Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report – April 9, 2020
Brought to you with the support of VLT and MCHT – Thanks to both
organizations!
Highlights – Seal Bay sightings, Snake ball, spotted salamander eggs and
spermatophores, White-throated Sparrow, Eastern Phoebe, Hairy Woodpeckers, other
stuff.
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| colors and textures |
Contact us –
with all the observable nature stuff going on Vinalhaven in spring it feels
good to have a safe place where you can unload and share your sightings with
other humans. Send your photos, sightings and whatnots to vinalhavensightings@gmail.com . The place to be really, and to share
really. Your yard may be a hot spot, time to become a legend.
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| more on these guys later |
Tiit Trick –
click on photos to enlarge! And Enjoy!!!!!
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| orange jelly with old springtail scats Forever tracking the wild springtails! |
PSA – Hey – What
a month, huh? While many of us have been practicing “social distancing” for
decades, there are many behavior adjustments one can make to decrease the
chances of being exposed to or exposing others. The town has been posting daily
Covid-19 updates and information on the town’s website –
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| don't often see Violet Toothed Polypore (VTP!) shaped like this. |
For exercise of the mind and body many
folks are hitting the trails both on island and on the mainland. Be aware that
certain points on preserves - picnic tables, benches, kiosks – are points of
contact for hikers and follow social distancing practices on the trails. And
while it’s highly unlikely anything would come of hiking on the preserves,
washing hands after hiking – that sounds so funny – is a good idea.
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| VTP! growing out of last years tinder conk |
As for my MCHT work on island - I am
replacing bridging on the Basin Platform Trails and at Huber this spring. These
were scheduled projects for the safety of trail users. I stay with my truck for
entire ferry crossing, then head directly to the trailheads and into the woods.
I bring my own supplies and have been interacting with no one other than a wave
on the road. I am also prepared in case I cross paths with hikers on the trail.
At the end of the day I head off on the last boat(s) – not hard to get a line
number these days – and will no longer be staying on island overnight for work.
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| backswimmer |
Sightings – Seal Bay – Rubble Point – John Drury
saw plenty in Seal Bay recently.
Plenty o’ duck in seal bay - 100 old tails, 100 eider, 20 skunk heads
(aka Surf Scoter), 12 bufflehead, horned grebe - springy looking some, 5 common
loons, 200 mostly herrings gulls, Red breasted mergansers. Mourning Cloak
butterfly was the insect of report.
Cool to hear about Horned Grebes
molting before heading north to breed. Take a look in a field guide – sorry, no
photos available – they are striking! Thanks for the report John!
Basin Preserve
– platform trail system (4/6) – Singing – Winter Wren, Brown Creeper,
Golden-crowned Kinglet, Red Crossbill, Purple Finch, Dark-eyed Junco,
White-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Common Raven,
American Crow, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee.
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| spotted salamander egg mass Basin Preserve |
Vernal Pools – Checked 4 of the many vernal pools in the preserve for sign of Spotted Salamander activity. Historically speaking - 2 of the
pools I checked routinely have 20 or more egg masses each spring – 1 of these two pools often comes close or exceeds 100 masses – while the last
two have 3-5 egg masses yearly.
Things are just getting going at this
point, and the tally for the day was 9
egg masses total. They were beautiful (judgment, but correct) lighting up
that subtle blue in the water. The breakdown was 5 egg masses at the most historically productive pool, 3 egg masses at the second most
productive pool, 1 egg mass a smaller
pool and one empty pool.
It’s still early in the courtship and
egg laying stage, a ‘new’ish
(‘new’ish for me) clue to salamander activity is the spermatophore packets (packets?) left by the male spotted
salamander during courtship.
Photographs here are from mainland pools, the ones I found in the Basin were in trick spots to photograph.
