Maine Nature News

Vol. 8, nos. 30/31  Tuesday, July 29/August 5, 2003

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

Thursday, July 24.  Glenburn (Map 23)  Last week we had a different visitor to our bird feeders.  It was a bear and it raised heck with all of our feeders.  In fact it completely ruined about half of our six feeders, especially the suet holders.  I eventually found most of them but some were completely ruined and not able to be repaired.  I called  the State and they finally got back to me.  Their suggestion was stop feeding the birds; and so I have and no more visits from the furry critter and also no  more birds.  I hope to start again later in the fall as the weather cools.  R.F. & E.F.

Sunday July 27.  T3 R10 WELS (Map 50) Kidney Pond, Baxter State Park. On a weekend camping trip in Baxter State Park I really didn't expect to see much warbler activity.  According to Pierson's A Birder's Guide to Maine, "By the first week of August, flocks of migrant warblers are already heading south, and the park can seem rather quiet."  So it was surprising to see a female Bay-Breasted Warbler still tending to a nest of chicks.  Since her nest was so close to the cabin I was staying in, I had ample opportunity to get some reasonably good digital images.  It would have been nice to see her more colorful mate but he was nowhere to be found.  According to the Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior, the chicks of wood-warblers are fed by both parents.  And since the chicks are barely able to fly upon leaving the nest, both parents continue to feed them for as long as four to five weeks after fledging.
     Also interesting was the presence of what I believe were 5 fledgling Merlins on the opposite side of the pond.  They would occasionally make rapid and loud, high pitched, crying notes that could be heard all around the pond.  They could fly but spent most of their time gregariously perched in the upper branches of a pine tree.  I didn't see any adults and all these birds were dark, dusky brown with streaked breasts and banded tails.  In flight the falcon characteristic of pointed wingtips was evident.  No hunting was observed but one of the individuals chased off an American Bittern.  I suspect this larger bird was perceived as a threat.  They didn't seem to mind being observed and I was close enough to get some pictures but the lighting was poor all weekend as they remained high up in the branches and silhouetted against the sky, lost most of the details of their plumage. M.M.L. 

Wednesday, July 30.  Rangeley (Map 28) Oquossoc.  In Northern Oxford and Franklin counties, the blueberries are mostly unripe.  Should be ripening up in a week or so.  K.B.

Sunday, August 3.  Winter Harbor (Map 17) Schoodic Head.  We took a hike Sunday afternoon on Schoodic Head Trail.  Although it was cloudy, the mist lent an “enchanted forest'” feeling to the woods, mainly spruce, and some birch and pine on the  exposed places.  There were many orange mushrooms in the woods and this interesting red one!  Some white Indian pipe fungus as well.  A few  mosquitoes were there.  
    Cranberries were in their half-red, half-white phase.   Blueberries seemed to be past or not present in the forest, but late stage next to the one-way loop road and the water.  L.C.W.

Tuesday, August 5.  Rockport (Map 14) I saw six willets while fishing the Kennebec last week, and much more.  Also a friend called me last night and said he saw a Great Egret on the Rockland golf course.  I don't know if that is a big deal, but I reported it to one of our Midcoast Audubon members.  K.

Maine Wild Blueberry Report for July 23-August 5, 2003

Unripe fruiting stage: 
Early ripe fruiting stage:   Franklin, Northern Oxford Counties
Middle ripe fruiting stage:  Hancock, Southern Penobscot Counties
Late ripe fruiting stage and fruit gone by: Coastal Washington County
No reports:  other Maine counties

Botanical Collecting Trip

    There will be a botanical Collecting trip on 14 August 2003, 1:00-4:00 p.m., Pleasant Cove, Woolwich, Maine with instructor Arthur Haines. Pleasant Cove is a brackish tidal river community that harbors (pun only partially intended) several noteworthy species of tracheophytes (vascular plants). Participants will be instructed in methods of collecting and preserving botanical specimens. Plants gathered during the trip will become part of the Delta Institute's scientific collections and will be used by future students of the school. Participants in the collecting course will have ample opportunity to ask taxonomy related questions during the trip.
    For more information or to register for this trip, please e-mail info@vfthomas.com or call the V. F. Thomas Co. at 207-266-5748. Enrollment is limited to 10. The fee is $10.

Delta Institute of Natural History. (http://www.vfthomas.com/deltahome.htm) is an educational program of the V. F. Thomas Co., a Maine-based natural history bookseller.