Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report

November 1 -15^th 2025

Thanks to Maine Coast Heritage Trust and Vinalhaven Land Trust!

 

It’s not about planting seeds, it’s more like spreading spores

Get your tilt together!

 

black guillemot

Highlights – (Pretty darn birdy VSR) Harbingers of winter! Ducks – featuring bufflehead and hooded mergansers, Snow Buntings, Parasites anyone? (held over for the next VSR!), Day of the Gannet, Seasonal Rant, and so much more!

 

Business – Wear orange! It’s hunting season for crying out loud!

 

Hey – there’s a lot to see around the island and on the water – and maybe you’ve seen something ‘naturey’ that ‘tickles your fancy’ (as the cool kids say)? Well, feel free to share your story, sighting, photos or just general good time energy with the VSR!

 

Just send an email to : vinalhavensightings@gmail.com .

 

That’s the first step! And it’s a one step program!

 

Also – we are collecting email addresses (we are making a list!). There used to be an old list, back in the day. But that list disappeared somehow, (and was full of bad addresses anyway!). And so here we are – if you or someone you know would like to get an email announcement whenever a new VSR post is posted and you/they also have an email address, then we are in luck!  Send those email addresses to vinalhavensightings@gmail.com . another one step program!

 

Could be the best decision you make all day. If that is true then it sounds like you are having a chill day.

 

 

 

Tricks are for kids – Tiit trick – Click on the photos to make them jumbo sized

 

Turn it like a Thissell

state beach snow buntings

– Apparently, the VSR is made to be viewed on a monitor/computer screen (not done on purpose, just how it is). So, if you are checking this VSR out on a handheld device of some sorts – maybe a GPS thingy! Or tablet – and things look a little Caddywampus (I learned that from Amy) well then hey – try turning your device on its side (some call it horizontal, but I have a rant for that to share at another time!).

 

Shaggy Manes
photo by Stevie Mesko

Sightings – Stevie Mesko was kind enough to send in these shots of a (group of) local Shaggy Mane mushrooms she crossed paths with in early November.

 

Although edible (and rather delectable!), Stevie did not collect these shrooms – free range fungus! – but she did offer them up to me! It was days later, and the shrooms had undoubtedly ‘deliquesced’ (to ‘liquefy’ for newbie shroomies!).

 

shaggy manes
photo by Stevie Mesko

That’s the way Shaggy Manes (Coprinus comatus) and other members of the Coprinus genus roll. Liquify to spread spores – and its all about spreading spores.

 

Thanks for sharing Stevie! And great to see you!

 

 

harbor porpoise

Ferry rides –

 (11/5) – 7am ferry from Rockland – 2 White-winged Scoter, 2 Northern Gannets, 25+ Old-tailed Ducks, 11 Purple Sandpipers, Bonaparte’s Gulls, Surf Scoters, lots o’ Black Guillemots, Harbor Porpoise, Common Loons, Common Eiders, Bufflehead, Harbor Seal.

 

purple sandpipers on bull rock

Choose your own Trifecta! - The story with this ferry ride was 2- fold ….

 

purples on the rocks

First – ‘we’ (the royal ‘we’) are always looking for a nice, wholesome ‘Trifecta’ of observed species – ‘pick three, any three’ - and looking at that list above there are some nice possible trifecta combinations here.

 

     1.  Purple Sandpipers have made their triumphant return! As a rule Purples have to be part of the trifecta-ness of this ride (and every ferry ride they are seen on). 11 Purples on Bull Rock just outside Carver’s harbor. 

 

Northern Gannet

2. Northern Gannets are a ‘nice fall trifecta’ addition. Once again, and for the bettors out there – Gannets are almost always ‘trifecta-included’ and ‘trifecta-ready’ . We’ll bask in their presence for a bit longer, but to generalize – gannets won’t stick around for two much longer. They are in for the ‘short-fall’ (rant about this coming up!).

 

olde tailed duck

3. The third part of this wonderful, early November trifecta was/is going to be ducks, or welcome back ducks, or welcome Harbingers of Winter! More on this…

 

bunch of olde taileds

A couple of Olde-tailed Ducks were welcomed back last VSR, and in the meantime have only added to their numbers! Soon the possibility of seeing 100 Olde-taileds won’t just be a beautiful dream, it will be a beautiful reality.