Figured these would do
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| These white-ish dots are spotted salamander spermatophores. Fairly easily seen in vernal pools when they are present. Their presence is the key. |
Here’s what Thomas Tyning says about courtship and spermatophores in “Stokes Nature Guides – A Guide to Amphibians
and Reptiles” – voted “Best in
Stokes Nature Guide series” by the entire VSR staff.
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| spermatophore close up |
“The
courtship dance of the spotted salamander consists of a single male and female
circling each other on the pond bottom. Occasionally one or the other will swim
up for a gulp of air, but then will slowly drift back down and resume activity.
Males and females nudge each other and try to push their heads beneath the
others body, especially near the tail. Males attempt repeatedly to rub their
chins along the back of the female”
“At
some point the male will walk away and slowly wiggle the tip of his tail. The
female may follow, and, if so, he will deposit one or more spermatophores onto
a leaf or twig. If fully stimulated, the female will walk forward and cover one
with her cloaca and, in so doing, transfer the sperm to her oviducts”.
So apparently there has been some hot
circling and nudging going on in the island’s vernal pools! (You could probably
tell). I saw spermatophores in the three pools with egg masses in
them, and in all three cases – and in groups I have found in the past – there
were maybe a dozen or so placed on just a few leaves and branches. What does ‘one or more’ mean? Could all of the spermatophores
I saw been placed by one or two males? It will be interesting to watch as more
eggs masses turn up in the vernal pools on island and a few mainland pools I am
keeping tabs on. Will there be more courtship and spermatophores or are there a
whole bunch of pregnant salamanders out there waiting to ‘pop ‘em out’, as the
Herpetologists say.
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| cute freakin' snake |
Either way, it’s a great time to
check out the action in pools around the island. See what you see! And we’ll
keep you posted on what we come across.
Garter Snakes
– While it’s easy to get sucked in the vernal pool scene in spring, there is a
whole group of animals in Herpetology that aren’t amphibians. They are called
reptiles, and while walking the loop with my chainsaw I saw 6 of these reptiles – all garter snakes, which I think is a
personal best for both garter snakes and snakes in general in a day.
To be fair, there was 5 in one bunch,
so getting to six wasn’t really that hard. If heading counter-clockwise on the
loop, I was just past the Mack’s Pond trail junction when I heard a rustling in
the leaves just off the trail on the other side of a line of fir saplings.
Sounded like a vole or a sparrow in the leaves, but taking a closer look I saw
that it was a cluster of snakes. I’ve read about mating balls before, but had
never seen one. Let’s go back to Tyning for more insight on the scene…
“If you see a number of garter snakes
traveling together in April or May, or in
a writhing mass of bodies, you may have happened on one of the most amazing
courtship rituals in the reptile world. Often a single female, much larger than
the males, is the center of attraction. Sometimes called mating balls, there may
be as many as a hundred or more garter snakes intertwined in writhing mass.”
So that’s two “writhing mass”es and one “mating
balls” in a single paragraph for those keeping track at home. I can only
dream of a day I get to write a paragraph with those dynamics. Here’s more…..
“…little is known how a female garter
snake chooses from so many potential mates.”
“When the female is ready to mate she
stops her forward movement and slightly raises the rear part of her body and
the base of her tail, exposing her cloaca. The nearest male in the best
position and body alignment will
evert his sex organs and the two will
mate.”
I had to look it up, so Oxford says ‘evert’ is a verb meaning - turn (a
structure or organ) outward or inside out. Look what else might be up?
Male-female mimic
“Biologists
have discovered that one mating strategy of the males, who clearly must compete
for the few females that appear at any given time, is to try to confuse rivals
by mimicking a female. Some males are able to produce pheromones that are
similar to the ones females produce to attract courting males. While rival
males are attending the mimic, he is probably able to spend time courting with
a real female”
This is a great paragraph as well,
one that opens itself to much commentary.
I think the videos and photos say
enough on their own. Never know what you might see out there!
And that’s it for today. Stay healthy
Vinalhaven!
