Please e-mail Frank
Wihbey, Editor: menature@maine.maine.edu Vol. 4, no. 27, Tuesday, July 6, 1999
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You are invited to report on any aspect of Nature in Maine
Please e-mail Frank
Wihbey, Editor: menature@maine.maine.edu
Report format = Day, date, [time]. Location (Maine Atlas Map number) Report text. Initials of correspondent.
Wednesday, June 30. Wells (Map 3) No black flies, few mosquitoes, deer flies becoming a nuisance. N.M.Wednesday, June 30. Carrabassett Valley (Map 29) Sugarloaf area. No black flies, no mosquitoes N.M.
Wednesday, June 30. New Sweden (Map 64) Happy to say I haven't seen (or felt) a black fly in the New Sweden area for several weeks . They came early but disappeared fast D.P.
Tuesday, June 29-Monday, July 5. Phippsburg (Map 6) News
from Small Point for the week of 6/29-7/5.
As I write, I drip perspiration. It was in the low 90 degree range here
on the shore with only a light wind. The water temperature was about 65 degrees. The week
turned up some exciting findings that included:
1. Gulls have a taste for crab caviar! A Herring gull was observed
pecking at the eggs tucked under the "tail" of a large Red Rock Crab.
Fortunately, I was able to intercept and save the life of the female and most of the egg
mass and to learn of this taste preference.
2. The adult Broad-Winged Hawks are not as tolerant of campers as
originally thought. Innocent passersby have reported being "buzzed" by the
predators in an effort to protect their nest of hatchlings. Most campers are detouring.
3. A microscopic examination of Porcupine quills showed that there is
not one barb per quill but a series of barbs ascending up the shaft.
4. The Greenhead flies are earlier this year and vicious.
5. Blueberries are ripe. Cranberries are in bloom!
6. Great beach discovery: a Moon Snail in the process of drilling a
hole in a mussel. Upon handling, the snail disengaged its foot and rasping radula where a
hole had been started but had not penetrated the shell!
7. It took only one week for a porcupine carcass to be reduced to
bones. I am starting a collection of animal skeletons using roadkills. The dead animals
are placed under rocks, or in a wire cage. It is amazing how quickly the bones are cleaned
by beetles and larvae, with very little odor. You have to keep checking on the process. A
Red Squirrel's remains were reduced to nothing in two weeks (not even bones). Has anyone
else pursued this skeleton hunt? R.K.
Saturday, July 3. Orono (Map 23) I shone a flashlight into
an eye-level Bank Swallow burrow, and saw a ready-to fledge swallow at the end of the 1.5
foot-long burrow, in a nest of grass and feathers. I also saw several nests from which the
young had evidently fledged already.
I checked two Orono vernal pools. One was dry, and the other had many
2" long salamander larvae and wood frog tadpoles also. A green frog ha moved into the
pool still holding water. I believe it was taking predaceous advantage of the abundance of
vernal pool life. J.K.M.
Sunday, July 4. Southwest Harbor (Map 16)
Bernard Mountain. A hot, humid day with still air. Yet there no black
flies, nor mosquitoes. A few deer flies made a token attempt to plague us in the
spruce-fir wood near the summit, but relented when we reached a breezy overlook.
Cicadas have begun their summer singing.
Ripe blueberries abound on the mountain. This is a very early surprise!
F.W.
Tuesday, July 6. East Millinocket (Map 43) While riding
our bikes on a logging road this afternoon my wife and I saw a single grouse chick scurry
off the road & as we arrived at the place of its disappearance we were hoping to catch
a glimpse of more chicks by the roadside. Instead we were saddened to see its mother dead
in the road, evidently hit by a truck. We moved the remains off the road but left in
somewhat in the open where carrion eaters might easily find it to feed their own hungry
young. Speaking of Ruffed grouse, I think I've come across more broods in the greater
Katahdin area this year than ever.
We never saw a black fly or mosquito today but were bitten several
times by horse and deer flies. It was overcast with occasional sprinkles. It's a good
thing the wind was gusting or I suspect they would have been somewhat more of a nuisance.
D.W.
Tuesday, July 6. Caratunk (Map 30) Blueberries in
Caratunk: I can't believe it either! I picked a handful in the woods yesterday and a
little boy from down the road was picking in a nearby field today. My raspberry patch is
looking good, too, though it's not ready yet.
Concerning birds: last week I saw a very large Kingfisher sitting on
the bridge railing on Austin Stream in downtown Bingham.
Recent Storm: A man with a wind gauge, clocked the wind at 68 mph at
Lake Moxie, Monday 5 am. And they didn't even bear the brunt of the storm! B.Y.
