Vinalhaven Sightings

Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report

Feb 1 – 15, 2026

VLT and MCHT – we salute and thank you!

‘Survival is the mother of desperation’

Highlights – Red-shouldered Hawk, Barred Owl, Murder non-mystery, Snow Fleas, Otter slides, Moon Rings, and so much more!

Business- vinalhavensightings@gmail.com

Said it before, twill say it again – the emails address above leads to a ‘happy, safe place’ where your photos, reports, takes, concerns and questions – anything on the spectrum from ‘naturey’ to ‘naturish’ that has to do with Vinalhaven, North Haven, ferry rides and the surrounding archipelago really – are received with the utmost respect and gentleness. It’s a nurturing environment where ‘your stuff’ is slightly reshaped, baked, and shared to perfection. We are open and looking forward to your ‘business’, as they say in the business. So have at it!

If you love it, why don’t you marry it – hey – you likin’ this VSR? Well, in this great future you can’t forget your past, so if you have time and are (even mildly) interested there are archival/historical/older VSRs accessible at the bottom of this post. Have at it! (No pressure, this is an optional activity, but all the cool kids are doing it – I’m referring to you Bob! Thanks!).

Tiit Trick – it may be a ‘cheap trick’ , but your mama’s alright, and your daddy’s alright and you can dazzle your friends (and yourself!) by simply clicking on the photos as you work your way this VSR. It makes ‘em jumbo sized for better inspection. We know how you all like to inspect. Have at it!

(Feel free to) Share the VSR! – tell your friends, forward this sucker to those who might be interested. Spread the share.

Upcoming event – Hey – it’s been a ‘real’ winter, huh? Well, if you can dig yourself out and make your way to the Vinalhaven library on Wednesday, March 4^th at 7pm (1900 hours) I’ll be ‘presenting a presentation’ presently called ‘Psyched for Spring’. It’ll be a show featuring slides, stories, info, and chuckles about ‘naturey’ (and ‘naturish’) things to look for on island over the upcoming months (March-June). The potential for happy feelings, hopeful thoughts and maybe learning a thing or two (or ‘catching a refresher’ so you can say ‘I knew that already’!) in a relaxed atmosphere is huge (the potential that is). In other words – twill be a fun time! See you there!

Honest Editor’s Admission – We love loopholes!

Gunna be some Eagle photos in this post. These were taken from the Rockland Breakwater (which is Vinalhaven Granite!). The VSR covers the ferry ride/route and this Eagle falls into the ‘could have been seen from the ferry’ catagory, which is a loophole that we love.

Anyway - this eagle was not paying attention to where it was going, and ended up be startled by my presence. These are photos from massive re-directional it took to avoid flying over me. Scaredy bird

ice ring
photo by Cay Kendrick

Sightings – Ring around the moon? Cay Kendrick sent in a couple fantastic shots of a recently observed ‘ice ring’. Thanks for sharing Cay!

Ice rings - an optical phenomenon caused by moonlight refracting (bending) through millions of tiny, hexagonal ice crystals suspended in high-altitude cirrostratus clouds.

ice ring 2
photo by Cay Kendrick

Totally into/diggin’ those hexagonal crystals! ‘If they ain’t hexagonal, they ain’t crystals!’

otter belly slide!
photo by Pam Grumbach

Otter slide to salty goodness– Pam Grumbach was sent in this photo of an ‘Otter Slide from the east side’, leading right to the water and otter food! Thanks Pam!

greens island otter highway
photo by John Drury

Greens Island Otter Highway – John Drury sent in this photo of a well-used ‘Otter Highway’ that extends across ‘Ma’s Point’. This highway actually ends/starts at one of the Greens Island Otter slides spotted/photographed from the ferry and posted in the previous VSR. And leads across Ma’s Point to a den with more than a decades’ worth of historic use at this point!

Here’s something different - Barred Owl on island! – Libby Young was kind enough to share this cool video she took of a Barred Owl on Vinalhaven! Check it out…

Through the sunroof of a car no less! Libby (and her sister Alex) spotted the owl along the North Haven Road in the first week of February! Libby also mentioned that other folks had also seen the owl at roughly the same spot over the course of a week or so. So, what’s the deal here, beyond the cool sighting of a cool critter for a cool week (or so)?

Rockport Owl Jan. 2026

Well, living in St George on the mainland (10 miles from VH ‘as the crow flies’), I can attest that Barred Owls are not an uncommon sight in Knox County. They breed all along the coast and can often be heard making their ‘Who Cooks for You, Who Cooks for You Allllllll’ calls. Barred are the most likely owl for folks to cross paths with when in the mainland portion of mid-coast Maine and beyond.

St George Owl Feb 2026

That said, while living and owling (often, regularly and a lot) on Vinalhaven (2004-2015) I never once heard nor saw a Barred Owl on island. There were random reports of ‘em, I even saw a photo of one taken on island taken in the Perry Creek area. All in all, I would say over those 11 years there were 3 isolated reports (that made it back to me) of ‘single serving’ Barred Owl sessions on island. One (day) and done – just like college is supposed to be!

