Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report – December 1st,
2012
Thanks to VLT and MCHT for their continued support
“We liked (most of) your jokes”
Highlights – finch
irruption continues, barred owl, grebes including big number days, Fungus of
the Year (FOTY) & Most Valuable Phungus (MVP) named, ducks and geese, ferry
rides including Iceland and Bonaparte’s gulls, other stuff
Business:
Welcome
(back) to the VSR– a big and hardy welcome to any new (any all historic) readers of the VSR. We
here at VSR headquarters welcome and appreciate any photos, reports, and new email
addresses (to add to our email list) that you all have to share. And while
we welcome all correspondence from all sorts of views and perspectives, we do
appreciate stuff being sent to our new email – vinalhavensightings@gmail.com – if you can remember to do so. And a big thanks
to those who’ve sent in photos and sightings to share for this report! That’s
why we do the VSR!
“Winter
moth” is on the tip of the tongue these days, which is good since they do hold
the potential of eventually (and we stress the word EVENTUALLY) killing all the
hardwoods in town. With that alarmist statement made, it should be noted
that we are not in panic mode; the local
damage at this point has been assessed by the “experts” as “low to moderate” in
the hardest hit yards, with many bands catching few to a small bunch. In fact,
some folk have complained that they have
not caught as many moths as they expected/ hoped, like they are
disappointed that they do not have the same infestation as others. Anyway, at this point the threat is largely
potential, not kinetic, and the destruction
of the town hardwoods is certainly not
etched in stone as destiny. Not a single tree has been killed by Winter Moth
on Vinalhaven (as far as we know). We will have another winter moth action
update soon, complete with photos with adult themes. Look for it in the next
week or so! There are other things being noticed/observed, reported and shared
with you all. The VSR readers! Read on!
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| beautiful barred owl photo by john drury |
Sightings – Barred
Owl – Greens Island – John Drury got this fantastic picture of a Barred Owl
out on Greens Island recently. Barred Owls
tend to be thick on the mainland (they
won’t shut up at Tanglewood in Lincolnville) but out here on the island they
are uncommonly to rarely seen or heard. These are the owls with the classic “Who
cooks for you, who cooks for you all!” call, are regularly active at dusk and
dawn and in general tend to be somewhat tame. In other words, if they are
around they tend to be noticeable. That
said, for all the hours we (the royal we) have spent owling on Vinalhaven we
(the royal we) have not seen nor heard a single Barred Owl. Over the last 7
years there have been reports from Poole’s
Hill Road (with photos by then a 9th grader Brian Stanley), Poor
Farm, Long Cove, Crockett’s Cove, Carver’s Pond and now Greens. Several of
these reports were from a few years back
when big numbers were reported in Knox
County (mostly on the mainland) as loads of Barreds were pushed south as
food crops (rodents) for the owls had low numbers and the owls were forced to
look elsewhere for food. Whatever the
status it’s a great sighting out here matched with a wonderful photo. Keep your
eyes open, this may be a good year for Barreds on Vinalhaven. Maybe even I’ll
get to see one.
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| evening grosbeaks photo by Hillary Bunker |
Winter (ok, late
fall) Finches continue, and it’s not even winter yet. Pine Grosbeaks and White-winged
Crossbills seem to be the big two, but reports of Common Redpoll, Pine Siskin, and American Goldfinch are being
sent in. Plus Hillary Bunker sent in
some shots of Evening Grosbeaks she had in her yard recently (thank you Hillary). Evening Grosbeaks are rarely seen out here, with skin hill Sally having the only other
sighting I’ve heard of in the last 8 years,
and of course that was just a few weeks ago! Hillary mentioned “we haven’t
seen them for a long time”, hinting of historic sightings in her neighborhood.
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| pine grosbeak from lane's not the best picture, but it's what we got |
And with the waves of “winter finches” coming thru
Vinalhaven and the rest of New England, it takes me back to a VSR from way back
when, where we (the royal we) discussed the dynamics that make winter bird “irruptions”
so special. It was around the transition time of turning 2007 into 2008, when many
birdies were showing up on island, and folks demanded an explanation for the
increase in bird activity or (more likely) I wanted to explain what was going
on with no one asking. The VSR – in whatever form it was in back then- had a
segment called “Pardon the irruption” & if I remember correctly most of the
response we received were folk telling
me I spelled “eruption” wrong. It became a lesson in vocabulary as “eruption’ is a song by Van Halen and
what volcanoes do, and an “irruption”
(bird-wise) is when you are invaded by birds “from away” in a atypical fashion.