Maine
Wild Blueberry Report for June 29-July 6, 1999
I note that the progress of the berries appears to be about 3 weeks ahead of average in most localities. So this is the first Maine wild blueberry report for this year. Your participation is welcome!
Unripe fruit stage: Washington County
Early ripe fruiting stage: Penobscot, Somerset Counties
Middle ripe fruiting stage: Hancock County
No reports: other Maine counties
Bangor Daily News Thursday, June 24, 1999, pages A1, A5
Dry spell trims black fly numbers; other species not bothered by
recent lack of rain
by Gordon Bonin
of the News staff
There is at least one benefit in this spring's lack of rainfall: Mainers have lost less
flesh and blood. The shortfall of rain has checked black fly and inland mosquito
populations. The mosquitoes need stagnant pools to breed, while the black flies like
stream edges. "Last June was pretty wet, and this June is pretty dry," said
Clark Granger of the Maine Forest Service's insect and disease management section in
Augusta. "Water levels have been down."
Clay Kirby of University of Maine Cooperative Extension said he has been "amazed at
how few mosquitoes and black flies there have been in places where they would have carried
you off at the same place last year."
Just one-eighth inch of rain has fallen this month, acoording to Steve Capriola, a
meteorologist at the National Weather Service station in Gray. Normally, almost
3-1/2 inches fall in June.
However, based on anecdotes, complaints and questions from people, some insects seem to be
thriving amid the near-drought conditions, accoring to Kirby, and insect diagnostician in
the Extension's pest management office. There seems to be a fair amount of Halloween
lady beetle larvae around, Kirby said. Officially known as the multicolored Asian
lady beetle, the larva is black and orange and "pretty neat looking. The adults are
brown to brick to red in color, either solid-colored or with as many as 19 black spots.
Directly behind the bug's head is a black M pattern on a white background.
The bugs are good for the garden because they love to eat aphids, Kirby said.
Some of the other [insects] aren't so good.
One in "sporadic abundance" is the rose chafer, a tawny beetle with long
spiderlike legs, Kirby said. It eats roses, geraniums and raspberries, among other
plants. Another bug abundant in [some areas] is the striped cucumber beetle, he
said. It eats the leaves of cucumbers, squashes, pumpkins and the like. It has
black lines on a yellow background.
And two kinds of cutworms are chomping their way through back yards. "We've had
a lot of complaints about cutworms," Kirby said. Both species shelter in the
soil during the day and rise at night to eat. And "they're not too picky,"
he said. One kind bites plants off at gorund level. The other climbs
and eats leaves. The former likes to nip seedlings and transplants. The latter
munches the foliage of corn, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage and beans.
Kirby said the climbing kind likes the marigolds in his garden. To get rid of the
drab -- their coloration runs from sootty cream to brown and gray -- but succulent
lolooking caterpillar, Kirby goes out with a flashlight at night and hand picks them off
the leaves.
* * * *
Bangor Daily News Monday, July 5, 1999, page B5
Deerflies swarming this summer; warm weather speeds hatches of
pesky insects.
The Associated Press
...Deerflies are reported to be adundant and agressive in certain parts of northern New
England.
"The population of mosquitoes are down and populations of biting flies like deerflies
are up," said University of Vermont entomology professor Bruce Parker.
And the complaints do not stop at the state border. Deerfly populations are up and are emerging early in some areas of Maine, according to the Maine Forest Service. ...
Female deerflies lay their eggs in wet areas, on the edges of ponds or in branches
overhanging slow-moving rivers. When the barometer drops and it's about to rain,
females tend to bit more aggessively, said Gordon Nielsen, a retired University of Vermont
entomologist who is know as an expert in blood-sucking insects know as tabanids.
The females seek blood to stimulate their ovaries so that they can mate and lay
eggs after it rains.
The striped flies hover in trees along roads and driveways or at the edge of the woods,
waiting for their meal. They're drawn to dark colors, movement and carbon dioxide.
"A lot of it has to do with where you are, when they're there and what you're
wearing, said Nielsen. ...
The deerflies emerge throughout the summer, starting in mid-May and falling off in August. A dark species comes first in early june, followed by yellow and brown flies with more stripes and darker wings in the summer, said [Jeffrey Freeman, retired Castleton State College biology professor] They all have distinctive triangular bodies that resemble jet planes, he said.
The best and only safequard against the pests: "Bring a net," he said. Freeman conducted his own study in Castleton where he trapped the flies in a net as he walked down a tree-lined road. There were far fewer flies on the way back, he said.