Saw maybe 30 on this day.

 

crappy white-winged scoter shot
crappy photo, not scoters

Anyway – White-winged Scoters made a distant cameo on the 5^th. They are not a ‘regular’ from the ferry per se, but they do winter around the islands in small numbers. Outside the mouth of Seal Bay/Winter Harbor tends to be a reliable spot for them to winter. Must be some special food they like over there or something. East side!

buffleheads coming in!

 

Another wintering duck that can be regularly seen from the ferry has also returned! And without further ado, it gives me great pleasure– as the VSR officially says - Welcome back Buffleheads!

 

These ‘little nuggets of buoyancy fun’ will be a staple for winter ferry rides. This gang o’ Buffleheads was in Rockland Harbor, and if trends noticed over the last 20 years of riding the ferry hold – they (Buffleheads) will be observable (with binos) all winter long in the water north of the Rockland Ferry terminal. For most of the winter they are usually seen from the ferry, before the ferry even leaves the shoot for crying out loud! Look North!

 

Buffleheads also winter in the Reach section of the ferry ride, traditionally south of the ferry route, and kind of tucked away in the Jackson Cove area. Or is it the ‘Jackson Hole’? Usually a Baker’s dozen over there.

 

Double threat for seeing Buffleheads from the ferry! And now I beg your patience as ‘we’ rant to fill in spaces around the photos of these Buffleheads flying towards the ferry, and then coming in for landing.

 

Pre-rant – So ‘we’ mentioned above that Gannets (and not putting down Gannets at all, we love Gannets) are in for the ‘short fall’ , as opposed to the ducks – like Bufflehead- that we expect to see for the entire winter. That’s right – ducks fly south to coastal Maine for the winter. Mid-coast is the ‘south’ for many a duckie! Hardcores – like Purple Sandpipers.

 

Seasonal rant tangent – To oversimply, because oversimplifying is fun!

 

I refer to the season ‘Fall’ as ‘short’ since on the Gregorian calendar ‘it’ (the season Fall) overlaps September and November - two 30-day months , and then one 31 day month (October). So, as a season Fall has 91 days. Respectable? Yes. Respectful? I’m not buying it. Both Spring and Summer have two 31-day months each, balanced by a separate 30-day monther. Now, I’m no math major but that adds up to 92 days. Both spiritually and mathematically, Fall is getting short changed, or short-dayed. But that’s nothing compared to the cards Winter is dealt.

 

As far as seasons go, ‘Winter’ gets the worst treatment of all! It covers two 31-day months (Dec. and Jan.), which looks good on paper (looks best when represented on a ‘puppy yawning’ or a ‘Peanuts’ calendar). Then out of nowhere, BLAMMO! winter gets seasonally screwed with a 28-day month (no one respects February, the Pluto of the months). 31+ 31+ 28 = 90 days for the best season (judgment, but correct! (2^nd judgment, one sentence!))! This is an outrage!

 

Black Guillemot snorkeling 

Sure, every 4 years ’they’ through ‘winter’ a bone of a bonus day – like leap year is going to make up for the seasonal injustice (settle for nothing now and we’ll settle for nothing later). Winter was 90 days last year and will be 90 days next year! And 90 days the year after that! I don’t know what kind of person I will be when the next leap year comes around in 2028, but I’m pretty sure I will be saying something along these lines – It’s about freakin’ time!

 

So we live in a world, and on a planet (nice tilt ‘Earth”!), that is biased towards Spring and Summer, and not that ‘we’ don’t love March-September, but , and let’s be honest here , Spring and Summer are 2 of the top 4 overrated seasons (judgments are flying now). Certainly not worthy of extra days! In my life I have lived – and others have too! - over 100 extra days of summer when compared to winter! No wonder I am so grumpy – and justifiably grumpy at that!

 

Summer is for ‘sweat-ers’, winter is for ‘sweaters’. And once you find out what sweat is made up of, well, summer don’t smell so sweet, and dehydration starts sounding like a decent option. Summer paradox. End of rant? Sure….

