Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report

Dec 1 – Dec 15, 2025

Thanks to the support of the Vinalhaven Land Trust

& the Maine Coast Heritage Trust

'Be the Lungwort'

 

 

Highlights – Feeder ecosystem attracts predator!, Tidepoolin’ featuring Brittle Stars, Scaleworms and Urchins, Belted Kingfisher, Trackin’!, and so much more….

 

Business – vinalhavensightings@gmail.com

 

That email address above is the one stop destination to send photos and reports of your nature sightings and ‘all things naturey’ about Vinalhaven and the Fox Islands.

 

It’s also the place to send email addresses of people who want to get on ‘the list’ – that exclusive ‘bcc’ chain of folks who get an email every time one of these things here are posted. It’s just that easy!

 

Northern Sea Star

Tiit trick – click on photos to make ‘em huge. Thanks Dad!

 

Videos - some of the clips in this VSR were made when it was windy. Volume off! might be a good way to go. 

Tidepool story further down - photos liberally sprinkled throughout.

Sightings – Linnell Mather was kind enough to send in a clip and a photo of a Cooper’s Hawk that took advantage of the ecosystem Linnell has encouraged – willingly or not – with her feeder station.

Coopers on prey

Hard to tell what it’s eating – a bird for sure, looking like its down to the bone.

 

Now, we are ‘going with’ Cooper’s Hawk on this one, but, as with most accipiter identifications, there is ‘some room for uncertainty’. Let’s dig into the finer points associated with Accipiter identification for ‘those who are interested but might not know or maybe would like a refresher’. Here we go.

 

So, there are two main Genuses (Genii?) of Hawks. ‘Buteo’ is a classic genus of Hawk and one most of us/we are familiar with. This group has ‘wide wings’ for soaring and catching thermals and short tails for short tail stuff. Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, Broad-winged and Rough-legged Hawks are all examples of Buteos that spend time on Vinalhaven and in mid-coast Maine.

 

Barnacle Eating Nudibranch

Buteos often hunt rodents from perches (not enough squirrels if you ask some) and are also known to take an amphibian or the occasional small bird. Rough-leggeds are the exception here as they are the Buteo built for hovering – Buteo of the tundra where there are few perches to hunt from. Buteo diversity – we are fans of that.

 

‘Accipiter’ is the other genus of ‘Hawk’ (‘Hawk’ being raptors whose common names include the word ‘Hawk’). There are only three of them – (in size order) Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk and Goshawk – and all three end up on Vinalhaven most years.

 

Rock crab!

Accipiters are built differently than Buteos – and we love ‘em for that. They predominantly hunt birds – and do so not so much from a perch (although a perch may be used at times at beginning of pursuits) but more so by a sneak attack and quick pursuit. On the wing. Short, powerful wings for bursts of speed and a long tail that acts as a fantastic rudder in quick chases through shrubs and brush (or just the open woods).

 

With only three species of Accipiters to choose from (only three!) one might think ‘oh, they must be easy to identify and anyone who has trouble telling the difference is an idiot’. Well, first off - that’s not nice to think like that, you should really stop. Furthermore, it’s not true at all! I mean, sure Goshawks are big (red-tailed size) and mostly grey and aren’t really ever confused with anything else. So yes – one of them is easy. Sue me! No – marry me! Ha – taken!

 

sculpin

But Cooper’s vs Sharpie is a classic and fun observation question/conundrum. So classic that it is ‘Chapter 8: The Accipiters’ in Kenn Kaufman’s groundbreaking ‘Advanced Birding’ - an awesome Peterson Field guide. And that is saying something, because there are really only 2 awesome Peterson guides – advanced birding and the fern guide. Tough love here - I am as big of a Roger Tory Peterson fan as I can be, his guides just don’t do it for me.

 

brittle stars

Anyway – Cooper/Sharpie conundrum that can lead to a ‘many times a closer look’ at details. And that is fun. Looking at details is cool – don’t let anyone tell you anything else.

 

yellow birch seeds 

The question of Coops/Sharpie starts (here) with a refresher about sexual dimorphism in raptors.  Hot topic, I know. But to generalize (and maybe its rule - I can’t think of an exception off hand), within a species of raptor there is a difference in size between genders (sexual dimorphism), with females being the larger.  If you’ve ever seen a mated pair of Bald Eagles sitting next to each other, you know what I am talking about. A thought about this that I learned years ago – spring 1993 to be (more) exact (than vague) – is that in raptors the female is larger as she is the one in pairs that develop eggs. And the eggs for raptors are substantial, but who am I to judge?

