Maine Nature News

Vol. 5, no. 35, Tuesday, August 29, 2000

Nature observation trip on the Appalachian Trail in Vermont
The Editor and his son made a backpacking and Nature observation trip on the Appalachian Trail in Vermont.  Click here for the report.  Narratives and pictures are included.

Quick jumps: | This week's reports | From the Press | Prior weekly Nature reports | Prior black fly reports | Home page |

    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, August 23.  Skowhegan (Map 21)  This seems to be a good year for garter snakes here.  I send them slithering away every time I go out.  Yesterday morning my cat caught a small bird, either a purple finch or sparrow, and left it by the back door.  Later in the morning I saw a garter snake trying to swallow it.  It was not lined up in the manner you hear of , so the snake was having difficulty.  However, it eventually succeeded.  I am not surprised to have seen this as I have come upon them swallowing frogs, but it was a little disconcerting, nevertheless.
    We are having the biggest invasion of Japanese beetles this year that I can remember seeing. We have put up one trap but the most effective method I have found is catching them in a jar myself.  We have seen the traps in many yards.  J.F.

Monday, August 28.  Skowhegan (Map 21) I've been watching an unfamiliar plant growing in my raised bed. Yesterday its first blossom opened so I could check it out in one of my wildflower guides. Turns out it is Jimson Weed--not very welcome but it does have a lovely pale purple blossom veined with dark purple. In my seed catalogs it is referred to by its Latin name of Datura -- and common name of Angel's Trumpet!  What interests me most is how it must have arrived here -- no clue. In my flower guide I had noted seeing it in 1984 along our driveway. We pulled that plant up promptly, and I shall do the same with this after taking a picture or two of that blossom (which, by the way, closes up as the day progresses.)   J.F.

Monday, August 28.  Brunswick (Map 6) Lots of Daddy-Long-Legs on the house.  I'm hearing more cicadas now.  This week saw an irruption of Common Wood Nymph butterflies.  Several species of attractive Tussock Moth caterpillars have been spotted on or around my house.
    My red oaks are dropping huge numbers of acorns. 
    A trip down to Bay Bridge Landing for the first time in a few weeks revealed more Cardinal Flowers and Square-Stemmed Monkeyflowers than I've ever seen there before, both species obviously well-suited to that habitat.  Also down there, I found my first Spotted Joe-Pye Weed.  When I looked it up in my field guides, I was surprised to discover it is in  the same genus (Eupatorium) as Boneset.  Other wildflower happenings included trying to identify a strange and unwanted invader in my wife's flower garden. The homely plant turned out to be something called Pilewort.  I only found it in my Peterson's guide on page 88.
    American Mountain Ash trees have their clusters of bright  red-orange berries.  A.R.S.

Tuesday, August 29.  Lexington (Map 30)  Spent last weekend at camp in Lexington. Saw 2 moose and 2 deer and picked blackberries.  Fresh, hot blackberry muffins for afternoon snack. Yum-Yum.  They are really ripe and ready now.  Much later than last year in that area.  Terrible raspberry season this year.  Most of them dried up before they really developed.
    No-See-Ums bad both days until the sun came up warm and drove them away.  While picking blackberries I happened to step in fresh bear do-do.  My wife said that answers one of the world’s age-old questions, "Do bears do it in the woods?".  I can tell you for sure they do!!  The berries were delicious, very sweet.
    Very good year as far as black flies and mosquitoes go.  I don't think they got over a 3 or 4 all year.  P.C.

From the Press

Humanity biggest predator to Maine’s loons
Beurmond Banville
Bangor Daily News,  August 25, 2000, pages B1,  B6

SOLDIER POND -- A lonely, eerie cry is heard piercing the early morning or late evening stillness, and immediately people know loons are sharing their ponds or lakes.  The beautiful, black and white bird is admired by scores canoeing Maine’s numerous waterways.  Canoers will move stealthily, quietly, across the water to get a closer look. The loons are part of Maine’s natural setting.  In 1999, the Eagle Lake-Lake Shore Owners Association, prodded by member Marie Theriault, started a loon count on the lake because the number of nesting loons there had never been determined.  Theriault was excited Wednesday before a local meeting about loons when she recalled the count, which was done in conjunction with a statewide count on July 15.  “We counted 27 pairs the first year,” she said. “This year, we had 45 of them on the lake.”  The lake, she explained, was sectioned off, and boaters took to their sections to count the birds. 

     Josh McNaughton of the Maine Audubon Society spoke Wednesday night to about 75 people, members of the Fish River Lakes Water Quality Association and the lake shore owners association, about one of Maine’s best-known birds.  With their large webbed feet, loons easily ply the water to skillfully catch fish, their favorite meal.  While they catch slow, trash fish, they also will devour small trout or salmon, using their long, sharp beaks.  They are sociable birds, coming in flocks and leaving the same way when cold weather sets in. They can live as long as 35 years.  The birds winter along the North American coast, where the water is warmer, but they fly back and inhabit northern ponds and lakes during the summer. They are territorial, with males coming north earlier, claiming territories.  Loons also will fight to the death against other loons to protect their territory. Their most effective weapon is their sharp bills, which are used to spear their opponent’s chests.  

    Maine has more 4,000 nesting pairs of loons on its lakes and ponds. In comparison, New Hampshire has only 216 nesting pairs. While they have their own natural predators, mostly eagles and turtles, loons are most threatened by human beings.  Three years ago, a study of 150 dead loons found 39 of them died of lead poisoning, mostly caused by lead used by fishermen. The second leading cause of death for the majestic birds is blunt trauma, again mostly from motorized watercraft, especially personal watercraft, which can ply shallow waters along the edge of lakes.  

    “Once loons swallow a piece of lead, they will die,” McNaughton said Wednesday night. “It takes a very small piece, like a lead sinker, half an inch long.”  Because loons are seen mostly in the water, most people don’t realize the size of loons, McNaughton said. Males can grow to 15 pounds and have wingspans of more than 5 feet. Females are a bit smaller, but can grow to 9 or 10 pounds.  McNaughton brought with him -- and they were free for the taking -- fishing lures and sinkers friendly to the loons and other aquatic Maine birds.  The Maine Audubon Society, he said, has been running exchange meetings where fishermen can swap their lead fishing equipment for steel replacements, which will not harm aquatic life, especially birds. Maine also has passed a law, which becomes effective in 2002, about the sale of lead sinkers.   “It’s not a very good law. It was milked down to satisfy people,” McNaughton said. “People can still use them, it’s only the sale of them in Maine that will be stopped.”  

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