Here’s a clarification on the difference…
Irruptions –
Denotes movement of large numbers of
birds following the breeding season into areas beyond their normal range,
as distinct from “eruption”, which
refers (to) movement out of the areas
from which the birds came.” “species involved tend to erupt out of relatively
remote regions.” – Christopher W. Leahy,
The Birdwatcher’s Companion
It breaks all VSR codes, but we are going to take a stroll
back thru memory lane to take a condensed look at what makes a good irruption,
like the one 4 or 5 years back…
“Irruptions generally occur
when food shortages cover a large geographic area in the North. Years of good
seed crops (such ’06-’07) result in higher populations of seed eating birds, as
more of their young survive. Years such as these are typically followed by a
year of poor seed crops. Thus, the seed failures occur when bird populations
are higher than normal. Starving, or at least pretty hungry, the birds “erupt” (bail, flee) from up north only
to “irrupt” in big numbers down here
– and yes, mid-coast Maine is being treated as south here.
Seed crops in the Boreal
Forests of Canada were high in ’06-’07, thus it was a low year for northern
species being seen on Vinalhaven – with the exception of White-winged
Crossbills. The seed crop failure of was somewhat expected, but the coinciding
fruit failure up north wasn’t. This one-two punch of fruit and seed failures
resulted in an event that’s been described as “once a decade”.
Starting in October ’07 flocks
of more northerly species were being observed throughout Maine. Big flocks of
Bohemian Waxwings (Bombycilla garrulous),
Common Redpolls (Carduelis flammea),
& American Goldfinch (Carduelis
tristis) were observed seen on Vinalhaven. While smaller groups of Pine
Grosbeak (Pincola enucleator), Pine
Siskin (Carduelis pinus),
Red-breasted Nuthatches (Sitta canadensis),
Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile
atricapilla), & White-winged Crossbills (Loxia leucoptera) were scattered throughout the island. Northern
Shrikes (Lanius excubitor) predatory
songbirds who hunt songbirds and small mammals were also seen around the
island. The Shrikes most probably followed their prey which was erupting and
irrupting.
Many of the songbirds had
moved on by the end of December, likely due to food amounts running low as they
gorged themselves. A few individuals have stayed and can be seen at feeders and
in the preserves throughout Vinalhaven
There you have it, the first and hopefully only trip back in
the history of the VSR. We’ll see where this year’s irruption takes us; it’s
always a good place with lots of smiles.
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| hooded merganser photo by sally |
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| carver's geese photo by sally |
A similar comparison can be made for humans. Think of any
drag queen you know, when they are garbed up they tend to not stick out at all.
Wait, forget that, the strategy may not cross over to humans. Anyway, we (the
royal we) digress…. here's some bufflehead off the Huber Preserve jocking for position
And beyond that conversation, ducks have moved beyond the eclipse
plumage and into early courtship for next year’s breeding season. Yes, its’ November
(probably not when you read this) and ducks are already trying to pair up.
Check out these videos of Bufflehead and Old-tailed Ducks (formerly known as
Oldsquaw and (in denial) known as long-tailed duck) as males battle and jockey
for position alongside females. It’s November for Christ’s sake (reason for the
season?)! “never been a better time than right now” – red hot chili peppers.
Tip of the hat to ducks everywhere.
and here's a little more of the head-popping that Bufflehead do as a warning/display towards other male bufflehead
and here's a little more of the head-popping that Bufflehead do as a warning/display towards other male bufflehead
Winter (ok, late
fall) Ferry Rides – in my completely biased opinion, late November thru the
first half of December is the best time of the year to watch birds from the
ferry. It’s comfortable (compared to the DEAD of winter) and the seas tend to
be loaded with birds – just look at the numbers below from these “typical” late
fall days. And, as always, the 7 and 8:45am are the best for birdies…(11/16)
21 Common Loon, 2 Red-throated Loon, 223 Bonaparte’s Gulls, 28
Black-legged Kittiwakes, 1 Laughing Gull, 11 Surf Scoter, 20 Old Tail Ducks, 1
Bufflehead, 1 Red-breasted Merganser, 24 Black Guillemots, 3 Great
Cormorants, 25 Purple Sandpipers, 37
Harbor Seal…(11/25) 1pm return – Iceland Gull…(11/29) Bald Eagle, 9
Red-breasted Merganser, 19 Surf Scoter, 2 Black Duck, 9 Common Loon, 1
Bufflehead, 19 Old-tailed Duck, 21 Black Guillemot, 1 Great Cormorant, 134
Bonaparte’s Gull, 24 Black-legged Kittiwake, 8 Razorbill
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| these milkweed seeds are full of potential |
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| and this milkweed seed landed on scat might be a seed dream come true |
All things considered
(no connection with that boring program on NPR) I will say there are times when
counting a large group of tiny birds, let’s use a group of roughly
200 Purple Sandpipers as an example, that are flying in a tight, undulating fashion (nice fashion) a few hundred feet off the
ferry when it can be better to count by 5s or 10s then to try and count individual
birds. On those counts I can assure you we (the royal we) err on the conservative
side of things, cuz that’s just the way we roll. The counts in those situations may not be the exact total, but are within a few of the actual total observed. These counting situations are very rare, maybe
2 or three times a year where we (the royal we) count by 10s, but are necessitated
by circumstance.