 

isopod

So, size can be helpful, and the ‘cute little’ male Sharpies and ‘jumbo’ female Cooper’s are often able to be identified by size alone. An issue with ID is that the larger female Sharpies and cute little male Cooper’s can overlap in size and thus cannot be differentiated by mass alone. No – we have to look at details. Here we go…

 

isopod

In flight – Sharpies have a smallish, squared off tail, where Cooper’s have a longer, rounded edged tail, and a head that sticks out in front of its wings. It’s called ‘head extension’ and is actually a very helpful thing to look for and the difference is recognizable if one was to get a good view of the bird. Sharpies heads don’t extend beyond the wings. “Short-necked Hawk’ is something no one calls them. Go ahead – be the first. I mean – what the heck is a ‘sharp shin’ anyway?

 

When perched an observer might look at the width of the white band at the tip of the tail. A wide band? Cooper’s most likely. Or maybe you look for a ‘cap’ – Cooper’s show a distinctive difference between the head and back, a blackish cap that stands out. I’m more used to seeing them in flight at hawk watches, so seeing them perched is trickier even though they are still.

 

scaleworm

The nice thing about the clip Linnell sent in is that the raptor is on the ground eating and none of the characteristics mentioned above can be determined. We call that kind of ‘capture’ an ‘alternative look’.

 

Whatever phone app thing Linnell uses identified this as a Cooper’s Hawk. I do not dispute this, even though no matter how often I pause the video I can’t see that distinctive difference between the head and back of the bird – but it’s also eating and moving and shadows and all that. This is not a classic look at all.

 

And so, identification wise this feels a little like a fungus to me – sometimes you are happy with genus. This is an accipiter and from the piles of feathers Linnell has found it’s been in the neighborhood for a bit and Linnell promises more photos when she crosses paths with it. Fantastic video on this round! Accipiters can just be tricky (have we said that yet?). Thanks Linnell for sharing!

 

 

 

 

 

Smokey ferry ride (12/9) - yep – it was chilly,

 

bonaparte's gulls

100+Bonaparte’s gulls though, working through the smoke!

 

blood star

Tidepoolin’ – 12/4 – Alright – sweet -1.5 ft tide at 4pm that Thursday afternoon and I just happened to have planned my week around this low tide – ie – it was a strategic overnight on Vinalhaven.

 

And with that in mind, I headed to Lanes Island – which is now officially a preserve under tutelage of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust (Yay!) and headed to one of my favorite tidepool areas on the preserve. One of my favorites anywhere, actually. And hey - I gotta survey what we get on this new preserve, right? I gotta be me.

 

Tidepooler’s note of caution– There are a couple of accessible tide pool areas on Lanes Island and several other accessible places around the island. The critters I found last Thursday probably could have been found at any of the other spots – the key was the great low tide.

 

This particular Thursday was a little breezy, a little snowy and it was totally sketchy (safety wise) crossing rockweed covered rocks. I’m not trying to scare anyone or make myself sound braver than I am or anything (I am very brave, by the way!) but tidepooling isn’t the safest thing to do on the island. It was by far the most dangerous activity I did with kids back in my EE days, and thusly, safety precautions were always emphasized and enforced. ‘3 points of contact’, ‘choose rock over seaweed’ and ‘beware of the green slime’ were all mantras repeated over and over so we could get to nirvana. Or at least have a good time tidepooling!

 

lobster

Now, some pools are safer than others, so if you are not used to ‘walking’ on uneven, shaky, seaweed-covered rocks, you might want to go to one of the safer, ‘more leveler’ tidepool areas. After years of taking kids tidepooling, this one time I tried to take adults out on the rocks – that didn’t work so well. Anyway…That is your ‘note of caution’ - no reason to go down with a slide where you could be safe. There is plenty to see outside of the tidepools!

 

rock crab

And if you do venture into the pool areas – it’s important to leave things the way you found them. Put rocks where they belong, put critters back where they belong! There are a multitude of reasons for things being the way they are in the tide pools – do everything a favor and give in to this reality.

 

Poolin’ in the snow! – always so much to see.

 

Scaleworms – Dig ‘em – these are Twelve-scaled Worms - (Lepidonotus squamatus). By law we have to start with these.

12 scaled worm

 

Scaled worms are Ploychaete worms (Class) in the family Polynoidae. They have ‘scale-like’ ‘elytra’.  Elytra are shield-like scales that are attached dorsally, one pair on each of a number of alternating segments and entirely or partly cover the dorsum. Wormy Armadillos? Not really, but scaley!

 

So, they look like armored critters charging through the intertidal. Here’s a fun tidbit from Wiki –

 

‘The elytra of some species are faintly bioluminescent and leave glowing traces around the mouthparts of their predators, making those predators more likely to be attacked in turn.’

 

Who would predate on such beautiful little dudes? Fish and crabs. Take that!