 

 

state beach semi-palmated plovers

(11/5) State Beach – 13 Red-necked Grebe, 2 Semi-palmated Plovers.

 

Basin – Bald Eagle, Olde-tailed Ducks, Bonaparte’s Gulls,

 

semi-palmated plover - on the move!

Around the island – Red-breasted Nuthatch, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Hairy Woodpecker, Dark eyed Junco, American Crow, Common Raven, Toronto Blue Jays.

 

hooded merganser

Pleasant River – Hooded Mergansers fishing

 

 

bunch of hooded mergansers workin it

Amy Palmer at the helm

But wait- back to Gannets…. So, on Saturday November 8^th the lovely Amy Palmer and I walked out on the Rockland Breakwater. Mostly to see if there were any Purple Sandpipers on the rocks there (Purple Sandpipers are one of the best motivators for a walk), but, as always, we were open to look at whatever else was out there. On this day the ‘whatever’ turned out to be Northern Gannets. And Dunlin. Here’s a token Dunlin shot or two.

 

dunlin

Now, I know what you are saying – that’s not Vinalhaven nor is it the Fox Islands! – and what you are saying is correct. Except that (A) the Rockland breakwater is made up of Vinalhaven granite (weak argument) and more importantly (B) the Gannet scene observed from the breakwater that day would have been epic from the ferry! Hear me out on this one….

 

northern gannet

So, Amy and I picked Saturday for the breakwater mostly because we love the breakwater, but it was also a very calm day. No reason to get windblown yet – plenty of winter for that! Whatever we saw that day was not because they were getting blown into Rockland Harbor (that is the point of this paragraph).

 

gannet flying over the breakwater
lighthouse top and chimney

While walking out – FYI, we saw no Purples that day – we did see two Gannets flying towards the breakwater from the Owls Head region. They kept getting closer and closer until one Gannet literally flew over the breakwater! I’m pretty sure I’d never seen a Gannet from the breakwater before, much less have one fly over the rocks there! The Gannet spent some time circling in the harbor before heading south a bit, circling some more and eventually heading back out to sea. It was awesomely fun.

 

Watching it head back out into Penobscot Bay it was hard not to notice that there were other Gannets maybe around the mid-point of the Bay. Like a lot of Gannets and like right in the ferry route. We watched the 1:30 ferry from the mainland head out and go right by the Gannets. I never wished I was on the ferry so badly. Well, maybe I have!

 

Fortunately, though, I was with Amy and totally in love (still am!) so I was fine not being on the boat. And I had brought the scope (staple on ever breakwater walk now thru April!) and out by the lighthouse we set up camp and scoped the Gannet scene in the bay.

 

gannet with cement factory in background

We watched them dive, over and over again – huge splashes that were reminiscent of whale spots. 40-80 Gannets in the air at any time, and many more sitting on the water nearby. Both the air and the water were full of them.150 seems like a conservative estimate, so I’ll go with hundreds of Gannets (translation – two hundred or so). Probably way more if counting from the ferry.

 

more dunlin

And so, this sighting falls under the ‘impressive thing that could have been seen from the ferry’ category. Unfortunately, I got no phootage of the scene, I think my ‘digiscoping’ (taking photos thru the scope) days may be numbered. And that number is Zero (0), as my newish phone has three lens – haven’t mastered that line up with the scope lens, and I don’t see that happening. Anyway, the scene wasn’t ‘captured on film’, but I did get a couple of good gannet (Good Gannet!) shots from the breakwater to share.

 

What’s more – Marthena Webster was kind enough to share her Gannet experience from a ferry ride on Wednesday the 12^th. And we quote Marthena…

 

‘Gannets around the shoals (north of Owls Head and Monroe Island) to the breakwater Wednesday morning! North Haven morning ferry to Rockland. Would be cool if the ferry slowed down for such awesomeness!’

 

dunlin actually asleep

Thank you, Marthena, – great report! And solid point. Reminds me of a conversation I had years ago with Captain Pete, about hitting the breaks for snowy owl sightings. He frowned on that idea, but he kinda frowns a lot! Ha ha!

