Maine Nature News

Vol.  10, no. 30   Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Quick jumps:  This week's report | Editor's Column | Wild blueberry report - map | Home page

Tuesday, July 19. Cornish (Map 4) Well, I finally opened the thing hanging from my oak tree. It was full of seeds(??)  I have never seen anything like that before.  (Reference K.B.'s report of June 26).  K.B.

Thursday, July 21. Georgetown (Map 7) What a nice day it was today. The hazy, hot and humid weather of the past few days has been replaced with a nice dry air mass. With a vacation day off from work I headed down to Reid State Park. I had just taken up my spot in the sand at 10:30 am on Mile Beach when I noticed 2 large boats a mile or so offshore at the mouth on the Sheepscot River. These boats were most likely a couple of the tour boats out of Boothbay Harbor. A handful of smaller boats were also in the area and none of them were moving very much. This can only mean one thing: WHALES. I grabbed my binoculars and headed up to Griffith Head to get a better look. 
    By looking at the larger boats it was easy to tell where the whales were. Both boats were listing to one side as the passengers on board crowded to one side to get the best look. You would see a blow spray of water come up from the waters surface. It looked a lot like smoke. Then you’d see a little of the whale’s back. This was followed by another blow spray of water and the sight of a little bit of its back. The third time it would come out of the water much higher -- its wet back shinning in the mid-day sun -- and then it would arch its back as it went down for a deeper dive. The whale would then stay down for about 5 minutes before coming back up. 
    This entertained me for well over an hour. If I had to make a guess I would say these were Finback Whales.  It's now 3 pm and the boats are back for the afternoon whale watch, so I head back up to see more of the show, which lasts again for well over an hour. With the help of the binoculars I am able to see the blows easy and tell the folks standing nearby where to look. With this help they could then see the whales with the naked eye without any trouble. One of the whales even lifts its tail out of the water and makes a big splash. There seemed to be a least 2 of them out swimming around. This was the first whale watch I had ever been on with out being on a boat! S.Y.

Saturday, July 23. East Millinocket (Map 43) Blueberries range from early to middle fruiting stage. Black flies are very tolerable (level 1). R.D.W.

Sunday, July 24.  Lincoln, Winn (Maps 43, 44) Kayaking on the Penobscot River from Winn to Lincoln, my wife and I had several opportunities to observe Bald Eagles. Leaving the Winn public boat ramp at 4:00 pm, we had no sooner pushed our "boats" into the water when a rather large (female?) mature bird took flight from a nearby tree and settled onto a new perch on a nearby island. As it turned out, we were "escorted" the remainder of the 11-12 miles to Lincoln as evidenced by an almost constant sighting of eagles. 
    How many were the same ones we cannot say with any certainty; however, we know there were at the very least one pair of mature birds (seen frequently together) and two immature (one noticeably much larger than the other). Often the eagles would take flight at our approach only to find a new perch further downstream, usually hidden from sight until we glided by beneath them. 
    Eagles were not the only examples of Maine wildlife we were able to enjoy, however. Even though in the course of our trip we almost always within hearing range of the motor traffic on Routes 2 and 116, we saw a pair of otters on the east side of Hersey Island and a pair of young foxes further downstream. I first noticed the otters as they swam in circles near a half submerged red maple "sweeper". We pulled our kayaks into a nearby small eddy and the otters (always curious) obliged us by resurfacing from time to time only to say, "Tsshh, tssshkk" before temporarily disappearing again. After observing them for several minutes we continued on our way. About a mile further downstream we spotted two small foxes about twenty feet apart on the river's edge. One was laying on a flat rock, the other sitting. They let us approach to within about 30 feet before getting too nervous and disappearing into the nearby thicket of ferns and red maple. Their coats were strikingly bright, clean and soft looking. 
    At one point, as we explored a narrow channel between two islands, we startled a Great Blue Heron. It flew only a short distance before coming to rest on an old rock "piling" (relic of the old lumbering days) where it continued to watch us rather warily. 
    Always on the lookout for turtles, on this trip I sighted only one. Sunning itself on a small rock on the southern end of Snow Island, I approached (hopefully to photograph) what I first thought was going to prove to be painted turtle. However, as it slid off the rock at my intrusion, I got a better look at its carapace; it looked much more like a wood turtle. 
    As far as ducks go, we saw a few mallards and mergansers and some others in flight we could not identify. We did notice a healthy population of kingfishers; indeed, we were rarely out of sight or hearing of at least one during the whole trip. On the southern tip of the last big island before our pull-out, two critters could be heard scurrying through the swale grass before splashing into the water among some arrow arum and pickerel weed. From their size and behavior, I guessed them to be muskrats.
    No description of a river paddle would be complete without the mention of ferns: most of the islands were choked with ferns, the predominant being ostrich and cinnamon. Other lush plants among them added to the various sweet smells we detected when paddling close to land. There were plenty of dragon and damsel flies (ebony wing comes to mind) and we didn't hear or see a moose or horse fly until nearly Lincoln about 7:30 pm. And, happily, no black flies or mosquitoes until loading our kayaks on our wagon.  R.D.W.

Sunday, July 24.  Bar Harbor, Mount Desert (Map 16) It is only just now, in late July, that the moisture from the long June rains has evaporated from vernal pools and mountaintop bogs.  Most of the trails appear to be dry and very walkable. There are still a few signs of the unusually thick deposit of yellow pollen left as high-water marks on the edges of Long Pond. Otherwise the Island is in summer regime, with the warmth bringing out wildflowers and ripening the berries.  Wild blueberries and raspberries are starting to give ripe, plump fruit except on the plants on the driest, thinnest soil on ledges.  F.W.

Editor's column

Wild blueberries

  Now it's time to ask for your help for a "fruitful" pursuit in Nature observation.  As you enjoy the wild blueberries of Maine, please share a report about the state of ripeness of wild blueberries where you reside or visit, giving the city/town location and describing the state of ripeness according to the following scale:

  Please send a report to the Editor at menature@maine.edu!  I'll compile them by county each week for a map in the Maine Nature News.

P.S.  Is there any relation between black flies and blueberries?  Go to this link for the surprise answer!