Maine Nature News
Vol. 11, no. 17 Tuesday,
May 2, 2006
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week's report | Editor's column | Home
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Tuesday, April 11. Franklin
(Map 24) As I pulled into my driveway, just back from a trip to western
Massachusetts, I noticed a Black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) looking over an
old nest box that has never been used. In fact, the bird is going in and out of
all the boxes I have out. I hope it decides this field will make a good spot for
a nest. B.G.
Saturday, April 15, 9:58 am.
Franklin (Map 24) Eastern phoebe (Sayornis
phoebe) began singing from nest platform. I hope he finds a female! 12:02
pm, 2 Purple Finches (Carpodacus purpureus) feeding on sunflower seed.
B.G.
Sunday April 16. Franklin
(Map 24)
6:12 am: Grey day 42° F . and drizzling
White-throated sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) (3 days earlier than last
year). Hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus). First of the season. And
2 days earlier than last year.
8:25 am: A flock of 8
Brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) just flew in to feed on the mixed
seed I scattered. One male among 7 females. First Osprey of the season (Pandion haliaetus)
spotted flying over the bay. B.G.
Thursday, April 20. Franklin
(Map 24) This morning I confirmed that there are indeed 2 Eastern phoebes
(Sayornis phoebe). I am now watching one of them fly from the nest platform to
the stream, gathering mud. The bird is silent and focused, no perch singing.
B.G.
Saturday,
April 22. Franklin (Map 24)
2:49
pm: An
Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus) is eating sunflower seed under my
feeders along with Red (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) and Eastern gray
squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis). First sighting of the season. Two weeks
later than last year.
4:48 pm: Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)!
This is a life bird for me. It is feeding on the ground along with Dark-eyed
Junco (Junco hyemalis), White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia
albicollis), Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) and Song Sparrow (Melospiza
melodia). The photo is not very good but at least I got it! B.G.
Sunday,
April 23. Caribou (Map 65) It
was such a nice day that my wife and I decided to have coffee and doughnuts at
the park beside Collins Pond and view the Canada geese that were there. Besides
approximately 500 geese, there were a number of ring-billed gulls and only a
very few ducks. One solitary "duck" that caught my eye was this one,
which didn't seem to entirely fit any of those shown in Peterson's A Field
Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America. I
might have called it a scaup except for that faint partial ring around its neck
and the markings on its sides; so to be sure I photographed it with my brand-new
digital camera and sought the opinion of a local birder who is much more
knowledgeable about local ornithology than I.
He excitedly replied by e-mail that he thought it was a
brant, Branta bernicla, a small arctic goose, which the books describe as
about the size of a mallard. Its range is reported to be along the arctic coasts
of northern Eurasia and eastern North America. In other words, not likely
in Caribou. My birder friend offered the opinion that this might be only
the second or third brant ever reported in Aroostook County, and probably the
first one which was documented with a photograph. C.B.K.
Tuesday, April 26. Springfield
(Map 44) This evening we saw a dark brown wolverine heading across our
driveway into the woods. Appeared to be a little more than three feet long and a
bit over two feet tall. This is the first we have seen in the area. A local
ranger said there are no known wolverines living in Maine. But that is what is
said about wolves and mountain lions. M.J.P.
Wednesday, April 26, 3:30 pm. T3
R10 WELS (Map 50) Baxter State Park. While preparing Kidney Pond Campground
for the upcoming season I was delighted to see a pair of loons. What a
great sign of spring for those who live in Maine. This seems to be early for
their arrival. Hopefully this is the beginning of a wonderful
season. D.K.F.
Wednesday, April 26.
Franklin (Map 24) On the way to work, I saw several
Tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) in the fields across from the bay. First
ones spotted this season. None yet in my field or checking out nest boxes.
B.G.
Friday, April 28.
Bridgton, Waterford, Poland, Harrison, etc.
(Map 5)
As for past news -- a month ago on March 31 the water temp was 48°
F. and ice had been out for about a week. I heard a loon on the lake at that time.
Song sparrows and phoebes were around then.
Today I saw many yellow-rumped warblers
and palm warblers. Chipping sparrows are here, as well as least flycatcher
and ruby crowned kinglets. At 6:00 pm I heard 2 barred owls, one very close and other farther away.
And
I heard a loon around 9:00 pm.
Trailing arbutus in bloom as well as bluets.
M.B.
Saturday, April 29. Skowhegan
(Map 21) Along with a big flock of white-throated sparrows, there was a
Brown Thrasher on the ground just off our back step. It was expending quite a
lot of energy cracking open sunflower seeds. It spent much of the day here.
Sunday afternoon a lone hen turkey visited the yard. Since we had seen a tom and
6 hens about a week earlier, I was not too surprised, although I did wonder why
she was by herself.
