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| gray catbird |
Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report - June 15, 2020
Brought to you – in part – by the nice folks over at the Vinalhaven Land
Trust and Maine Coast Heritage Trust. ‘Two great tastes that taste great
together’
A few days tardy as far as the date goes, but right on time in dog years….
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| Hairy Woodpecker adult female at nest |
Highlights – Cool Flowers (I know – can you believe it!), caterpillars, birdies
– including nests and cuckoos, Crab Spider, Snakes,
Business : Contact us - feel free to contact us with “questions, queries, queasts”
about anything nature or naturally feeling. Good way to share, and an even
better way to make friends. At least 10 people have become friends directly
related to the VSR . vinalhavensightings@gmail.com .
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| Bronze Copper - Calderwood Island |
Tiit Trick – click on the photos and they magically will fill your
screen. Great way to avoid reading whatever is being typed here!
Photo request –
never done this before, but we (the royal ‘we’) are looking for any and all
photos of Tiger Swallowtail butterflies. It’s been a huge year for the species
in mid-coast Maine, but they are a species for whatever reason I find hard to
photo document. In fact – we are looking
for butterfly pictures. Think of it as homework as you are distancing outside. Or
inside! The flowers in your yard might be the best place to look! Anyway – have
at it!
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| Crab Spider - Misumena vatia photo by Banner Moffat |
Bear note –
story has it that the bear has left the island, was fun to hike with the hope
of crossing paths. We’ll see! Thanks to Linnell Mather for sharing the video
and info with the VSR last time. So cool. Both the bear and Linnell!.
Sightings – Lots
of little critters out there these days, and fortunately at this point – knock on
wood – mosquitoes have been largely absent from areas where I have been
working. Banner Moffat sent in this
photo of a Crab Spider waiting for
prey on a red clover.
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| best photo of a compost bin ever sent in photo by Merry Boone |
Pumpkin Ridge area – A compost bin in the pumpkin ridge area turns out to be a preferred
sunning bed for garter snakes. Merry
Boone sent in a few photos – one of
the bin and one of a garter snake
– of the scene.
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| garter snake photo by Merry Boon |
Ends up it was a temporary
destination for the snakes, and after a few days the snakes moved off. Probably
not far, maybe in a nearby rock wall or woodpile– snakes are great neighbors,
even if they make me jump at first glance for some reason. Thanks for sharing
Merry!
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| garter snake photo by Dylan Harp |
Speaking of snakes – Young Dylan Harp took this cool
photo of a Garter snake. Been a good spring for snakes -thanks for sharing
Dylan!
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| parula bringing in nesting material |
Greens Island
– When we last left John Drury was
keeping tabs on some interesting Warbler coupling on his property. John got some great shots of Northern parulas and American redstarts collecting nesting
materials – including what looks to be spider webs but is actually Birch Bark
fibers.
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| parula head pokin' out of lichen nest photo by John Drury |
American Redstart on eggs as well. So Cool! Thanks for sending in John!
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| redstart on nest Photo by John Drury |
Also from John - Yellow-billed cuckoo, singing, and lots
of tent caterpillars. The connection here, of course, is that both flavors of
Cuckoos in North America love to eat tent Caterpillars. Good year for both
maybe?
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| parula pulling off strands of birch bark photo by John Drury |
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| redstart gathering nesting materials photo by John Drury |
Also - Minke whale in
western Penobscot Bay last week. Keep yer eyes open for that!
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| spotted sandpiper photo by John Drury |
On the water - John reports first storm petrels of the season. Both John and Jamus Drury report sooty shearwaters in numbers. Petrels and shearwaters....dreamy!
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| american copper butterflly |
Calderwood Island – Always great to get out to Calderwood
Island Preserve off the little throrofare. Both American and Bronze Copper butterflies in the fields – bronze in
the wetter zones. Love the Swainson’s Trushes singing. Black-throated
Green, Yellow-rumped, Yellow Warblers. Northern Parula, Hairy Woodpecker….
