September 15, 2025
Brought to you by the kind support
supplied by VLT and MCHT
‘All I Had To Do Was Look Up’
Highlights – Birds – featuring American Golden Plover & Red-necked Grebe, Berries and Fruits, Cladonia pleurota, Pitcher Plants, Sundews, historical stuff and so much more!
(lot of plant stuff).
Business: PSA – Deer Hunting Season is Here!
Do yourself (and the hunters) a favor – and get some orange
on! Get in the
survival spirit with an orange hat, shirt, coat, gloves (underwear and socks
optional)!
Share and share alike – hey – vinalhavensightings@gmail.com – is the/a place to send
photos/reports/sightings of the natural history like - if you are someone who likes to share with
other nature appreciators.
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| Lots o' Peepers out there these days |
And while we are at it, vinalhavensightings@gmail.com is also the/a place to send email
addresses of folks – be it for you or a gift (that keeps on giving) to some
nature appreciator you know. We are making a list – starting from scratch
unfortunately– of addresses that will receive an email announcement whenever
one of these VSRs gets posted. Get on the list – its exclusive and inclusive at
the same time! Everybody wins with the VSR.
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| Murre with youngster. Good fatherly role model. Photo by John Drury |
Bird walks – Vinalhaven Land Trust sanctioned Thursday morning
bird walks continue this week and throughout what remains of September. Check
out the VLT website for more details - https://vinalhavenlandtrust.org/calendar .
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| Short-billed Dowitcher photo by John Drury |
More on American Golden Plovers –
‘
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| Razorbill with youngster, good father role model photo by John Drury |
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| whimbrel photo by John drury |
Vinalhaven is just one stop for some individuals of this
species, and it’s great that they find food and shelter on island. Migration is
mind-blowing.
Lots of shorebirds passing through as you can see! Thanks for sharing the photos John Drury!
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| red-necked grebe photo digiscoped by Rick Morgan |
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| red-necked grebes photo digiscoped by Rick Morgan |
State Beach happens to be a Red-necked Grebe hotspot, and these
are the first of many that will/may use the waters around State Beach/Geary’s
Beach to ride out the winter. More to come as the fall progresses, with
November counts of over 100 not unheard of.
Historical, non-Fiction
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| great egret, minding its business photo by Rick Morgan |
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| face to face photo by Rick Morgan |
And speaking of Rick! Here are a series of photos Rick took
of a local Great Blue Heron that was not welcoming to a Great Egret that entered
its turf.
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| crouching Photo by Rick Morgan |
And turf being the Indian Creek area between Lane’s Island
and Vinalhaven proper.
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| flying photo by Rick Morgan |
Nature is everywhere out on Vinalhaven –
keep yer eyes peeled,
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| it's on photo by Rick Morgan |
Yer camera handy,
And share with us!
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| pitcher plant |
Plant stuff – hey – lots of fruits out there, that’s what grabbed my
attention the last stretch I was on island.
Can almost be read with an apology tone, but I am told by
like 3 people that there is nothing to be ashamed of about being a plant
person. Sometimes they/those people sound like they are trying to convince
themselves.
Jack in the pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)–
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| jack in the pulpit |
hey – it’s been a dry august and September. Any fruits are
good fruits , and seeing Jack in the Pulpit (Daddy in the pulpit) in its
fruiting stage gives a little hope the dryness was tolerable.
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| jack in the pulpit |
Some fruits were green…
Some fruits were red…
We like em both, but there is something about that red…
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| Skunk Cabbage fruit nugget |
Skunk Cabbage – so beautiful at all stages of
development
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| winterberry |
Winterberry ( Ilex verticillata) – just getting going with the
fruits turning from green (not shown! Ha! Made you look!)
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| winterberry |
… to red. Winterberry is a year round plant!
And we love it!
Large Cranberry – Vaccinium macrocarpon – hey – they call them
craneberry bogs for a reason.
