Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report –
November 10 2021
there are too many look photos in this post
Big ol’ thanks to VLT and MCHT for their continued support of this!
THANKS!
Highlights – Eastern Towhee, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Bonaparte’s Gulls, Slime
molds, a big sit, boat ride, quick paddle, ferry rides, wind….
Business – Safety first – put on some orange darned it!
Contacts us – vinalhavensightings@gmail.com – with your sightings, photos and whatnots. Perfect place to drop off your white elephant or extra candy from Halloween!
Tiit trick – click on the photos, make them big and honor my dad in the process! Your screen has never looked as good
as it does with a phat otter spraint
filling it up! See photos below for more….
eastern towhee
Sightings – Pam Alley was kind enough to send in
these photos of an Eastern Towhee
that visited her feeder recently. Eastern
Towhees, also known as one of two ‘species
formally known as the Rufous-sided Towhee’, are uncommon on island in both
fall and spring migration. That said, not a common visitor to feeders at all.
Great sightings and photo! Thanks
Pam!
Random bird stuff – Snow Bunting (Lane’s Island), Ravens acting up
Seal Bay Big Sit (10/28-29)….cutting and burning after 3 days of rain and wind was ‘just what I needed’, ‘just what the doctor
ordered’, and ‘hit the spot’ as they (I) say.
wolf's milk slime
Even with the ground pretty soaked, the
winds were still steady enough as to not allow me to build the fire too high.
This kept me close to the fire – feeding and watching, cutting and feeding –
which also meant repeatedly walking the same stretch of woods. And repetition only
means things stand out more, or can’t help but get noticed.
Swainson’s Thrush, Greater Yellowlegs, Belted Kingfisher, Otter spraint
Slime molds – Wolf’s milk and Yellow-fuzz Cone Slime molds were found in numbers close to the
fire….
yellow fuzz cone slime
Bob Harding of North Haven sent in
this link to a Harvard Magazine column about
https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2021/11/right-now-can-slime-molds-think
Great column Bob! Thanks for
sharing….
yellow fairy cups
nice spraint
Boat ride to the Whites (11/5) – had the
opportunity to go to the White Islands and
up the Red Sea after the storms had
settled and it was a beautiful day for sure…
…Bald
Eagles, Surf Scoters (red sea), Common Loons, Black Guillemots,
hard to miss that otter trail
But for me the White Islands mean
Otters and my yearly venture didn’t disappoint at all.
Bald Island –
I know of three otter runs on Bald, as well as 4 major latrines, one den
and a whole bunch of cattails matted
down. Good to check up on them.
even harder to miss this
matted down cattail area
One of the runs appears to be
currently ‘out of use’, but November
is a great time to see ‘the run that
goes through the cattails’ that leads right up to the ‘den in the quarry’. Clear as pie.
The ‘other’ active run – closer to the quarry/pond outlet - showed sign of heavy use and the latrine showed sign of heavy digestion. It was
a heavy scene.
nice little run and latrine
This run also goes to the ‘den in the quarry’, but first stops at
an impressive marking area where the otters have leaned on and matted down a
sizable area of cattails. The otters obviously own this island and are not sneaky about their presence in any
detectable way (I love the ending of this sentence).
I have never seen these otters – I
have been growled at by them, but that was a long time ago (gotta be a new
batch by now!) – but I love them.
maybe an 'O' or a 'D'
Visited a few other sights in the
area and the otter latrines were as active as ever.
Otters are alive and well in the Whites! About a dozen latrines proved
that!
matted cattail in bottom right corner
Mill River (11/4) – I mentioned that the otters matting down of cattails in
ponds (or wherever) is a good sign to look for at this time of the year and the
same day – same day! – as I went to the Whites I had enough time to visit
another property on island whose cattail
pond has been screaming with otters sign for the last few years! Check this matted section out….
Here the otters follow the outlet
stream/trickle from the pond from Mill River to the pond. Latrines active as
expected….
Ferry Rides –
(11/5 & 8) - Wind has been a
theme, or at least was for a stretch there – but things settlin’ down a bit has
allowed for outside observation (now that it’s finally not too hot on the
ferry!) and that has been greatly appreciated.
ye olde-taled duck
Ye Olde-taled Ducks, Bufflehead, Surf Scoter, Bald Eagle, Bonaparte’s
Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake, Double-crested Cormorant, Common Eider, Black
Guillemot, Common Loon, Red-throated Loon, Herring Gull, Ring-billed Gull,
Great Black-backed Gull, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seal
adults bonaparte's gull
Okay, the story with these rides –
well, the Bonaparte’s gulls for one
thing. On the 6th I saw 5-10 Bonaparte’s gull on an afternoon ferry.
Should be noted that the first two rides in the morning are superior for
watching birds from – not that you can’t see a lot from the afternoon rides,
but to generalize, the morning ones are the best. So let’s say 10 from the
afternoon ferry….
juvenile Bonaparte's
…the (11/8) 7am ferry from
Rockland cut through a healthy
gathering of Bonaparte’s Gulls
mid-bay. It literally took minutes for the ferry to part and pass through the
scattered group of Bonie’s (I did not make up that nickname).
surf scoters getting the hell out of the way
I figured I saw about 100 Bonaparte’s close to the ferry, and
then I scanned with binos and saw that the scattered, but thick gathering of
Bonaparte’s Gulls went on for…..well, kinda forever – as far as the (my good)
eye could see. Conservative guesstimate – 300-400
Bonaparte’s Gulls.
loon with Lobster
Not an unheard of number. In fact,
the ‘gathering of the Bonaparte’s’ is
a happening that happens a lot of years out in the bay. When I headed back on
the 3:15 ferry I saw 2 Bonaparte’s Gulls. Those early boat rides are important.
black guillemot
(11/6) Surf Scoters (20+) in Hurricane sound and Bufflehead (10+) in
Rockland Harbor… (11/5)Ye Olde-taleds (20+) in Rockland Harbor, (11/8) 40+ from
the 7 am ferry ride….
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| harbor porpoise |
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| harbor seal |
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| my shadow in kayak |
Anyway – good times on the water with things showing up… but alas it is time to get this post posted (Wrap it up Gentalen!). More to come soon enough….
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| bay berry |
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| winter berry is going off right now |
Here are some limited editions seen
recently – I think we (the royal ‘we’) should start a petition...
To have the word ‘smart’ removed from the name ‘Smartfood’. Its false advertising!
Always been suspect, the level of ‘non-smartness’
was confirmed when they teamed up with Capt’n Crunch! Merry-berry popcorn mix? I feel the rooster coming on….
Leif had a great cross-country season – it was fun to see a few Vinalhaven kids (and
parents!) at a few of the meets. Cross country is a funny sport to be a
spectator at as the runner take off and then disappear into the woods for long
stretches of time. Anyway – Leif shaved off time each race, which was a cool
thing for him to see. Eventually 3 minutes faster from first race to last.
And photos from a nice walk we took
up Little Ragged Mountain somewhere in the Camden hills or at least the rolling
hills to the west/north west of the Camden hills.
Good times – the weather is crisp and
soon enough we won’t have to wear orange in an effort to avoid being shot. Such
good times!
See you out there!
