Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report
March 15th – April 1st,
2026, edition
Happy Easter!
‘Lots of videos’ – A special ‘fantastic’
edition!
like this otter video....
Thanks to Maine Coast Heritage Trust for the support!
And thanks to you! For reading,
looking and sharing!
There wouldn’t be a VSR without you!
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| Skunk Cabbage Spathe |
Highlights – Comb Jellies at night!, Otter latrine scene, Finchus Irruptus,
Dung Mimicry & Skunk Cabbage, Dwarf Mistletoe, A Correction!, Stacking wood
with Walt, and so much more!
Business: vinalhavensightings@gmail.com
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| Brown Tailed Moth web not too late to nail em but time is running out |
Keep ‘em Rolling – Been adding some emails to the list lately, and with that
in mind we want to extend a big ‘hello’, ‘welcome’, and a ‘laurel
and hardy handshake’ to those who may have only recently became aware of
the VSR.
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| dwarf mistletoe |
We appreciate your interest and hope you enjoy the posts!
We also hope that when/if the mood suits you – you send in
sightings/photos/ stories from around Vinalhaven and the greater Fox Island
area. No sighting is ever turned away, although at times things do get
misplaced – so at those times you may need to be patient with us! Equal
opportunity observers and equally opportunistic space cadets through
and thru! All email addresses are welcome!
Tiit trick – click on the photos to make em fill up your heart, as well
as your screen!
Upcoming events! - Woodcock walk – Friday April 10th,
7pm at Lanes Island! - We’ll meet in
the parking lot and quietly work our way to a couple of spots
where catching views of male Timberdoodles ‘peent’ and perform their
aerial display ‘are best’. Appropriately warm/comfortable clothes – this is
not an ‘active’ walk - lots of standing, listening and being appropriately
entertained! Binoculars are a good idea!
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| fresh Witches Broom that's where to look for Dwarf Mistletoe |
Basin Clean-up – Saturday April 11th – 9am – Hey! We’re
going to meet up at Skoog Park and then head up to the Basin Bridge
for some quality ‘baggin’ trash’ session. Roadside and in the marsh – dress
appropriately (there we go again), bring some work gloves and get ready to ‘walk
and pick’!
Sightings – Comb Jellies! - Lydia Brown was kind enough to send in this
visually and auditorily pleasant video of Comb Jellies lighting up the
waters recently around a North Haven dock. Take a look!
Lydia mentioned that a few weeks back (mid-March) she noticed a lot of Comb Jellies in the Thoroughfare and then, in Lydia’s words - ‘when I learned they have phosphorescent superpowers I went out at night to watch their light show’. And show time it was! Fantastic, super cool and thanks for sharing!
Otter Latrine Scene – up Barney Point Way - Otter latrines (spraint spots
with poop piles) are fantastic places to learn about, well, otters,
of course! More than that, otter latrines are often used by other animals (Raccoons,
Mink) and routinely are located along trails that other animals travel along
(beaver, muskrat), so you never know what animal sign you might pick up
at a latrine. Like maybe big ol’ footprints from this snowshoe hare…
…Full disclosure - I have two motion-triggered trail cameras
on MCHT preserves on Vinalhaven, one at an otter latrine and another on a deer path.
Neither of which are close to human trails nor face the direction of human
trails, ‘pains’ are taken to ensure there’s little to no chance of human’s triggering
the cameras! Your off leash dog? That’s a different story of course…
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| bohemian waxwing |
Wood Stacking with Walt / Walt's yard - (3/25) Crossed paths with Walt Day recently –
every path-crossing with Walt is a good path crossing – and he told me of the hefty
amount of bird action at this house that morning.
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| screen save by Walt Day |
Turns out that while Walt was stacking wood the birds were
making such aa racket in his yard – not an uncommon happening with Walt, birds,
and his yard – that Walt turned on the Merlin app on his phone and saw this…
Now – we are on the record as currently not being part of the
‘Merlin app’ target audience (maybe someday). We do acknowledge that the
Merlin app is a very useful tool and that ‘you can’t put the same shoe
on every foot’ with learning and blah blah blah. Let’s cut to the chase - To
me, what was great was that his phone picked up Bohemian Waxwings!
For much of March, Bohemian Waxwings have had a heavy
presence in the Rockland/Thomaston/St George region (and beyond no doubt!) – much
of mainland Knox County. Flocks of over a hundred could be seen/heard/ appreciated.
While the Waxwings have been a ‘sight to look for’ on the
mainland, I hadn’t (and still haven’t) cross paths with ‘Bohemians of the
waxwing kind’ on Vinalhaven itself this winter (VH is a different beast habitat
wise). Hadn’t heard of any sightings from anyone else either.
I took these Bohemian Waxwing photos in March while on a walk with my buddy Randall in the St George neighborhood I live in. The flock, or multiple flocks graced the neighborhood with their presence for maybe three weeks or so – sometimes here, sometimes there, sometimes somewhere else (Rockland and 131).
Thanks Walt for sharing and for having Bohemian Waxwings on
your Merlin list! We look forward to more reports from Walt, whether its while
wood stacking or not (wood stacking is optional), just hearing more about what’s
up on Calderwood Neck! Thanks Walt!
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| purple finch |
Huber stuff (3/24) - There was also a second page of Walt’s
merlin birds that morning, which had Pine Siskins & Purple Finches
to go along with American Goldfinch and Red Crossbill. 4 Finch species
is a sign of ‘Finchus Irruptus’, and in late winter no less.