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| bold orange line on underside of hind wing confirms Bronze Copper status |
PSA - One
thing especially notable about Calderwood
Island is the Brown-tailed Moth caterpillar population in two adjacent
Oakes just above the main beach landing.
Not sure when they got there, but their current status is most notable.
One Oak is completely defoliated – top to bottom, while the oak across the path
is just starting to be worked on.
And as if that weren’t enough, Brown Tailed
Moth caterpillars have been in the news a lot lately. The hairs of the caterpillars can cause a
rash that is similar to poison ivy , invoking pain and discomfort on a spectrum
all the way from light to severe. As a species, it’s been in Maine since the
late 1800s at least, but currently is going through an ‘outbreak’ phase in coastal
Maine - information easily gathered from a quick search online.
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| defoliate oak |
Anyway – removing webs (and
caterpillars) is the main strategy with dealing
with BTM at this point. On Calderwood I will be removing any and all
branches, shrubs and trees that have caterpillars on them along the small
section – 30 feet or so – of trail near the oaks. Winter time will most likely
be the time to address the larger issue of BTMs on the larger trees. The goal
now is to cut back the trail to lessen the chance of interaction with free
floating hairs.
That all said – on Vinalhaven there
has been some talk and concern about Brown
tailed Moth caterpillars on the Lane’s
Island preserve. Word of the caterpillar’s presence was shared with me via
two fronts – and feel free to email at vinalhavensightings@gmail.com
with brown tailed moth questions or sightings. The more people sharing info the
better.
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| just starting on this oak. top down |
Anyway, in the last few weeks I have
removed about 80 brown tailed moth webs from the preserve. While there still
are webs remaining, I removed any webs I saw within 15-20 feet of trails. I started
with loppers and then returned yesterday with a chainsaw to remove the last few.
The chances of my interacting with the hairs while I was completely messing
with them and habitat seemed great, but
even with a branch of webs hitting me in the head, I developed no rash
or sensation during the removal process. Maybe it was the Jersey water I grew
up drinking. So, so flavorful and chock full of lord only knows.
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| BTM caterpillars have two orange spots on them |
Anyway, the largest population I came
across was on the eastern most section of outer loop trail – along ‘Indian
creek’ – especially the 75 feet just past the ‘big rock’ when heading on the
trail from the beach. Last week the caterpillars were more than numerous along
this stretch and at that time I probably removed 50-60 total from this area, as
well as many shrubs to widen the trail. On my return yesterday – with chainsaw –
I saw very few caterpillars along the trail. I will keep tabs on this and all
the trails out there and remove any webs or shrubs that are found close to the
trails.
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| eastern tent caterpillars look like this. |
I have not heard of anyone reacting
from hikes on the preserve. If you are concerned maybe avoiding the eastern
most stretch of the outer loop trail – heads south from the beach – and detour
on the inner island trails to access the views of Seal, Matinicus and beyond. The
caterpillars – at this point – don’t seem to be a hazard.
Once again – we’ll try to keep on this,
and with your help it will be easier. Feel free to send photos and sightings
and whatever to the VSR. Appreciate it!
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| one-flowered cancer root photo by Beth Guilford |
Back to sightings – Also on Lane’s – Yellow Warblers, American Redstart,
Alder Flycatcher, Catbirds, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Black-throated Green….Fly over
of Crossbills..
Flowers - Beth Guilford was kind enough to send
in some photos of a neat plant – Cancer Root (Ororbanche unifora). Not a common plant reported by any means –
Beth mentioned it was the second time she had seen the flowers on Vinalhaven. I’d
never seen them on island before at all, but it must be a good year since I found
two patches not but a few days after Beth reported them.
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| bunchberry bloom |
I would babble on about them, but I realize
I already have about Cancer root and a few other plants. Here’s a copy of the most recent “nature bumming with Kirk
Gentalen’ column where I go into more plant survival strategies. See what you
think. For more ‘nature bumming’ go to…. mcht.org/nature-bummin !
