Vol. 2, no. 23 Tuesday, June 10, 1997
Quick jumps: | This week's reports | Black fly report for June 4-10 | 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 report on any aspect of Nature in Maine
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, June 4. Wallagrass, Fort
Kent, Allagash, etc. (Map 67) The black flies just started to come out in force. Areas
near water say level 3; areas more inland 1 or 2. For the first time in years I was able
to get the garden in without having to saturate myself with fly dope.
By the way -- spring was at least 2 1/2 weeks late, possibly 3. I have kept track of
leafing out, etc., for 27 years, and this is the latest ever!! S. Z-B.
Wednesday, June 4. Bryant Pond (Map 10) Just a quick update from Bryant Pond, (Woodstock) Oxford County. The black flies are definitely a 3 (as in royal pain!) A.A.
Wednesday, June 4. New Sweden (Map 68) Like the swallows at Capistrano, the black fies arrived on June 1 as they have every year I've lived there. So far they are only grade 1 - relatively few and not enough to warrant bug dope and protective gear. Will try to keep you posted on Mondays during the season. D.P.
Wednesday, June 4. Orono (Map 23) Children on a Maine Audubon "Wetlands and Watersheds" tour saw a young moose that had wandered from the University Forest onto the University of Maine campus. J.K.M.
Wednesday, June 4. Greenfield and
Myra (Map 34) I went on a frog survey route 8:30-10:30 pm. We heard Spring Peepers,
Leopard Frogs, Pickerel Frogs, American Toads, and Gray Treefrogs; that's 5 out of the 9
Maine singing amphibians.
We also saw a fox kit, an adult fox, a bat, and a weasel. In my brief look at the weasel
as it dashed across the road, the tail looked long. I therefore believe it was a
long-tailed weasel. J.K.M.
Friday, June 7. Garland (Map 32) June bugs have arrived. M.J.
Saturday, June 7. Lincoln (Map 43) A snapping turtle was crossing busy Rt. 6 in Lincoln. I picked it up by the tail & took it off the road. It snapped at me but couldn't reach. This is the season when snapping turtles are often seen laying eggs at the side of the road. J.K.M.
Saturday, June 7. E. Orland (Map 23)
Toddy Pond near the dam: black fly bother was modest, or level 2, though winds blew,
lightening their bother.
Our old pair of loons continues to sit on our homemade, floating-island nest. We set the
nest out last year, but they did not use it then, and for the fourth year in a row did not
have chicks. One of these years they sat until about the hatching date, but left with no
chick or evidence of an egg. W.D.
Saturday, June 7. Bowdoin College
Grant East (T7 R10 NWP) (Map 42) White Cap Mountain. Snow still remains, from 2300'
altitude up. In protected places at higher elevations it is as much as four feet deep. The
exposed areas of the summit (3644') are bare, however, and life abounds. Ants and spiders
are active. In the light breeze that day some black flies, a few mosquitoes and even one
stray potato beetle made it up there.
Birds were many: at least six species were noted by their songs and calls, that would
otherwise be difficult to identify in the deep forest. F.W.
Saturday, June 7. Argyle Township (Map 33) Alton Bog. Rhodora in flower, its splash of lavender color brightening the subdued browns and greens of this vast bog, as seen from I-95. F.W.
Saturday, June 7. Garland (Map 32) First tiger (yellow) swallowtail butterlies showed up, again just when lilacs bloomed (a major food for them). Both the lilacs and the butterflies are late this year. M.J.
Sunday, June 8. St. Albans (Map 31)
It was a good weekend to be outside here on map 31. Not only was the weather perfect, but
the black flies were a rather tolerable '2'. Is the Latin name Stimulum damnosum? I'm not
sure that memory serves me with perfect accuracy. H.M.
[You are very close: Simulium damnosum is one of over 40 black fly species that
"grace" our State, each with its own range, habitat and season. At any time
several species may be present in a given area. After their original appearance, some
resurge one or more times a year. Ed.]
Sunday, June 8. Orono (Map 23) Black flies were barely a 2, despite the near lack of a breeze and the advanced date in "their" season. In a reversal of the usual, mosquitoes were out in force in broad daylight. Don't they know when their bedtime is? F.W.
Monday, June 9. Stockholm (Map 68) Severity rank of black flies: 2. M.S.
Monday, June 9. Lambert Lake (Map 46) Black Flies 2+ the weekend of June 7-8. J.K.M.
Monday, June 9. Presque Isle (Map 65) Black flies: 6/2 none; 6/9 few. V.F.
Monday, June 9. New Sweden (Map 68) Blackfly report from New Sweden; 25 miles north of Presque Isle. Past weekend have come out a little stronger; level 2; moderate. D.P.
Monday, June 9. Holden/Orrington
(Map 23) Fields Pond Nature Center. Today was especially nice because I met a vacationing
couple from out-of-state there with their binoculars. They had read about Fields Pond in
"A Birder's Guide to Maine." I told them about the property and some birds to
look for. They were happy when they left at having seen bobolinks, bluebirds and orioles.
I didn't see any black flies at Fields Pond these two times (6/7 and 6/9), although I did
encounter some at our garden plot in North Orrington. At Fields Pond I was getting chewed
by the bigger deer flies. P.S.
Monday, June 9. Fort Kent (Map 67) Little Black Lake, Black fly rating: 3. Comment: With the warm weather that hs finally arrived here, black fly season is in full swing. Cannot work in garden without frequent application of repellent. E.T.
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