Maine Nature News

Vol.  10, no. 32   Tuesday, August 9, 2005

Quick jumps:  This week's report | Wild blueberry report - map | Editor's column | Home page

Friday, July 29.  Steuben (Map 17) We’re of course used to seeing gulls feeding on the shore.  So it didn’t immediately attract our attention that there were awfully large “gulls” amidst the seaweed at low tide.  When we finally focused our attention on them our first reaction was “No, those can’t be eagles!"  But they were.
For the next couple of hours we noticed their comings and goings. They allowed us to come within about 30 feet – obviously in no mood to be disturbed from their meals!  So we left them in peace, having enjoyed a rare close-up visit.
    Seemingly unrelated we later, during our shore exploration, we saw what appeared be bird pellets, similar to those of owls.  But these consisted almost entirely of crushed crab shells and other invertebrate sealife remains. They couldn’t be from gulls, as gulls don’t eat shells, but drop shellfish on the rocks to open them.  We thought of ospreys, but the guide books say they eat fish almost exclusively.  By process of elimination and the evidence of the all-day presence of several eagles, feeding in the low tide , and the fact that they sometimes swallow their prey whole, we concluded these were eagle pellets! Two extraordinary discoveries in one day!
    There was plenty of evidence of deer using the beach for travel, and perhaps for feeding and drinking from the springs which emerge there.  Early in the morning we did see a doe and her faun in the woods away from the shore.  These are probably their tracks, photographed not too much later, when we discovered them.
    Another wonder on the shore were five of what we believe are arctic terns. The guide book, and the bird checklist of the nearby Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge seemed to confirm the identification.
    Shortly we saw an adult bird dive-bombing a human passerby on the beach and chasing other birds away.  The focus seemed to be a rock with a small bird on it.  Seen through the binoculars, the size and coloration seemed right, with the black dot on the juvenile clinching the identification as Bonaparte's gulls.  I was initially concerned that the young one could not fly yet, and thus the mother was overly protective.  After a while they both flew away, which ended the beachside drama.
     Blueberries were not as productive as in other years. But the abundance seemed to vary widely. It couldn't be lack of water, as we had big rains in the spring.  Seeking an answer we followed some deer trials from the woods to nearby blueberry meadows.  It was clear that the trails were made for browsing on the berry bushes. But deer don’t usually eat berries.  We concluded from the age indicated by the dryness of the snapped twigs that they had eaten the blueberry flowers in the spring, eradicating the year's fruit on those bushes.  Bushes closer to habitation and away from the cover of the forest had a fairly normal crop.  High on Pigeon Hill, by contrast, the blueberries were in almost normal abundance.
    There is nothing like the unassuming glory of water lilies. Beauty in an unexpected place – on the water surface well removed from land. J.D.A.

Saturday, July 30.  Bethel, Newry (Map 10) Did a short 3 1/2 mile hike today on Mount Will. The trailhead is about 1 2 miles past the Sunday River Road on Route 2.  It's a loop hike best done in a counter-clockwise direction. The first part of the trail leads to the North Ledges and is in the Bethel Town Forest. This part of the trail was logged many, many years ago and along the way were a number of descriptive signs explaining what you are now seeing as a result of this. Very interesting part of the hike.  Along the way you come to an area of Beech trees, and if you look closely, on some of the trees you can see bear claw markings from when they tried to climb the trees to get to the beech nuts in the fall.
    Once at the ledges you get a nice view looking north out over the Androscoggin River Valley with its farm land, hills and mountains beyond.  While at these ledges you also entered the blueberry zone. They were growing all over the place!  Time to take my pack off and eat hand after hand full of nice ripe, sweet, juicy, plump berries.  What a treat!  With my belly now full it's back on the trail, headed to the South Cliffs. This part of the trail had a interesting part where, for a while, you kind of felt you were in a tunnel.  Many of the younger trees were bent over to  form a kind of archway to walk through. This must have been a result of the Ice Storm of '98.  At the South Cliffs again you get a nice look at the Androscoggin River along with the hills and mountains of western Maine.  All in all a very pleasant way to spend a summer afternoon. S.Y.

