Please e-mail Frank Wihbey,
Editor: menature@maine.maine.eduVol. 2, no. 21 Tuesday, May 27, 1997
Quick jumps: | This week's reports | Black fly report for May 21-27 |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
in our weekly "black fly report" network during May and June. It's very simple. Send me an e-mail with:Location, Maine Atlas Map number, and black fly severity on a scale of 1 to 3 (1=none or few, 2=some, but tolerable; 3=many, a royal pain). The more reports we get the better, for statewide coverage in the weekly maps.
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, May 21. Stockholm (Map 68) Black fly report for Friday, May 19: Black fly ranking=1. M.S.
Wednesday, May 21, 6:00 am. Lincolnville (Map 14), [Black fly severity =]1 A.G.
Wednesday, May 21. Passadumkeag River (Map 33) No flies (cold (40's) and windy). T.R.
Thursday, May 22. Woodstock (Map 10) Very quick report (I'm on the road). Black flies have arrived in Bryant Pond. They are annoying but not lethal. [Severity=2] A.A.
Thursday, May 22. Northfield (Map 26) The blackflies at Fulton Lake in Northfield (Washington County, 13 miles out of Machias) are about a '2' since Monday, May 19. N.P.
Thursday, May 22. E. Orland (Map 23)
Toddy Pond near the dam: For the first time in over a year, our old loon pair is using our
homemade loon island. They unsuccessfully nested a hundred yards across the water and
elsewhere the last four years. They were noted previously for being successfulnesters
within a couple hundred yards of U.S. Rte. 1. If they do adopt our homemade nest, they
will be half the distance from U.S. 1, but more hidden.
Meanwhile, though, gulls are showing up--for loon eggs or for fish?
As I bent around the house with binoculars to discover that the loons were in fact
nesting, a loud buzz announced a hummingbirds feeding 2' from my head. It chirped
ridiculously between sips. They have been using ourfeeder, and occasionally the fuchsia,
for over a week, often landing on feeder ropes and branches. Last year 6 or more spent
full days at our quince, and we expect this to happen again within a few days.
A young beaver has taken up lodging under our dock and a ground hog in our woodpile, or
there about, and a squirrel in our roof, despite adventurous efforts at the peak to seal
up holes!
Black flies still at level 0 to 1. W.D.
Thursday, May 22. Mt. Desert Island (Map 16) - a few flies out, but not biting (just males) T.R.
Saturday, May 24. St. Albans (Map 31) I was outside yesterday afternoon for a while and black fly conditions were then verging on '2' if not there already. A couple of them flew in my ears, but they could hardly be described as thick. H.M.
Saturday, May 24. Millinocket? (Map 43) Black flies still "1." J.O.H.
Sunday, May 25. Bowdoin College
Grant/T7 R9 NWP (Map 42) Chairback Mountain. Moose prints and scat frequently encountered
all the way to summit. We started encountering snow at about 1400 feet altitude, in a few
sheltered places. Finally, we saw that snow covered the ground 6" to 12" near
the summit (approximately 2100 feet elevation), except in open areas exposed to direct
sun. The snow was melting rapidly.
In a high vale with open ground under deciduous trees we passed a vernal pool, which
contained at least five egg masses each attached to sticks about 4 to 6 inches below
waterline. Four of the five were transparent gelatinous masses with matchhead size black
dots in the center. One was a small, white mass with barely visible pinhead size dark
centers.
On tree-covered ledges on higher ground there was an adult spruce grouse, probably a male.
He started a tail display then stopped and eyed us as I slowly approached. Then he flew to
a tree branch at our head level and remained there no matter how close I approached. (I
needed to pass by on the trail.) When my hiking companion began to also approach, the
grouse turned in such a way as to keep us both in view, finally flying off.
On two occasions, in widely separated places, we encountered a red squirrel feeding on the
ground. In each case the squirrel first looked at us, then scurried to a nearby tree limb
at our eye level and continued to feed. Only after we were long past did each issue the
"sqrrrrrrr" warning cry. (In the case of the grouse and the squirrels, is it
possible we were the first humans they had seen in their area since November?)
Despite the cold weather and the widespread presence of snow, many peepers could be heard
calling near our camp in the summit ridge area.
No black flies. A few small mosquito-like insects moving in tiny clouds, but not biting
us. F.W.
Sunday, May 25, 6:00 am. Alna (Map 7) [Black fly severity =]1, A.G.
Sunday, May 25. Stonington (Map 15) Russ Island. Saw three wild sheep. On Spruce Island we saw seals, harbor porpoise and one immature bald eagle. B.B.
Monday, May 26. Katahdin Iron Works (Map 42) About twenty goldfinches feeding in the sunlight, on the gravel road surface, which appeared to have been thoroughly dried by the evening winds. No idea what they are feeding on there. F.W.
Monday, May 26. Orneville (Map 32) Route 16. We stopped to watch a red-tailed hawk, which had perched on a short tree next to the roadway and was eying something in the grass below it. Soon it pounced and tried to nab the "something" (probably a field mouse) with its beak, unsuccessfully. Once before I had seen a hawk hunt so close to passing traffic. F.W.
Tuesday, May 27. Orono (Map 23) Early this morning a late frost covered anything exposed to the open sky: rooftops, car windows, lawns and fields. F.W.
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