Please e-mail Frank
Wihbey, Editor: menature@maine.maine.edu Vol. 3, no. 28, Tuesday, July 14, 1998
Quick jumps: | This week's reports | Wild blueberry report | Prior weekly Nature reports | Black fly report for July 1-14 | Prior black fly reports |
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.
Thursday, July 2. Beddington (Map 25) Blueberries unripe to edible. My wife and I picked enough "blue" berries to have fresh blueberry pancakes for camp supper. D.S.
Friday, July 3. Holden (Map 23) There were fresh moose tracks in front of the entrance to Maine Audubon's Fields Pond Nature Center in Holden. J.K.M.
Saturday, June 27 - Sunday, July 5. Beddington, (Map 25)
Blueberries, while mostly green are showing some blue. Rhodora has gone by but Sheep
laurel in full color. Daisies and Black-eyed-Susans are blooming.
We saw a Black bear going into the bushes as we rounded a corner on the road skirting
Beddington Lake - East side. Also saw a deer later that same day on another gravel road in
the area. My wife now believes there are moose in the area as she saw a cow and calf just
above the Snack Bar on Route 9.
Loons, Eagles and Osprey are abundant on and above the lake and Narraguagus River. There
are still quite a few swallows at Bog Brook Flowage gulping down mosquitoes and other
flying insects. D.S.
Sunday, July 5. Orrington (Map 23) A short-tailed shrew climbed across the trunk of my car, which was parked beside the road at the outflow from Fields Pond in Orrington. J.K.M.
Sunday, July 5. Jackman (Map 39) Would like to report a cow moose seen at Jackman which stood in a bog and stared at [me] in the pouring rain while [I] observed it from the roadside. P.L.
Sunday, July 5. Millinocket (Map 43) A chipmunk ran across the Baxter State Park road carrying a vole in its mouth. J.K.M.
Sunday, July 5. Beddington (Map 25) Black fly severity = 1. A few black flies remaining here at Beddington Lake, but not too bothersome. D.S.
Monday, July 6. Orono. (Map 23) There were tadpoles of Gray Treefrogs almost ready to metamorphose in Orono. They had legs and a 1/2 inch tail. J.K.M.
Friday, July 10. So. Thomaston (Map 8) Black fly severity = 1. Black flies have disappeared here but the mosquitoes have been ferocious due to the frequent wet weather. D.S.
Friday, July 10. Alfred (Map 2) Black Fly report = 1, Blueberries in between early fruiting stage to abundant ripe fruit, but I would have to say abundant ripe fruit in a lot of areas. J.L.
Friday, July 10. Newburgh (Map 22) The black flies in this
area would rate a 1. The mosquitoes would rate a 3.
The blueberries are mostly in the green unripe fruit stage, with some being in the early
fruiting stage.
The raspberries are now in the abundant ripe fruit stage with the blackberries still being
in the green unripe fruit stage.
Other flowers of interest in full bloom are the: elderberry, St. John's wort, yarrow,
touch me not, mullein, dogbane, several loosestrife species, self heal or prunella,
fireweed, meadowsweet. The boneset and pearly everlasting will be in bloom shortly along
with the burdock. The bunch berries and blue bead lilies are also in the ripe fruit stage.
S.W.
Saturday, July 11. Bangor (Map 23) Black Flies = 1. Wild blueberries "early fruiting stage." R.G.
Saturday, July 11. E. Orland (Map 23) I've been away for 2 weeks, so can't comment on blackf lies. However, the blueberries on Great Pond Mountain were ripe June 28! Perhaps 30-40%, at least. Large, juicy berries without a whole lot of flavor. – C.P.D.
Sunday, July 12. (Map 3) The black flies are non-existent at the southern coast of Maine. At the Kennebunk Blueberry Plains, the blueberries are ripe and delicious, and the orange wood lilies are in bloom. The sections that the Nature Conservancy burned in early May are striped with lavender swathes of blue toadflax (Nuttallanthus canadensis). N.M.
Monday, July 13. Fort Kent (Map 67) The Black Flies are
just about gone in Northern Maine. It has been a long, but usual, season.
Blueberries are still in the small, light green stage. This weekend I did find a few blue
ones in vines near Millinocket. It will be two more weeks before there is anything in the
North. D.R.
Monday, July 13. Lambert Lake (Map 46) At Lambert Lake in
northern Washington County, 3 Two-Lined Salamanders were found under rocks at the
lakeshore and one Red-backed Salamander, under a log in the forest.
Also in that township, a bear scat and a Hummingbird Sphinx Moth were found along a
logging road. The moth looked remarkably like a hummingbird as it flew; its antennae out
front even suggested a hummingbird's bill. J.K.M.
Tuesday, July 14. Alfred (Map 2) Abundant ripe fruit. Because of all the rain the blueberries are plump and juicy -- seemingly much more than usual. Mmm-mmm good and harder to not eat and pick instead of just pick. J.L.
Tuesday, July 14. E. Orland (Map 23) Toddy Pond near the dam: black fly severity = 1 (very few); blueberries are being picked nearby. W.D.
Tuesday, July 14. Fort Kent (Map 67) I have a patch of cultivated raspberries at the house. Usually, we start picking the last week in July and continue for two weeks in August. Last night I looked at the patch and noticed a "large" number of red berries. Three of us then picked for an hour and collected over 4 gallons. There are lots of white ones, but many ripe berries. As you noted about the blueberries, we seem to be about 2 weeks ahead of last year. D.R.
Maine
Wild Blueberry Report for July 2 -14, 1998
Unripe fruit stage: Aroostook County
Early ripe fruiting stage: Southern Penobscot County (most areas), southern
Washington County
Middle ripe fruiting stage: Hancock County (some areas), York County
No reports: other Maine counties