Nature Bummin with Kirk Gentalen June
12 2020
Strategies for survival
These days, it’s good to have a strategy. Heading to town for the
grocery store, the ferry terminal, or Bert’s Machine Shop? I go with a plan
that leaves little to no room for browsing. It’s a plan to keep social
distances, a plan to minimalize exposure – and when you get down to ‘brass
tacks’- it’s a plan for survival.
Of course, June is also a time for plants. Take some sunshine, mix
in a little rain and warmth and blam-mo – your plant is a growing! June, am I
right? To make things seem even ‘more better’ (and ‘more prettier’?), many
plants come with flowers. Strictly speaking, flowers are tools that plants use
to attract critters in hopes they will assist in the plant’s reproductive
success. The name of the flower game is ‘pollination’ and the goal is to pass
genes onto the next generation. While flowers are all about the continued
survival of a species, this column is about a few strategies that help
individual plants survive. “Wildflowers without the wildflowers” in a
way.
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| lady slipper. turn to the left! starboard view |
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| this years and last years |
Beneath a carpet of Bunchberry are a series of woody rhizomes. A rhizome - the actual bunchberry plant in a sense – is a continuously growing underground stem that pumps out dozens (to hundreds) of bunchberry plants each year. The plants growing off a rhizome are genetically identical – clones if you will - all photosynthesizing and sending energy to back to the mother rhizome. This growth strategy can result in plants from an individual rhizome covering yards of forest floor - what looks to be hundreds of ‘different’ plants actual rises from just a handful of individual rhizomes! The rhizomes survive for years and in the right conditions can thrive quite handily. It’s all on the plant’s survival strategy terms.
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| cancer root - broom rape family. possibly the worst combination of common names in the plant world |
Another June flowering plant that is ‘stop-worthy’ is the Pink
Lady Slipper (Cypripedium acaule). In general, Orchid flowers are stunningly
striking and come with their own cool and specific symbiotic relationships with
pollinators – and the Pink Lady Slipper does not disappoint. But it’s immediately
after the flowers have dried and gone (Pink no more!) that the plant’s survival
strategies start.
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| cancer root - turn to the left starboard view |
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| rock wall |
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| dead deer |
Sure enough, on June 9th I came across two large clusters (30+
flowers) of One-flowered Cancer root while walking a property boundary on
Vinalhaven (very cool activity). The flowers themselves were quite attractive,
as flowers often are. The plants themselves – the stem, the bracts, etc.
- were white from a complete lack of chlorophyll, and complemented
the cancer root’s single, white flower nicely. No chlorophyll means no making
your own food (eat local!), but there is more going on with the cancer-root
below what can be seen.
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| virginia ctenuca moth caterpillar ventral view |
As a parasite, the roots of our favorite Orobranche tap into a
variety of plant species for nourishment. This includes members of the genus
Sedum as well as representatives of the Saxifragaceae and Asteraceae plant
families. Being a parasitic generalist, the one flowered Cancer root is able to
maintain an extensive range that covers the entire lower 48 and much of Canada.
Now that is surviving.
Recognizing adaptions and survival strategies of plants can raise
a species status to ‘pretty cool’ in an instant. For a Bunchberry rhizome the
survival action is year-round, where Pink Lady Slippers are all about a
symbiotic relationship with fungus that is years-long in development. A Cancer
root’s parasitic strategy is more ‘on the edge’ than the other two – completely
depending on another species for food. But it’s a strategy that has resulted in
the most widely dispersed plant of the three, survival strategy indeed.
Parasitic, symbiosis, and rhizomes – three strategies that work! The proof is
in the survival!
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| fake feet? |
I hope that was good, I am not going to read it again!
Here’s some of Leif and frankie kayaking
one of Frankie,
some of the family on a ragged mtn hike
and a selfie of a bloody nose I had
on Calderwood. I think it makes me look even cooler – as fi that was possible!
Good to be in touch with you, keep
sharing, be safe and we’ll see you out there!
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| terminal merlin |
