Tuesday, July 16, 1996
Quick jumps:
This week's reports | Downeast Birdline -- transcript of current telephone message | Weekly black fly reports for May-June, 1996 | Special report on amphibians and mammals in Eastern Maine |This week's reports
Wednesday, July 9. Winter Harbor (Map 17) Schoodic Peninsula is a land feature bounded
by Frenchman's Bay on the West and the Gulf of Maine on the East. Most of of it is
included in the Schoodic Point section of Acadia National Park, a lesser known and
somewhat more remote portion, compared to the Mount Desert Island section. It is a good
area in which to explore a variety of natural habitats in a relatively short distance.
Rocky ledges alternate with gravel/pebble beaches, muddy-bottomed inlets and lagoons. (The
home page of the Maine
Nature News has three pictures from this area.) Schoodic Rolling Head (elev. 440
feet) is crossed by hiking trails. Little Moose Island is accessible at low and mid-tide
by walking across a natural gravel seawall. A ring road facilitates exploration of the
shore and inland areas.
Today the small ponds and streams were running fuller than I have ever seen there before,
emphasizing the contribution of the varied plantlife to the Schoodic ambiance (where rock
often takes center stage.) Coastal and inland species were often found adjacent. For
example one roadside stretch included bunchberry, morning glory, rugosa rose, red clover
and white clover. The poorer soils on rock ledges were habitat for beach pea, yellow
rocket, yellow rattlebox, and yarrow. Here I saw three-toothed cinquefoil for the first
time. (I'm sure it's been here all along, but I didn't distinguish it until today!) I also
noticed a number of delicate white blossoms of star chickweed, located far North of their
customary range--perhaps due to the sea's moderating influence on the temperature. Loamy
areas supported buttercup, and meadowsweet (spiraea), among other species.
As I bicycled by a small roadside pond I heard the "grug" of a wood frog.
Suddenly, I saw a large (about 28-30 inches) Eastern garter snake sidewind quickly across
the road. Its motion was so fast that by the time I drew my wife's attention to it (she
was bicycling several yards ahead of me) it had vanished into the rocks; and so, out of
curiosity I calculated its speed. Crossing a 20 foot wide road in 3 seconds works out to
only 5 mph! Why did it seem so swift? F.W.
Thursday, July 11. Orono (Map 23) Two weeks ago I reported that the railing on the West side of the Ferry Hill Bridge, Main Street, Orono was festooned with spider webs. Every bay of the railing seemed to have two, a total of nearly one hundred spider webs. I thought that was the maximum carrying capacity of the site. Well, I underestimated Nature and the creativity of these critters! This morning not only did each bay sport a web on each end, but many of the bays had a web in the middle, sometimes two -- a more difficult span to weave, since there are no edges to suspend from, only round rails. In some cases webs were woven opposite those on the upwind (West) side of the same bay, a less competitive position. By this afternoon almost all were torn by the breeze. Their builders have their work cut out for them all over again tomorrow. F.W.
Sunday, July 14. Orono (Map 23) The remnants of Hurricane Bertha departed early this morning with surprising quickness. The sudden drop in temperature and external humidity was evidenced by unseason-like condensation between storm window and inner window glasses, where moist, saturated air was still trapped. F.W.
Sunday, July 14. Mattawamkeag (Map 44) Mattawamkeag River at high level, some tributary streams overflowing their banks, due to heavy rains from Hurricane Bertha. Wildflowers in bloom at riverside included smaller enchanter's nightshade and harebell. Bunchberry was in fruit with clusters of red berries. Saw a small amphibian on the forest floor near the River, which at first I thought was an American toad. But because of its small size (about 2"), and the presence of colored spots, some containing orange, I wondered if this was a gray treefrog. However, the presence of a very thin pale green dorsal stripe, and its appearance on the ground, seemed to contradict that conclusion. F.W.
Sunday, July 14. Mattawamkeag (Map 44) It was unusual to see the following three wild plants all in fruit at the same time: strawberry, blueberry and raspberry. K.W.
Special report on amphibians and mammals in Eastern Maine
Monday, July 8. Bangor (Map 23)
Alongside the same historic train line, 5 miles further south in Bangor I saw leopard
frogs and pickerel frogs, and also heard green frogs and bullfrogs.
Monday, July 8. Orrington/Holden (Map 24)
I heard green frogs and bullfrogs at Maine Audubon's Nature Center property at Fields
Pond. The herp list at that site is incomplete. Found so far: Two-lined & Dusky
Salamander, Spotted Salamander, Spring Peeper, Wood Frog, Pickerel, Leopard, & Green
Frog, Bullfrog. Not found but expected there: Red-backed Salamander, Blue-spotted
Salamander, Newt, American Toad. Not expected, but possible: Mink frog.
Anyone want to join the search?
It seems inconceivable that red-backed salamanders have not been found yet. But a research
protocol being carried out by a U-Me. graduate student using artificial cover objects has
not turned up any. Nor did a search under logs by local high school students. J.K.M.
Mammals:
In mid-June, I found a dead Virginia opossum in the Woodland Preserve on U-Me. campus. Most range maps indicate the northern range limits of this species to be York County, Me. I have never seen so much as a roadkilled possum in Maine. I have lived & travelled where they are an abundant roadkill within their range. Does anybody elso out there have records of possum in Maine? Certainly human-assisted transportation can't be ruled out in this case. In late June I found a road-killed Star-nosed Mole and a road-killed Water Shrew on the perimeter roads of the Sunkhaze Nat'l Wildlife Refuge. J.K.M.
Judy Kellogg Markowsky
1 Edgewood Dr.
Orono ME 04473
(207)581-2900 office 866-2110 (home)
e-mail:
Downeast Birdline -- transcript of current telephone message
Downeast Birdline -- transcript of current telephone message
Maine black fly report in map form
Weekly black fly reports for May-June, 1996
Return to top of this page.