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Frank Wihbey, Editor: menature@maine.maine.edu
Vol. 2, nos. 32/33 Tuesday, August 12/19, 1997
Quick jumps: | This week's reports | Wild blueberry report | A Morning on the Coast of Maine | Prior Black fly reports |
You are invited to report on any aspect of Nature in Maine
Please e-mail
Frank Wihbey, Editor: menature@maine.maine.edu
This week's reports
Report format = Day, date, [time]. Location (Maine Atlas Map number) Report text. Initials of correspondent.
Wednesday, July 30. Jackman (Map 39) A group of about 12 people viewed the aurora for about one hour beginning at 11:00 P.M. We were at Attean Lake Lodge on Birch Island in Attean Lake, Jackman. No color, but a nice display in the north and northwest. H. B.
Thursday, August 7. South Sangerville (Map 32) Can't help you out on the wild blueberries. I have noticed that I have 4 small turtles for the first time in my pond, but I do not see many frogs. There were a lot of pollywogs. I used to see a lot of large bull frogs but I do not see them now, nor do I hear them. I do hear tree toads. L. C.
Wednesday, August 13. Holden (Map 23) I found a dead (of unknown causes) Woodland Jumping Mouse at the Fields Pond Nature Center, on the old road that goes parallel to the Ravine Trail. It had a very long tail and was orange-beige on its flanks. Large hind legs; a very pretty mouse. J. K. M.
Wednesday, August 13. Milford (Map 33) A frog survey was recently done by staff at the Sunkhaze National Wildlife Refuge. 10 % of frogs found (7 out of 70 found) had major deformities. Deformities are being found in the Midwest, too; it's a topic of serious concern there and now nationwide. I expect this local find will probably be reported in the popular press. Species found in the Sunkhaze were Leopard Frog, Pickerel Frog, Green Frog, and Mink Frog. J. K. M.
Friday, August 15. Orono (Map 23) On a canoe ride we came upon a backwater in the Stillwater River
full of water lilies and pickerel weed, the latter surprisingly beautiful in blossom,
despite its humble name.
Back on the land: Queen Anne's lace in bloom . F.W.
Saturday, August 16. Bowdoin College Grant East (T7 R10 NWP) (Map 42) Gulf Hagas Mountain. The day
began overcast and a bit rainy, 68° F. The West Branch of the Pleasant River seemed low,
no more than mid-calf depth at the Appalachian Trail crossing. On the 6.4 mile hike to the
summit I noticed only one, small American toad. On the return trip, when it had become
sunny and warm, I saw two more, one small and one medium-sized. Why are there so few in
this area?
Some spots had lots of mosquitoes. This seems to be a good year for water striders. I
observed them on every body of water.
A few red squirrels were observed here and there, except at the partly wooded summit. At
the 2500 foot level I saw a meadow vole or a shrew: very brown, cylindrical body, moving
slower than a mouse. At first I thought it was big toad.
Wood asters are in bloom and were visited by bumble bees, at all altitudes, when the Sun
was out.
Blue bead lilies had their berries (light blue at high altitude, dark blue at lower).
Bunchberry and trillium were in fruit: a cluster of little red berries on the former, a
single red, pointed half-inch fruit on the latter. Blueberries were still unripe on the
Mountain; raspberries were just beginning to have ripe fruit.
There are some really big specimens of white pine in the Hermitage site along the
Appalachian Trail. I've seen few bigger in Maine, though there may be some. F.W.
Sunday, August 17. Alna (Map 13), Walked for about an hour in the woods and only saw one mushroom -- a Sulphur Shelf. Have noticed this almost total lack of mushrooms all summer. A.G.
Monday, August 18. Arundel (Map 3) On a 5 acre lot of land I own in Arundel there is this ditch that was dug possibly 15 years ago or so. Each year about this time I visit it to check on the hundreds of tiny frogs who seem to be there in the mid to late summer. Yesterday was no different than the last few years. It seemed like there were hundreds of peepers that peeped at my insolent invasion of their private swimming hole, before they all jumped into the murky, stale water. J.L.
Tuesday, August 19. E. Orland (Map 23) Toddy Pond
near the dam. This lake is within a few inches of the decade low level. Alewives flip out
of the water in large numbers evening hours. The loons fish here often, still feeding
their chick, now gray and white and mallard-sized.
White waterlilies bloom abundantly, as still do occasional yellow cowlilies. Arrowhead
water plants are healthy. Pickerelweed is flowering thickly here and along Hot Hole
Stream, where, three weeks ago, its blooms covered acres of wetlands and attracted so many
bees we could hear the buzzing as we paddled the Steam.
A blue heron is a regular fisher at the opposite shore. At the same shore this morning
were 14 mallards, these permanent residents for generations. Blackbirds have left our
feeders in the last two weeks. This seems to have allowed the shy chickadees and their
song to return, along with an occasional redbreasted nuthatch, and maybe a whitebreasted,
too. Goldfinches and purple finches have also been calmer with the blackbirds gone.
Hummingbirds dart after each other, past their feeder and fuchsia.
There has been so much traffic on US 1 this week that it sometimes felt a relief not to
hear the surge and ebb of big "camper," Suburban, and Cherokee motors, but a
constant, lower-speed groan instead. However, clean air has been even more a rarity, with
toxics and particulates the menu of most hours of most days. We need more traffic flow
into the state like Pompeii needed more geothermal heat.
Two weeks ago Biodiversity Inc. workers caught our three loons around midnight, tagged
them, and tested them for lead and mercury. The Bucksport _Enterprise_ (p. 7, 8/14/97)
said they worked many lakes nearby, testing loons for swallowed lead shot, sinkers and
lures, and accumulated mercury originating from coal and waste burning industries' smoke.
W.D.
Wild Blueberry report for August 6-19, 1997
Early ripe fruiting stage: Southern Piscataquis County (some areas)
Middle ripe fruiting stage: Hancock, Penobscot , Waldo, Washington Counties
No reports: other Maine counties
A Morning on the Coast of Maine
Joel Alex
I step out the door and listen. I hear the sound of waves washing upon the shore. I look up: boats rock on the waves as the cries of seagulls ring in my ears. The sun peeps over the ocean’s horizon reflecting on the water in front of me. I look to the sky: it’s turning light blue. I see chipmunks racing through the tops of the trees and birds hopping from branch to branch, their songs making me happy standing there. I look over: a fog is coming in from the south. A new smell has filled the air; I look behind me. My mother has just taken a fresh batch of blueberry pancakes out of the oven. I go in and have my breakfast. This is my morning on the coast of Maine.
Joel Alex is a young writer and keen observer of Nature. This vignette is his reflection on a recent sojourn on the Washington County coast.
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