Black flies were numerous enough to be annoying Sunday but
have not reached the intolerable stage. J.F.
Saturday, April 30. Springfield (Map 44) This morning we
noticed a hawk and a Bald eagle dueling in the air over our farm. After a while
the eagle circled closer and we were able to get this photo. No mistaking a Bald
eagle. M.J.P.
Monday, May 1.
Saco (Map 4) A few stragglers were around a
derailed boxcar at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport during rerailing
operations.
Dandelion greens made a good side dish at dinner on Sunday,
and the first fiddleheads should be ready next weekend...
Still a lot of loons hanging around at the pier in Camp Ellis
at the mouth of the Saco River, and the cormorants are starting to appear for
the season. J.B.
Tuesday, May 2. Windsor (Map
13) A warm and sunny weekend, a
moderate partly cloudy Monday, then showers beginning Monday evening. And this
morning it has obviously rained most of the night. It is great to have some
dampness in the air and on the ground. Certainly the green things will soak it
up and grow!
Many species of birds are here and looking to nest and there are a
number of species of hawks visiting our fields. Tom turkeys have been proclaiming all around in the early
mornings and afternoons and we had a lone hen visiting our yard last Thursday
where our domestic turkeys are penned.
I have noticed what seems to be a
diminished number of voles this spring and I attribute this to a tough winter --
very little snow cover and the constant freezing and thawing plus rain. It didn't give them many burrowing options. At least one batch of groundhogs has been born, the mother
was eating on Sunday afternoon on the lawn across the road -- a bit thinner after
delivering her pups.
And the black flies? Between a level 1 and 2 -- not bad yet! P.S.H.
Editor's
Column
Time
to pass the torch?
It
all started when a Maine Audubon member survey went out sometime around 1992 and
got me thinking about one of the questions: “What improvements could be
made...?” I replied
“There is a time and subject gap in communications for natural history
observations in the state. The Bird
Alert telephone message [no web then] is weekly , but only covers birds. The Society’s Habitat
magazine appears monthly, but is not really missioned to cover current
observations.”
This led to a solution idea.
I envisioned a tabloid size weekly on newsprint stock, similar to the
shoppers’ weeklies distributed in some towns.
I imagined whom the circle of “reporters”
might consist of, perhaps science teachers, game wardens, birders who had
non-bird observations to report, et al.
I wrote a prospectus and flew it by several people knowledgeable about
communicating science to the public and working with natural history reports of
“citizen scientists”. My
conclusion was that attempting such a project as a printed publication would not
have been within the capacity of my time and energy.
The World Wide
Web Comes on Stage
In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee
invented the World Wide Web and gave it its name.
But it did not come onto my radar screen until fall 1995 when a
wunderkind colleague took the time (thank you, Jenn!) to explain the Web concept
and use of Mosaic, the first user friendly browser software.
I knew immediately that the Web was the ticket to get this idea off the
ground!
Publishing
on the Web obviates the need for printing and mailing costs, and has the further
advantage of instant “circulation”.
If I required correspondents to exclusively use e-mail for sending
reports, then their observations and other information
would be received promptly and would not have to be retyped. My job would be:
organizing the information, light editing, uploading the finished product to the
Web and managing the website.
In March,
1996 the Maine Nature News was born and has appeared weekly on
Tuesdays ever since. I volunteer my
time as Editor, and my employer
kindly provides the Web server space at no cost.
The corps of correspondents built slowly over time by word of mouth and
“word-of-Web”. All are
volunteers who share an interest in Maine Natural history;
Planning the
Future of the Maine Nature News
It is now in its eleventh
calendar year of publication.
Looking to the future, I knew that if MNN were to survive I needed to
begin planning for transition to a new editor and host server when I retire.
I started the search by contacting Maine Audubon in February 2004 and was
granted a meeting with the Director and the Communications Department that June.
We discussed a number of collaborative proposals of which the most important
to me was that, at some future time, they might take it totally under their
wing. I check in with them every
once in a while and have not heard a definite yes or no. But in our
discussions the idea interested them. Another indication of interest it
that -- though it is still "Under Construction" -- a byline for
"Nature in Maine"
is incorporated in the website since its establishment .
What’s needed is a person with
a love of general natural history, fairly steady personal schedule, good command
of the written word, convenient access to email, and knowledge of, or the
ability to recruit somebody competent in, basic Web design and website
management. The transition would
also require, of course, constant and reliable access to a computer server to
host the Maine Nature News. The
domain name www.maine.nature.org is portable and could reside on any computer
server connected to the Internet.
If you are interested, or know
of someone who would be a good candidate, please send me an email.
Thank you.
Yours truly,
Frank Wihbey
Editor and founder, Maine Nature News