  At least two palm warblers gave me the eye, one coming over within arm's reach so I had a great view of its chestnut cap.  Its plumage is a bright yellow/green underside, with darker streaks, darker gray/green on top, roughly chickadee size.  Busy little insect eater.  I picked off one wood tick that was moseying onto my arm (Ugh - I just can't help this visceral dislike of those creatures!) A belted kingfisher flew past and gave me its distinctive k-k-k-k-k call.  Also saw a brown creeper working its way around a few tree trunks.
    On the way back, I watched two chickadees popping into and out of a hole in a dead tree, carrying little bits of wood, dropping them, and then returning for more. As the hole was about 4 and half feet off the ground, I peered into the cavity at an opportune moment.  No nest yet. The entry was clearly woodpecker work and probably a pileated because we have one who lives here.  It measured 3 to 4 inches. The hole then ran down vertically, 7 to 10 inches.  Woodchuck also whistled an alarm somewhat crabbily at me - no doubt I disturbed a comfy afternoon nap.  I have one woodchuck who lives by the old well on the backside of our house who's probably one of the orphans we raised last summer (he doesn't run away from us, just kind of saunters off when we're outside and frequents the front yard where we used to take them - the wild ones have never come that close to the house).  I've watched him nap in the sun and he seems to just become boneless.  L.P.