Tuesday, May 7, 1996
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This week's reports | Special report from Alfred, Maine | Reports from the press | Downeast Birdline -- transcript of current telephone message | Black fly report for May 1-7 |This week's reports
Sunday, April 21. E. Orland (Map 23) Toddy Pond: This first room-temperature day of 1996 brought 2 blue heron flapping around our sky and the year's first peeper pandemonium. We have seen no fish on the Toddy Pond fish ladder. The local newspaper reports that the fisheries committee has extended a moratorium on alewives fishing here due to a huge slump in spawning numbers in the last decade. Ice-out appears to have happened last week. As I reported earlier, First Toddy was up to half de-iced for about 2 weeks. During this time Second Toddy was all open, as I reported here. I heard no report from Third Toddy. There was no dramatic ice-out day. W.D.
Monday, April 22. E. Orland (Map 23) Toddy Pond: While maintaining our loon island we saw, for the first time this year, what appeared to us to be floating amphibian egg sacks. What amphibians are this active this early? W.D.
Monday, April 29, noon. E. Orland (Map 23) Toddy Pond: At least 15 turtles of several inches in diameter sunned on rocks and logs a hundred yards across the water, some humped on each other 3 deep, looking like truck chassis in transport across the country. W.D.
Tuesday, April 30. 10 am. West Forks Plantation (Map 40) Snow still in woods in this area. Further North, in Johnson Mountain Township, it's as deep as 1 to 2 feet in shaded, higher altitude locations. F.W.
Tuesday, April 30. 10 am. Parlin Pond Township (Map 40) Parlin Pond is still frozen shore to shore. F.W.
Tuesday, April 30 Jackman (Map 39) Wood Pond is thawed at the shores; and its outlet at Moose River is flooding. F.W.
Tuesday, April 30. The Forks Plantation (Maps 30/40) No floating ice apparent in the upper Kennebec River despite the Northerly location. Some deep ice and snow still exists on banks. F.W.
Friday, May 3, 5 pm. Parlin Pond Township (Map 40) Noticeable melting of snow in woods since 4/30, especially on South sides of mountains. F.W.
Saturday, May 4. Wallagras Plantation (Map 67) Found ice out on Eagle Lake and St. Froid. The spring ephemerals haven't really started in the woods yet -- but the red maples and the poplars are blossoming at the peak. The birds seem to be returning late this year. S. Z-B.
Saturday, May 4. E. Orland (Map 23) Toddy Pond: A kingfisher scouts nearby; I saw them 2 or 3 other times this last few days. Not as often as in summers. W.D.
Sunday, May 5. E. Orland (Map 23) Toddy Pond: The smooth turtles I described twice earlier are not as big as they appeared to me though binoculars. We canoed near these sunbathers and let the wind carry us quietly past many. They were painted turtles and there are so many that we saw two or three at a time scamper under the canoe. They are of about 4-7 inches shell size. W.D.
Monday, May 6. E. Orland (Map 23) Toddy Pond: A wood duck pair feed a few feet from our cat's territory. W.D.
Special report from Alfred, Maine
Alfred (Map 2) The first woodcock sighting for me this year was in mid to late March: a
pair behind my house in Alfred.
My first robin was seen the third week of April.
My first tick was found on me April 20-22 (I can't remember the date exactly.) The first
"noticed" fawn tracks and first noticeable black fly hatch were the last week of
April here in Alfred.
Black flies weren't bad until May 4-5 (rating 2 by your scale).
A swallow tail hawk (I think) has been seen by me here in Alfred about April 27-29. .
It is snowing today, Monday May 6. The yellow perch and Bluegill are active as my son
caught and released 5 yellow perch and a Bluegill.
The brook behind my house, Middle Branch Brook, was the highest I had ever witnessed it in
the 12 years I have lived here.
I haven't received a mosquito bite yet. J.L.
From the press
__Bangor Daily News__Monday, May 6, 1996, page B2
"Acadia closes Precipice, Beech Cliff Loop Trails" by The Associated Press
Bar Harbor -- Precipice and Beech Cliff Loop trails at Acadia National Park have been
closed to hikers to protect nesting peregrine falcons, park spokesmen said.
The falcons, which are listed as endangered species, have set up nesting territories on
the East face of Champlain Mountain and Beech Cliffs above Echo Lake. Peregrine falcons
have nested on the East face of Champlain Mountain since 1991, and last yar a second pair
established a nest on Beech Cliffs. During the last five years, 18 peregrine chicks have
been reared at Acadia national park ...
Trails will remain closed until the young birds are independent in mid- to late August.
__Bangor Daily News__Monday, May 6, 1996, page B4
"Dragonflies to help battle mosquitoes" by The Associated Press
Portland -- A snowy winter and heavy rains have turned much of the state into an ideal
hatchery for mosquitoes; and Mainers are prepering to battle the beasts with a varitty of
weapons.
One of the trendiest mosquito killers is the dragonfly. The Wells Chamber of Commerce and
the town of Scarborough import and sell baby dragonflies each spring. Buyers range from
homeowners to motels and golf courses.
Dragonfly nymphs are placed in standing water where they eat mosquito larva and grow into
flying adults that eat more mosquitoes...
"I expect you'll have a goodly number of mosquitoes," said Richard Dearborn, an
entomologist with the state Insect and Disease Laboratory.
Around the start of May, some of the 40 species of mosquitoes in Maine hatch in puddles,
ponds, salt marshes and elsewhere.
Downeast Birdline -- transcript of current telephone message
Downeast Birdline -- transcript of current telephone message
current Black fly report
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