 

Sculpin – So here’s a ‘predator of scaled worms’ that was fairly numerous (almost abundant some would say!) in the tide pools that day. Sculpin fish – Myoxocephalus sp. – are numerous in the tidepools, and two species – the Grubby (M. aenaeus) and the shorthorn sculpin (M. Scorpius) – are more likely to be found than others.

For this report we are calling the sculpin ‘Sculpin sp.’. Sometimes it’s okay to be satisfied with genus.

 

Sea stars – Blood Stars – (Henricia sanguinolenta), also called ‘Bloody Henry’, were the most numerous of the Sea Stars in the tidepools that day.

blood star

 

Here’s what Wiki says about their diet –

 

‘Henricia sanguinolenta is a planktivore and carnivore. The sea star filter feeds upon detritus and plankton floating in the water, and uses currents made by sponges or coral to make this process easier. Henricia feeds on plankton, sponge tissue, ascidians, and other invertebrates. It is eaten by vertebrates’.

 

blood star undercarriage

Thanks Wiki. A filter feeding Sea Star – love it, love it!!! And a ‘smart’ one at that – putting itself into successful positions to use currents made by sponges and coral to intercept morsels afloat! Snaggin’ grub before it can make it to the sponge - What a rascal! And then after stealing food ‘meant’ for others the Blood Star might just turn around and eat the sponge! What a world!

 

And they also eat Ascidians! Sea Squirts/Tunicates! Have at ‘em! Wouldn’t it be cool if Blood Stars increased in numbers and put a dent in the ever-increasing Tunicate scene? It would be cool, but I’m not sure if that is even a thing.

 

green sea urchin

Here’s something from the Audubon Book on North American Seashore Creatures –

 'Besides trapping organic particles on its mucus and then moving them into its mouth by ciliary action, the Blood Star can also absorb dissolved nutrients through its skin’.

 Say what? Absorb dissolved nutrients through its skin? This is my kind of echinoderm! Blood Stars officially get the ‘VSR backing’ for becoming Maine’s state Echinoderm! Just try and tell me about a better Echinoderm in Maine? There are no wrong answers.

 

dwarf brittle star

Well, you say - How about ‘Dwarf Brittle Stars’ for state Echinoderm? Well, you might be onto something. Crossed paths with about a dozen of these Lil’ buggers in the pools, and they are always entertaining.

 

Here’s a little something from the Audubon book about Dwarf Brittle Stars (Axiognathus squamatus)-

 

‘This little brittle star is bioluminescent, capable of emitting light.’

 

Well, light these dudes up and call me Santa! More bioluminescence in the pools! Needless to say -nighttime tide pooling is not encouraged by the VSR. It would be cool to see the bioluminescence, but not worth it probably.

 

Also turns out that A. squamata is part of a species complex – made up of multiple, closely related species that we are still learning about. Species complexes are humbling. Trust me! Here’s more from the AI –

 

‘A dwarf brittle star (like Amphipholis squamata) is a tiny, delicate echinoderm, often just 1-2 cm, known for its thin, flexible arms, vibrant colors, and nocturnal habits, living in shallow coastal areas under rocks or in crevices, scavenging detritus, and known for its defensive light flashes (bioluminescence) and ability to self-amputate arms.’

 

Whoa and cool. Anyway – detritus eating (nothing wrong with that, trust me!), self-amputee in the name of survival, reef cleaning and nocturnal. I think I might have woken these stars up. So, it goes.

 

Wiki casually mentioned that with Dwarf Brittles ‘Brooding individuals emit more light than non-brooding individuals’.

 

mink tracks

 

Belted Kingfisher – (12/9) Pleasant River

 

bounding mink trail

Trackin’ - hey. Got to spend some time at Huber, Barney Point and Lanes with snow. Great time to get a feel for what’s going on.

 

slushy mink tracks

And what’s going is the hefty amounts of Mink and Snowshoe Hare tracks and trails.

 

mink bounding trail

Both Mink and Snowshoe Hare are numerous on island, with some years these two species being more numerous than others. In other words, the two species fluctuate in population and, for me, the best time to biasedly survey their action is when there is snow.

snowshoe hare

 

Anyway – Mink and Snowshoe Hare weren’t just numerous at each spot – they were abundant (yes – that special ‘status’ level of – wow there are a lot of them).  

 

rodent track with tail imprint

mink trail with tail imprint

crow track

And with that we’ll wrap this up with a limited edition.

 

Plus, Leif putting together the Christmas tree Lego set by candlelight.

 

Bonus - a special few here at the end. This is from the Rockland Breakwater – which as we know is made up of Vinalhaven granite – but these photos of frozen bubbly gull poop are my favorites.

 

I shared with a co-worker who asked why the poop was so bubbly. I think all gull poop is bubbly, on this day it was so cold that the bubbles didn’t get to pop before they froze.

 

What a world, eh?

 

See you out there!