Maine Nature News
Vol. 10, no. 31 Tuesday, August 2, 2005
Quick jumps: This week's report | Editor's column | Home page
In response to K.B.'s question in the reports of June 26, July 5 and July 26: "Cornish (Map 4) I found this weird thing hanging from a leaf on my oak tree . I have no idea what it is. Do you have any ideas? If you do please let me know."
We have a reply from Richard W. Folsom, Assistant
Horticulturist and Entomologist of the Division
of Plant Industry, Maine Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural
Resources:
"The strange thing on your oak leaves is probably wool
sower gall caused by the tiny Cynipid wasp Callirhytis seminator. Each of the
seed-like structures will have a larvae inside. Put one of the galls in a jar
and you will be able to see the adult wasps when they emerge. The gall is not
damaging to oak trees."
Wednesday, July 27. Green Lake (Map 23) Unripe fruit on highbush blueberries on the edge of Green Lake. S.L.S.
Thursday, July
28. Deer Isle (Map 15) Since we had
some business to take care of in Deer Island on Thursday, my wife and I decided to
take along our kayaks for a late afternoon paddle. We left the boat launch at
Southwest Harbor at 5:00 pm, having decided we would have time to paddle south to
the sanctuary on Barred Island and return before dark. It was nearly full tide
so we had an easy launch. Our bows had barely cut the water when we heard the
excitement of an osprey overhead. We watched as it hovered in three or four
locations, sometimes making tentative plunges, before flying west toward of
Sheephead Island.
There was a light current in our favor so in just an hour we
found ourselves rounding Stinson Point and getting our first view of Barred
Island. Signs designating the Isle as a sanctuary, each accompanied by a request
for visitors to walk only on the rocks, could be seen at intervals along the
shore. Looking for the best place to land, It only took a couple of minutes to
paddle around the entire island. We enjoyed the great but gentle swells on the
south side; they lifted us high before passing under our hulls without a sound,
only to crash seconds later into the granite walls of the island, shooting pure
white spray into the air.
We pulled ashore on a "beach" on the lee
(north) shore to stretch our legs and have a quick snack. Pulling my kayak to
safety above the turning tide, I was dismayed to look down and see a dead seal
pup. It was torn open in a couple of places. An eagle, unusually close, started
chirping excitedly from atop a nearby spruce. At first we figured that we had
just interrupted his meal, but when a second (larger -- female) eagle showed up, I
began to wonder if there wasn't a nest hidden on this tiny scrub covered rock. I
suggested to my wife that we circle the island again before heading back. On the
south side of the island we saw the gigantic nest, constructed so low in the
short evergreen trees we hadn't even noticed it before (I do not believe I've
ever seen an eagle's nest so low to the ground). The female was tending to her
large "chick", tearing off pieces from something we could not identify
(even through our binoculars) and feeding it to her young one. I was surprised
at the size of the "baby." It seemed almost as large as an
adult!
We
left Barred Island and headed north, still hoping to see at least one live
seal. We did not, but enjoyed the company of several pairs of black guillemots
along the way. We also saw a few gulls with distinctive black heads; on a couple
occasions I saw them hover before diving quickly to take something near the
surface. (Perhaps these were Bonaparte's
gulls?)
We saw one more eagle after we were
well into Southwest Harbor: a male, by the looks of it. He flew in from the west
and lit on the top of a tall pine, undisturbed and unconcerned by our silent
passing. R.D.W
Monday, August 1.
Lisbon (Map 6) I found this large, pretty
caterpillar munching on a birch in my yard (see left photo above). I researched it and
found it was a Luna Moth caterpillar. The information I found indicated that in
the north, there is only one brood. If so, that would mean this caterpillar will
make its cocoon and overwinter until next spring. This seems kind of early
though, so I wonder if this might actually be a second brood and the
"north" in my sources refers to the Canadian part of its range.
My wife found this equally large and striking caterpillar
nearby (see right photo above), munching on a hazelnut leaf. It was a couple of inches long,
smooth, fleshy, orange/yellow colored with a distinct black line down its back.
I have been unable to identify it despite much research. Can a MNN reader help?
On Saturday a lovely Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa
cardui) was spending much of the day on the Liatris (Gayfeather)
flowers in my wife's garden. This was the first painted lady I have ever seen; prior
to this I have only seen the similar American Lady (V. virginiensis). See
photo at right. A.R.S.
On the assumption that the past
Nature reports have future usefulness, I have faithfully archived
these since the beginning of the Maine Nature News in March, 1996.
For a number of years Google has provided an elementary search
service for the archive. Not all the keywords in the weekly reports got
indexed. Recently I noticed a dramatic improvement in the depth of
indexing of our website. In contrast to the past, it seems that now
virtually all words in the archived reports are searchable.
I have tried searching by locations names (e.g. Milo), species
names (e.g. moose) and by other key words (e.g. ice, vernal pool, chickadee).
I've even had success searching for past reports by correspondent's initials
(e.g. F.W.)
If you haven't tried the search
facility in a while, please do so soon and let me know what you think.
Thank you,
Frank Wihbey
menature@maine.edu