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| fog has been featured as of late |
Welcome to the
vinalhaven sightings report –
August 15th, 2014
“underwritten” by
MCHT & VLT
2014 summer weather voted "best" by entire VSR staff
2014 summer weather voted "best" by entire VSR staff
Highlights
– otter videos, minke whale, monarch caterpillars! wilson’s storm petrels,
shorebirds, nelson’s sharp-tailed sparrow video, mushrooms, insects, other
things….
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| lane's beach |
Want to take a moment and send good thoughts and wishes to
the family, friends and loved ones of Jeremy Philbrook at this very sad time.
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| chantrelle waxycap |
Contact us – vinalhavensightings@gmail.com –
comments, questions or to receive an email reminder whenever a new one of these
things is posted. Good deal.
Tiit trick –
click on the photos, makes them bigger (odd duck)
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| "odd duck" - hooded merganser female, without a photo by Rick Morgan |
Upcoming events - Thursday morning bird walks - 2 left!
this Thursday august ...... 8am
next Thursday august 30th 7am
meet at skoog
Sightings – Otter videos – Ali
McCarthy sent in these videos of an otter chirping in Carver’s Pond (8/12).
Ali did some research and she reports that “young otters chirp incessantly when they are
in search of their mother, which is what this one was doing. The chirping is
also a location device used by mother otters to gather their young. This
otter seemed to be on the small side compared to what I've seen before”. And we
all know that no one sees as many otters as Ali does. Anyway – amazing footage at any
angle! Thanks for sharing Ali!
couple bird shots sent in....eagle getting mobbed by a crow from Armbrust Hill by pete jaques
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| "getting it's mob on" - American crow tries to hassle a Bald Eagle photo by Pete Jaques |
and an alder flycatcher on Lane's Island from Rick Morgan
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| alder flycatcher photo by Rick Morgan |
thanks to everyone who sent in reports and photos this round! great stuff!
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| tidepool springtail photo by Jeff Palmer |
Insects – Phantom Crane
fly…always a favorite –
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| phantom crane fly, hanging out |
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| slaty skimmer photo by Rick Morgan |
and a few sent in from Rick Morgan – Slaty
Skimmer dragonfly and a White Admiral butterfly…nice shots rick!
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| white admiral photo by Rick Morgan |
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| "fatso" photo by Sylvia Reiss |
Thanks for sharing Sylvia!
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| tiny photo by Sylvia Reiss |
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| destroying angel, respect required |
Destroying Angel days
are here again! – actually, they never left, "the fungus is in the ground and the groove is in the heart".
If there is a single fungus in our woods that demands our respect it’s the Destroying Angel – so powerful, simply eating this one prime example would mean a certain unpleasant experience and an almost certain death. Here’s what Lincoff says about poisonous Amanitas…”A very few (destroying angels and death caps) are known to be deadly, but a single mushroom of one of these species can be lethal. Nearly all known mushroom fatalities in the world are caused by these few mushrooms.” And we’ve got one of them! Look for these white beauties in the woods!...
If there is a single fungus in our woods that demands our respect it’s the Destroying Angel – so powerful, simply eating this one prime example would mean a certain unpleasant experience and an almost certain death. Here’s what Lincoff says about poisonous Amanitas…”A very few (destroying angels and death caps) are known to be deadly, but a single mushroom of one of these species can be lethal. Nearly all known mushroom fatalities in the world are caused by these few mushrooms.” And we’ve got one of them! Look for these white beauties in the woods!...
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| "sphagnum in bloom" sporophytes - "producing spores on stalked capsules" |
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| big numbers of coral mushrooms on granite island |
Big numbers around the island – Cedar Waxwings….Goldfinch…Great Blue Herons
are increasing……and a hats off to all the Coral Mushrooms on Granite Island –
the woods are loaded with ‘em!...common loons are just starting to show - 4 at state beach
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| black-bellied plovers theme bird of state beach |
Shorebirds
– State Beach – continues to be the easiest spot on island to see shorebirds
close up – even closer with a scope. Lots of Black-bellied and Semi-palmated
Plovers, Semi-palmated and Least Sandpipers, Greater and lesser Yellowlegs, Short-billed
Dowitcher, and single Ruddy Turnstone, Killdeer….
state beach videos ....
this semi-palmated plover scratches over its wing
there have been plenty of birds doing the ol' feather maintenance.
black-bellied plover, ruddy turnstone, and short-billed dowitcher
Several people reported that the Basin
has had its share of shorebirds, and a visit (8/16) confirmed – 20+ Least
Sandpiper, 30+ Black-bellied Plover, 12+ Greater Yellowlegs, 12+ Lesser
Yellowlegs. Here’s a few videos…
can you pick out the lesser of the yellowlegs?
there've been a lot of shorebirds in the basin as of late....
Also seen wet at state beach (8/6) was a Nelson’s Sharp-tailed
Sparrow with two young. I biffed royally (the royal “biff”) on getting photos of the adult even though it hung
out in the open for (like) an eternity. But I did get this video of a young NStS
in the recently used “fire pit” – classic habitat. The only way I could tell
this was a NStS was that I watched the adult feed it. A lot of birds have
looked damp lately, this one seemed pretty moist.
the basin - lots of common tern with young, loads of shorebirds, osprey, eagles, great blue heron,
More on mushrooms…. some more amanitas
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| the blusher, fresh and pure |
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| cleft-footed amanita and salamander friend "under the hump" |
Amanita lesson from Leif….and a nice Suillus bolete
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| cleft foot and cap |
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| painted bolete |
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| painted bolete pores are very "easy on the eyes" fungally speaking of course |
and a marasmius growing off a spruce cone...
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| young cort, still with a "virgin" cortina |
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| pair o' corts - full blown growing "our" forests |
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| "looking for the ring" photo sent in by Jamus |
and a congratulations to Dylan and Rebecca on a wonderful day and a wonderful life together....I do believe Leif was trying to see the ring at this point..