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| purple finch |
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| pine siskin |
This mixed species flock was largely comprised however of Pine
Siskins, Purple Finch, American Goldfinch (in numbers in the spruce forest) and
Red Crossbills. An island wide Finchus Irruptus.
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| pine siskin |
Red-breasted Nuthatches – (3/24) cool note – I saw three different
paired-up Nuthatch couples along the Huber trail that were starting to excavate
nesting cavities. Whether they use them or move on to other cavities, only time
will tell, but fun to see them start…
How about a couple of quick muskrat clips (don't blink or you'll miss 'em!) and a beaver
clip. I won’t tell you which is which, but the beaver has the big tail.
These are from up Barney Point Way, same otter latrine
as before.
Plant stuff! - Skunk Cabbage! – Is raging right now! So
much so that we have this special PSA - While driving, please fight the urge
to stare at the roadside Skunk Cabbage flowers that are just popping up! Be
safe!
So many patterns – here’s shots of a bunch from the Huber
Preserve and Barney Point Preserve.
Couple of notes about their flowers – From good ol’ Johnny
Eastman! And his fantastic book – The Book of Swamp and Bog…. Now, here’s
Johnny!
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| spadix in the spathe |
‘As the flower buds emerge in late winter, they increase
in temperature, often melting snow around them. When the surrounding group and
air warm above freezing, respiration of the ‘Spadix’ produces a quire constant
of about 72 degrees, which the surrounding, air-pocketed ‘Spathe’ helps
maintain’
Vocab break – Spathe - The skunk cabbage spathe is a mottled, maroon-to-purple, hood-like
bract that emerges in early spring to enclose and protect the fleshy
spadix (the actual flower cluster).
Spadix - The skunk cabbage spadix is a fleshy, knob-like, or
club-shaped spike (5–10 cm long) covered in tiny, petal-less flowers, enclosed
within a mottled,
hood-like leaf called a spathe.
Back to Eastman …
‘The tiny flowers of the spadix have no petals. They are
protogynous (female parts mature first); they begin to bloom at the spadix top
and progress downward. When the lowermost flowers emerge, the male flowering likewise
descends the spadix.’
Pollinators? – sure, we got em! –
‘This plant is probably the first spring pollen source for
Honeybees (Apis mellifera). Honeybees do not fly well below 65 degrees, but
they are sometimes seen inside skunk cabbage plants when air temperature drops
as low as 42 degrees. It is theorized that the warmth in successive spathes serve
as ‘heat stops’ for the bee, allowing it to restore energy for flights between
spathes and to and from the hive. Sometimes bees become trapped in narrow-gapped
spathes.
Other pollinators are chiefly flesh flies (Sarcophagidae) and
carrion or blow flies (Calliphoridae). These early-season scavengers are
attracted by the plants liver-colored streaks and fetid odor, some botanists
cite this as an example of dung mimicry, which may have evolved as an
attractant for these pollinators.’
So, a lot going on with these Skunk Cabbages right now.
Classic example of ‘Sex before Food’ in the plant world. And ‘dung mimicry’ –
ain’t that just the spraint. Leaves to emerge soon! We will continue monitoring
and reporting on these wonderful harbingers of spring!
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| dwarf mistletoe in bloom |
More plant stuff – Dwarf Mistletoe in bloom! Huber and Barney
Point way, right along the trails.
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| dwarf mistletoe in bloom |
And a correction – in the last VSR post we talked, at
length, about Accipiter Hawk and the trickiness of telling the species apart.
Well, it’s still tricky to tell them apart, but it turns out that the
three species traditionally referred to as ‘Accipiters’ aren’t all accipiters
after…. all.
Good friend (some might even say we are ‘BFFs’), fantastic
observer, haiku master (www.kristenlindquist.com)
, and longtime VSR reader Kristen Lindquist was kind enough to forward info on a
recent lesson of bird relationships that was learned through DNA testing. Here
we go:
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| fresh mistletoe right in the Barney Pointing parking area |
Fun fact: Cooper's
Hawks and goshawks are no longer technically accipiters!
From the interwebs:
Based on recent 2024 genetic studies, as of late 2024, the
Cooper’s Hawk and American Goshawk were reclassified to Astur.
Relationship: This shift indicates that Cooper's Hawks and
Sharp-shinned Hawks are not as closely related as previously thought.
Colloquial Usage: Despite the scientific reclassification,
some, as a user in a Facebook group mentioned, may still refer to them
functionally as "accipiters" or "bird hawks" due to their
similar appearance and hunting behavior, though the formal taxonomy has changed.
Crazy to learn that Sharpies and Cooper’s Hawks aren’t the
same genus! Must have split a long time ago, and then Goshawks evolved from
Coopers?
It can be hard to keep up with the lessons that DNA studies
teach us about relationships between different species – be them birdies or
shroomies. We laugh that ‘back in the day’ Ovenbirds were considered Thrushes,
but in truth there are still tons of lessons to be learned that will blow the
lid off of things we take for certain today. Who knows what will be next, but I
would never have guessed that Sharpies and Coopers weren’t that closely related.
And that’s why, at times, you’ll hear me quoting the great ‘Weird’
Al Yankovic when I say ‘everything you know is wrong’. We’ve come a long way
baby, and clearly have a lot more way to come.
And no – I will not be referring to Sharpies and Coopers are
accipiters anymore. Why not? Because its not ‘right’. Sweet and simple!
But hey – enough of my yackin – get out there….
….and we’ll see you out there!
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