Maine Nature News

Vol. 8, no. 32  Tuesday, August 12, 2003

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

Saturday August 9.  Holden (Map 23) An Underwing Moth showed its stuff to an Oregon birding group which was visiting the Fields Pond Audubon Center.  The moth is about 2" long and gray above. But when it flies, it flashes its red underwings.  Then when it lands, suddenly  it becomes invisible.  J.K.M.

Monday, August 11.  Phippsburg (Map 6) Just a note regarding the reporting of a "white Indian Pipe fungus" from a reporter in Winter Harbor.  (Report of August 3.  See July 29/August 5, 2003 double issue.).  This plant is not a fungus, but a seed plant.  I quote from John Eastman's book Birds of Forest, Yard and Thicket :  "Indian pipe is an epiparasite since it feeds indirectly from the roots of green plants.  Its source of nourishment is subsurface mycorrhizal fungi, which interconnect with the roots of nearby plants and derives nourishment from them. The fungi act as a middleman that processes food delivery to Indian Pipe from its green neighbors."  Unlike a fungus, however, it has a flower and produces a seed despite its lacking chlorophyll. R. K. 

Monday, August 11.  Lisbon (Map 6) We just had our first thunderstorm of the year at our home.  All the other storms in the greater-Androscoggin area thus far have sidestepped us or died out before reaching us.  This one was not "severe" but did have a good amount of lightning.  Not much rain or wind.
    I've seen promising signs this might be a good year for Monarch butterflies. They have appeared in numerous locations and seem more plentiful than the last couple of years.  Viceroys are also common.
    A wildflower that last year I passed off as simply a phlox has, upon closer scrutiny, revealed itself to be something called "Bouncing Bet" (Saponaria officinalis).  There's a large colony of the pretty flowers on the side of a neighborhood street. It is in the Pink Family.
    While driving I've passed a few patches of an attractive lily that resembles one in my field guides called "Turk's-Cap Lily" (Lilium superbum).  It is quite distinctive with bright orange, strongly curled-back petals with dark spots.  The anthers project far out. I'm not positive this is the correct identification; I need to find time to stop my car and look at them closer.  The consensus of my field guides is that this flower is mostly found south of Maine, in southern New England.  A.R.S.

Maine Wild Blueberry Report for August 6-12, 2003

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

Last Wild Blueberry Reports to Appear in Next Issue

   The Maine Wild Blueberry Reports are a weekly feature in July and August.   Please participate in this natural history project that is interesting and fun! 
   Rate the stage of ripeness of wild blueberries at locations wherever you were in Maine this week. 
E-mail me your report, including location and rating of the stage of ripeness on the four-level scale:
    unripe berries
    early  (a few ripe berries)
    middle (many ripe berries)
    late (berries all or mostly gone by). 
The reports are needed weekly d in order to follow the change.   Past reports can be consulted in the archive.

Thank you for your help!
Frank Wihbey
Maine Nature News