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| getting cold out there |
As for the 223 Bonaparte’s Gulls on the 16th,
I (the royal I) actually counted 223 Bonaparte individuals that I could
readily identify (I am pretty good at counting by ones). In reality (that far off land), there
were hundreds of more gulls up the bay that
were just out of the ferry’s range - many of which were likely Bonaparte’s
(they were by far the most abundant bird from the ferry that day) but were too
far to identify.
There were certainly more than 223 Bonaparte's Gulls from the ferry that day.
Usually when counting birds we (the royal we) count the birds. There is little that we take seriously here at the VSR, but good and accurate information is a priority. If you are not convinced, then I invite you to stand out in the cold and count with me. Actually, even if you are convinced I invite you to join me in the cold counting birds. There is so much to see this time of year, it’s downright silly for anyone to be indoors on the morning ferry. Anyway, that’s a little background on how we count things, we use numbers and never exaggerate. I feel like I’ve said this a gazillion times. Moving on….
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| frozen jelly not taken from the ferry |
There were certainly more than 223 Bonaparte's Gulls from the ferry that day.
Usually when counting birds we (the royal we) count the birds. There is little that we take seriously here at the VSR, but good and accurate information is a priority. If you are not convinced, then I invite you to stand out in the cold and count with me. Actually, even if you are convinced I invite you to join me in the cold counting birds. There is so much to see this time of year, it’s downright silly for anyone to be indoors on the morning ferry. Anyway, that’s a little background on how we count things, we use numbers and never exaggerate. I feel like I’ve said this a gazillion times. Moving on….
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| lane's is so beautiful |
Lane’s Island –
(11/17) 30 White-winged Crossbill, 8 Pine Grosbeak, 6 Yellow-rumped Warbler,
Swamp Sparrow, 4 chickadees, Bald Eagle, Flicker, 6 Great Cormorants, 4 Common
Loon, 4 Black Duck, 5 Crows….
State Beach – (11/17) – 18 Horned Lark, 15 Red-necked Grebe, 7 Great
Cormorants, 4 Common Loon, 5 Old-tail Ducks…(11/19) – 2 Horned Grebe, 2 Horned
Lark, 5 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 Common Loon, 5 Old-tailed Ducks, 2 Black
Guillemot, 4 Ring-necked Gull, 10 White-winged Crossbill… (11/27) 71 Red-necked
Grebe, 5 Common Loon, 1 Red-throated Loon, 6 Oldtail Duck, 5 White-winged
Crossbill, 6 Red-breasted Merganser, 4 Black Guillemots,
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| spark plug |
Calderwood Island –
(11/27) Red-breasted Nuthatch, Crows, Oldtail Ducks, Common Loon, Horned
Grebe, Downy & Hairy Woodpecker,
Common Redpoll, White-winged Crossbill, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Red-tail Hawk,
White-tailed Deer, Harbor Seal. And Split Gill!
and while we're at it, here's a group of old-tailed ducks that i videoed from the kayak in the little thoroughfare that were having some space issues. there are tons of oldtails out there, take a look for some when near water, or listen for their lovely call..
FOTY - A whole
bunch of words about Split Gill Fungus (Schizophyllum commune). It is simply a
no-brainer for us here at the VSR to
unanimously vote Split Gill the Fungus of the Year 2012 as well as MVP – Most
Valuable Phungus – decomposer division. It’s completely our honor to have
the Split Gill mentioned in this report. It has certainly evolved over the eons
many miles (kilometers for those types of people) beyond humans. More about the
Split gill here…
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| split gill in st. john |
First – from the experts…
“Schizophyllum is unique by virtue of its longitudinally split or grooved gills….It
survives dry spells by folding back its gills, and hence can be found
practically year round…the peculiar manner in which the gills split lengthwise
is unique. The “split” gills are actually two adjacent plates which separate
and roll up in dry weather, thus protecting the spore-bearing surface.
Specimens sealed in a tube in 1911, then
moistened 50 years later, unrolled their gills and started shedding spores…Edibility:
Too small and tough to be of value. However, some natives of Madagascar are said to chew them, for reasons unknown.”
-
David Arora, Mushrooms Demysitified
“Schizophyllaceae – This small family of 10 genera includes
one of the most widely distributed mushrooms in the world, the pretty (judgment) Common Split Gill. They have what appear to be
gills, but are actually radiating, branching folds or lobes… Split Gill is
found throughout the world…survives loss of moisture by curling back the outer
sides of its folds…It revives in wet
weather” -
Gary Lincoff, Audubon Guide to North American Mushrooms
Alright, so cool, it’s an odd, funky fungus. But why
is it the FOTY 2012? Well, while it may be found worldwide, and while I
may have routinely found it back in my California dayz, I have found exactly 2 patches in my first 8 years
of Vinalhavenness – at State Beach
and in the Whites, both on driftwood.
The driftwood thing made it cool enough on its own…
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| my favorite weekend paleontologist using hands and front loaders to look for bones |
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| its like treasure these skulls |
and here's my favorite local paleontologist. digging up skulls in the horseshoe pits out back. his purity keeps it all real. if you know what i mean...
see you out there.