Sunday, July 31.  Lowell, Summit, and Passadumkeag (Map 23) Paddling down the Passadumkeag Stream, we found a stand of Marsh Milkweed with 2 Monarch caterpillars.  We also found 3 big piles consisting of about a bushel of 1"-2" pebbles each. They are the "nests" in which fallfish lay their eggs. Fallfish transport the pebbles in their mouths. Another interesting sighting was an unidentified bird of the flycatcher family flying down from its perch and flopping onto the water, (the way flycatchers bathe) then flying back to its perch. It did this 3 times.  J.K.M.

Sunday, July 31.  Bar Harbor (Map 16) One of those rare days with moderate temperatures and a nice breeze to cool the hiker.  I decided to do two mountains: Cadillac and Pemetic.  There was still water in the Featherbed, a tarn on Cadillac Mountain, despite the lateness of the season.  By this time in the season it is usually a bed of fens – hence its name.
    Hairy woodpeckers, black-capped chickadees and especially ravens were in evidence as one walked the trails.  Blueberries had started to ripen and there were several locations where they were anomalously absent, perhaps due to wildlife feeding.  It was good to have a handful for myself, and I left the rest for the animals. F.W. 

Wednesday, August 3.   (Map 23) Early fruiting on the high bush blueberries on the shores of Green Lake.  Mmm, what a treat!   S.L.S.

Saturday, August 6. Windsor (Map 13) We've experienced a real weather relief with drier humidity and less heat. The break came during the night and by 7 am, open lawn and driveway were quite dry though we experienced heavy downpours yesterday in late afternoon. This is the third of the similar pattern, oppressively humid and hot; then cooler and low humidity. Nice!
    Three turkey poults and their mother enjoy the verge of our north field. And, the skunk population seems quite high in our area this year. Mosquitoes in the lower fields and woods are a #3! Deerflies are also quite plentiful.
    Some early goldenrod is going by, plenty more will follow. For this fall pollen suffering might be high. The queen Anne's lace "wild carrot" grew taller than usual here, I believe.
Can't comment on blueberries but Raspberries are through the early variety,, there are some delicate and sweet tasty beauties! Blackberries are still "quite tart".  P.S.H.

Monday, August 8.   Lisbon (Map 6) In reference to last week's note about a Luna Moth caterpillar in a birch tree in our yard, there are actually two of them, separated by less than a foot! One is slightly smaller than the other. Both have been happily munching away on the birch leaves, getting visibly fatter since last week. Their bright green color matches sunlit birch leaves perfectly.
    Last night I did a little bit of stargazing after midnight. Skies were clear and moon-free. I saw a number of early Perseid meteors.  All of them streaked toward Capricornus in the southwest. 
    For several nights I've had katydids visiting my deck screen door. They seem attracted to the lights. Using my new book, Field Guide to the Grasshoppers, Katydids, and Crickets of the United States, I learned they are Northern Bush Katydids (Scudderia septentrionalis). They were fascinating to watch while I had them in my bug bottle for study.  They meticulously cleaned their legs and antennae by running them slowly through their mouthparts.  A.R.S.

Editor's column

  Mid-August is the time to see everyone's favorite meteor shower, the Perseids.  And may the weather be kind to us.  Late Thursday and Friday nights, August 11–12 (really the wee hours of early Friday and early Saturday respectively is the optimal.  The first-quarter Moon will sets in late evening, so the sky should be nice and dark for the show. 
   The shower's "radiant" point will be  high in the northeast by then. So get a comfortable lawn chair with a tilting back, or a blanket with which to lie contently on the ground. Dress for a few degrees colder than the actual air temperature, as you will be sitting still for a while.  With any luck you might see about one per minute, which in astronomical terms translates into a meteor "shower"! 
   Fro more details go to this Sky & Telescope magazine web page.