Maine Nature News

Vol. 8, no. 29  Tuesday, July 22, 2003

Quick jumps:  | This week's report | Wild Blueberry Report  | Editor's Column | Home page | 

Tuesday, July 15.   Phippsburg (Map 6) Phippsburg shorelines and trails. On the subject of blooming plants, this week I was treated to the beauty of a Purple Fringed Orchid which I wanted to share. Also, the Partridgeberries are in bloom.  I find these tiny flowers joined at the base, which explains why later you find their red berries with two "eyes" representing the fused ovary.  On the shoreline, we are finding the usual assortment of sealife including Sea Gooseberries, a comb jelly.  People often puzzle over how long it takes a starfish to eat a bivalve.
    I had a live, very active Razor Clam last night around dinner time. I put the clam overboard in a pierced enclosed bucket along with several starfish. When I opened and drained the bucket today at around 11am, a starfish had opened and consumed every part of the clam except the ends of the siphons. It should be noted, however, that there were other animals in the crowded bucket, so the clam may have suffered by the close quarters.  We have seen lots of Moon Snails in recent days. They seem to have come closer to shore to lay their eggs in those unique sand collars. R.K.

Thursday, July 17.  Standish (Map 5)  Sebago Lake Ecology Center wetland loop trail:  blueberry report, high bush and low bush blueberries in early stage of ripeness.  N.W.

Friday, July 18.  Hallowell (Map 12) While driving along Route 201, I saw 5 eagles sitting  on some rocks in the middle of the Kennebec River.  Three were full grown adults with their white head and tail feathers. The others looked to be this year's young.
    Also a few days earlier in Wiscasset (Map 7) I saw a Turkey Vulture along the shoulder of Route144 by the airport picking at some road kill.  S.Y.

Saturday July 19. Orono (Map 23). Although we finally had a good downpour of rain the previous day, the water level in the Penobscot River and adjacent swampy areas was low. A stagnant swampy area presented some interest to several Belted Kingfishers and I captured an image of a perched female. Various birding field guides describe both males and females as dark blue-gray above and mostly white below with a prominent white collar and a broad "gray" or "slate-blue" breast band. The female is distinguished by an additional rusty breastband. However, the picture I captured shows more of a purple coloration to the female's upper breast band. The Peterson's and National Geographic field guides depict the upper breast band as being the same color as the back of the bird. Only the Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America depicts the female's upper breast band with this purplish hue (although it's not mentioned in their description). Once again, one field guide isn't enough and it's helpful to have several.
    Just when I was about to call it a day and go home for breakfast, I noticed three otters cross the trail from the direction of the Penobscot River to the small swamp hole I had been viewing. They made a striking silhouette on land with their elongated bodies and long fat tails. Their widely spaced front and back legs accentuated the curvature of their backs as they loped inchworm-like across the ground. With camera in hand I followed them and captured an image of two of them swimming in the swamp hole. They didn't stay long. Perhaps they felt uncomfortable with my presence. They disappeared in the brush, following a trickling inlet into the swampy area. As they departed I heard them make a familiar sound which suggests purring to me. I first saw and heard otters while camping at Togue Ledge in Baxter State Park. I've since associated them with more wild and remote areas, so it was a thrill to see them so close to home. M.M.L.

 
Saturday, July 19.  Bar Harbor (Map 16)  Looking south from the summit of Cadillac Mountain we saw a delightful array of clouds at sea level.  I suppose I should call them seafog.  They dissipated in the air half a mile out from the land in well-defined streams.  (The prevailing winds were from the south.)  One interesting thing was the way they moved over the islands -- like a viscous fluid -- rather than around, like a light fluid.  F.W.

Sunday, July 20.   Unity (Map 21) Rating for black flies for Unity this week is 1. Mosquitoes and deer flies are another story!  P. M. P.-C.

Maine Wild Blueberry Report for July 16-22, 2003

Unripe fruiting stage:  
Early ripe fruiting stage:  Southern Penobscot, Southern Piscataquis, and Coastal Washington Counties
Middle ripe fruiting stage:  Hancock County
Late ripe fruiting stage and fruit gone by:
No reports: other Maine counties

Editor's Column

   In prior years, the Maine Black Fly map images were manually assembled using a drawing program (SuperPaint) to overlay the dots on a scanned outline map of Maine counties.  This year the outline was drawn from a spatial data file kindly provided by the Maine Office of GIS (MOGIS). 
   The data points provided by you were listed in a table, by town and black fly severity, and then joined to a large file that gives the latitude and longitude of most localities in Maine.  The results were then automatically plotted into place by the ArcView 3.3, using the images of the colored symbols that I had used in previous years.
   Did anybody notice any difference in the quality of the resultant product?  The maps are archived, in case you want to look at them.

Thank you,

Frank Wihbey
Maine Nature News