 

Anyway, sounds like the Gannets were even closer than on Saturday! And I was supposed to be on the ferry that Wednesday morning! Had to change to Thursday at the last minute. My ‘ferry Gannet juju’ has been off this year…

 

...and here’s something funny – so I was on the ferry ride on both the 13^th and 14^th – the two days directly following Marthena’s sighting. As things sometimes pan out, I saw no Gannets at all. Like literally zero, none. Come to think of it, the most I’ve seen from the ferry might be around 20 or so, and not that I am interested in PRs from the ferry (it’s about the gannets (gannets baby, gannets!), not about me) but cool to see such events.

 

At the same time, this dude who I follow on the Instagram Mael Glon (Mael’s IG handle - @maelbirds, my IG handle is @baldfulmar, not that you asked!) anyway - mentioned he observed a similar Gannet scene on Saturday the 8^th from Pemaquid Point  in the Bristol/Damariscotta area. He’d never seen them as close to shore – he said a few even circled overhead of him on land! – and that they were in big numbers. Thanks Mael for sharing – very interesting.

 

Gannets got it going on – following the food, and the food was close to shore – hope you got to see some of that.

 

(11/13) Basin/Around the island – Well, I may have seen 10 species of songbirds on the island this day, but roughly a gagillion individuals! Lots o’ birdies, somewhat limited diversity. Anyway…

 

no winterberry berry is safe

No winterberry was safe with all the American Robins on island! I would say they were the number one songbird I saw that day in island – but the Red-breasted Nuthatches continue to a huge presence in the woods – maybe not as stacked as late October, but consistent, very consistent in the woods. And, of course, a flock of 30+ Red Crossbills spent a few moments in the trees above me in the Basin, completely throwing off any thoughts on songbird dynamics. Just how many Red Crossbill flocks of over 30 are there on island? Those kinds of thoughts start running through your mind at these times.

 

A pair of Pine Grosbeak called sweetly (sorry, that’s how they sound to me) and hung out for a bit (maybe there were more than 2) in the Basin as well.

 

(11/13) State Beach – 2 Red-winged Blackbirds in the ever-shrinking marsh ‘felt late’. But the Snow Buntings felt right on time!

 

So, the State Beach/Geary’s Beach area of Vinalhaven is special for numerous reasons

. Shorebirds in summer/fall, Red-necked Grebes in winter (trickling in starting in late summer), Ipswich Sparrow in winter, Nelson’s Sparrow in summer, Raptors all the time - to name a few. And hey - Some people even like to swim there!

 

But ‘November on the Isthmus’ out to the point is special in its own way. For pretty much this one month - the isthmus can be a great spot to look for Snow Buntings, Horned Lark and the occasional (or it occasionally seen) Lapland Longspur. Actually, it’s a great place to look for anything and everything! And on the 13^th, it was all about the snow buntings out there!

 

I don’t see Snow Buntings too often where I go on the mainland – 3 times in 10 years now for a total of maybe 10 individuals. I do, however, see Snow Buntings on the State Beach isthmus most Novembers. Nowadays my time at State Beach adds up to probably about an hour total, spread out over 3 or 4 visits. No dilly dallying when it comes to state beach this time of year – you see what you see and get back to work. Thank the Bunting gods for breaks!

 

On the 13^th I was just about to head back to the vehicle when this flock of 50+ Snow Buntings came in. I don’t know where they came from – they could have been just north of the beach or maybe they just arrived when I saw them. No idea really – but they did seem a little skittish (for snow buntings) although I never laid my eyes on predators that day. Doesn’t mean there wasn’t a Merlin waiting somewhere. The Buntings followed a pattern of flight/land/eat/repeat while I watched em but remained skittish the entire time.

 

Anyway, if you are interested the next couple of weeks are probably good to check out the Bunting/Lark scene out there. It is always a good time to head to State Beach.

 

Okay – this VSR is pretty long already, I apologize for the parasite fans out there, but Dwarf Mistletoe and Spruce Galls are free of time constraints, where gannets and buntings feel like time is of the essence. It’s not fair, so I apologize. I don’t apologize for any rants of course.

 

 

And here's a picture of a picture of Leif’s Junior year of high school photo. Showing off with that hair!

 

Proud of this kid.

So, we’ll see you next time and see you out there!