St George Owl Feb 2026

Whatever I feel like I want to do. Gosh - Why (so few) or (better yet) why not (more sightings)? Well, first off – there undoubtedly have been more Barreds that have visited VH and simply went ‘under the human radar’. Maybe not many, but undoubtedly. Which brings up the timeless questions - if a Barred owl ‘cooks’ in the woods and no one hears it, does it still ‘cook for you all’?.

Great Horned Owlette
North Perry Creek 5/06

A fair bet here is that the island’s healthy and robust Great Horned Owl population has something to do with the lack of Barreds spending quality time on Vinalhaven. The 8- 10 Great Horned Owl nesting pairs on Vinalhaven and surrounding islands (Not to mention North Haven GHO nesting pairs! We love ‘em!) should be enough to scare any Barred away. You see, Great Horneds will escort/chase off any visiting Barred off island but would rather feast on ‘said Barred’ if it got the chance. ‘Survival is the mother of desperation’ and a solid reason to leave quickly, so it’s kinda of impressive that this one stayed so long.

Great Horned Owlettes
Long Cove, VH May 2015

On the mainland, conversely, I hardly see or hear Great Horneds – in fact I haven’t experienced a non-island GH for a few years at this point.

So, the next question is the same question and happens to be my favorite question - why? Why would a Barred venture out to VH in the first place? Well, here’s what the internet says on that –

Great Horned Owlettes
Long Cove, VH May 2015

‘Barred owls are generally non-migratory and territorial, but they can become irruptive—moving south in large numbers—when northern food supplies (mice, voles, rabbits) are low. These movements are not as consistent or predictable as those of other owls (e.g., Snowy Owls), but they do occur during food shortages’.

back to that eagle

Thanks internet! So yeah, on the mainland its easy to tell when these (winter) Barred Owl irruptive events occur – you see loads of ‘em and this year so far has been a ‘good’ one for Barreds. Well, ‘good for humans to see them’, but as with any Owl sighting it’s fair, and a good idea, to assume there the owl is most likely stressed, at least a little, in its efforts to survive. Not all sightings necessarily…

Rockland Breakwater Eagle

So far this year I’ve seen a dozen Barred Owls on the mainland – 9 alive, 3 roadkill – where I might have seen 2 in 2025. (13^th yesterday while working on this post! So, a baker’s dozen, 14^th in Rockland the next day). And ‘following’ mainland observers on ‘the social media’ (me Instagram handle – ‘Baldfulmar’) I’ve seen a lot of people posting about Barred Owl sightings this winter, often with photos taken in backyards. Yard Owls Rock. Sure, there is something to timing and luck, but sometimes you have to face reality, accept it and just say ‘there are a lot of Barred Owls around’. So many that at least one went to Vinalhaven to look for grub. Irruptive behavior is so cool.

So great to hear a lot of people got to see this owl and hope the owls in your future are only very mildly stressed! - Thanks for sharing Libby! Great video!

golden-crowned kinglet

(The) One good thing about crows…Murder of Crows – my dad once asked me why they call a group of crows a ‘murder’. My response was instant – ‘because if you hang out with them for any length of time you want to murder them’. Still stand by that comment.

And that is the energy (to a certain extent) I’ve felt this winter both on Vinalhaven and on the last Ferry when it’s been pulling into Rockland. The winter of 2026 is a ‘winter for murders’. Totally and fur real.

Not sure what triggers ‘merican Crows ‘round these parts to ‘murder up’, but they can get into large groups in the winter – in the 100s and 1000s in some places , and in the Midwest 10s and 100s of thousands and more! What a nightmare that must be.

Anyway – this winter (2026) it’s been particularly hard not to notice murders of crows around. On lanes recently John Drury and I saw a decent sized murder (~20) that was harassing a Red-shouldered Hawk. Wouldn’t have seen the Hawk without the help of the rowdy Murder. Or at least wouldn’t have seen it at that moment.

And that is the charming/annoying thing about a good murder. They are super aware and loud when it comes to being around predators/humans. Sometimes the racket of the murder (murder racket) can tip you off about another bird’s/mammal’s presence. This (crows annoying/being annoyed by things) can be a great way to locate owls, and that is why we say they Crows are ‘barely better than squirrels’. Barely

And while I jokingly joke about Crows being ‘overrated’(95% truth there), they can be (selfishly) useful in this way. We were happy to see the Red-shouldered that day, and I’ve seen many an owl via murder. Pro-murder? That might be a stretch – I’m not an ‘ends justify the means’ type of dude. More of a ‘there has to be a better way’ fella.

rockland terminal murder action
sent by Peter
screen shatted by Margaret

Anyway – there has also been a huge murder of crows that have been stage around the Rockland ferry terminal around sunset for the last few months. I’d been seeing them when the 3:15 pulls into Rockland – and it’s been like 100s of em. Peter Drury sent in this photo that his better half (Margaret!) screen-shotted (screen-shatted?) from the Rockland Ferry Terminal camera. Just look at those murderers! The guess was they were there eating salt – sounds good to me!