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| eld erberry |
Common Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) – Fruits are purplish. And fun.
Mountain Ash – hey – looking for thrushes and waxwings in the next few
weeks to a month or so?
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| backswimmer |
We didn’t look too close at polypores (a little more moisture
would go a long way , fungally speaking of course), but luckily wherever Javier
goes there are plants and lichens to entertain for sure. Quick visit to Mack’s
Pond turned up
Pitcher plants galore!
Always fun to see the ‘pitchers’ of the Purple Pitcher
Plant (Sarracenia purpurea), one of the local carnivorous plants
found on Vinalhaven.
Here’s what Steven Clemants and Carol Gracie
have to say about this species…
‘The pitcher-leaves capture insects that fall in,
eventually decomposing; the plant absorbs their nutrients. …… Populations from
southwestern Pennsylvania to West Virginia are introduced’ –
Page
130, ‘Wildflowers in the field and forest’
More on Pitcher Plants from John Eastman – (we like John
Eastman)
‘Pitcher-plant, along
with sundews and bladderworts, ranks among the most common
insect-trapping plants of North America. Its passive method is unique. The
modified leaf that forms the pitcher has several easily seen interior zones.
‘The topmost zone is a flared-out lip – a sort of landing
platform – with nectar glands and conspicuous reddish veins.
On the inside rim, a coating of fine, downward-pointing hairs and a numbing secretion make an insect’s escape from the
container almost impossible.
.jpg) |
| pitcher with floaties |
Just below this zone is a slippery, smooth-walled, sticky constriction, a further impediment to escape.
Then comes the actual water container, where the prey dies by drowning.
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| pitcher plant flower |
The liquid hosts bacteria (often anerobic Rhodopseudomonas
palustris) and possibly plant
enzymes, a ‘digestive fluid’ that helps decompose trapped insects and
converts their tissues into nitrogen and other nutrients absorbed by the plant.
This absorption occurs by means of special cells at the bottom of the pitcher’.
In other words – there is a lot going on out there!
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| spatulate-leaved sundew |
Spatulate-leaved Sundews (Drosera intermedia)
Nice to see the plant,
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| sundew fruit things |
Nice to see the fruits/seeds
Can’t say I have seen them before…the fruits/seeds that is!
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| Carex lasiocarpa |
Sedges are the spraint! or so Javier says. check out this Carex lasiocarpa.
Carex lasiocarpa's most common names are Slender Sedge, Woolly-fruited Sedge, Narrow-leaved Woolly Sedge, and Wiregrass Sedge. These names refer to its characteristic thin leaves and the fuzzy appearance of its fruit.
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| Cladonia pleurota |
Red-fruited Pixie-cup – (Cladonia pleurota) – Hey – fun to see this lichen.
I mean, as far as lichen looking goes, we’re cladonia that we
got to see it! Ha!
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| Decorated Mop |
Fungal speaking of course – there was a rain, on the 5th or so. A
few mushrooms have been seen popping up as a result of this rain.
Another rain would be good. Decorated Mop (Tricholomopsis
decora) is a species that happens to be fruiting/blooming at the moment.
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| Decorated Mop |
These photos were from the Basin Preserve, but look
for the decorate mop on stumps and logs on just about any preserve these days.
Birch Polypore
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| Birch polypores multi-generational, but essentially the same |
Birch Polypore, of course, is one of the 2 mushrooms that Otzi (the
glacier mummy from Italy, roughly 5300 years old) had on him when he died. Wish
I had an umlaut button right about now.
Birch polypore is known for its medicinal uses, especially
aiding with digestive issues. And autopsy of Otzi showed that he ‘suffered’
from intestinal worms. There you have it and so it goes…
And in conclusion –
Aunt Linda with Puffin!
Photo by Tom Gentalen
All photos and sightings are welcome here.
first day of school
Some judgment at times , but nothing life threatening !
See you next time and out there!
