Welcome to the vinalhaven sightings report –
March 19th,
2013
MCHT, VLT, FLA, Nana
“…this sightseeing blog, which is pretty good too” –
Anja and Marco’s
wedding blog
Thanks Anja and Marco (can’t wait to meet ya!).
And Congratulations.
We here at the VSR hope you have a “pretty good” wedding, too. Or
better….
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| mink tracks check out the hesitation in the second set of bounding tracks |
And yes, phish will be at the Bangor waterfront July 3rd.
can only hope that David Cross is not
far behind.
Highlights –
woodcock, spring peeper, alcids – including dovekie and razorbill, otter
stuffage, goshawk, gulls including Iceland and Lesser Black-backed, other stuff
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| woodcock stock photo |
And speaking of woodcocks… Upcoming
VLT/MCHT event – Woodcock Walk – April 6th, 6:30pm – meet at Skoog.
--- They are here, they are fun, and it’s always a good time with them. For
this event we’ll carpool to the other end of the island for a little sunset, a
little woodcockage (if you know what I mean – by law we have to write that),
and a little astronomy – clouds permitting. We’ll “slap some glass” (use the
scope) on a few planets, a nebula, and certainly a woodcock on this night. Be
there or don’t be there. Those are your choices, should be a “pretty good” time.
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| this is gross. and yet we like it. |
You see something, you tell us about
it! Ok? …. Contact us…. Hey
– send us your sightings. Can’t emphasize this enough – this blog thing is for
everybody. Are you afraid to send
something in cuz the VSR team might poke fun at you? Well, then you deserve
to be made fun of, so get over it. No. Scratch that. This sightings report to
all about what folk are seeing around the island, so if you see something, tell
us about it. vinalhavensightings@gmail.com
. don’t be shy. We only poke fun cuz we
love you. It’s OK to share. Like seriously. And speaking of sharing…
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| maybe because the otter goo reminds us of overhydrated orange jelly |
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| orange jelly rules! |
Tiit trick- click on a photo, and it will magically get bigger.
Other stuff (AKA speaking of poking
fun) – when you see Phil
“murder of crows” Crossman next please give him a big “Shame on you” from
the VSR. We (the royal we) asked him recently if he wouldn’t mind doing his
“walkabout” (dude thinks he’s Australian) around the island again and take
photos of all the otter latrines he comes across (there must have been
gazillions) .We asked nicely, maybe even said “please”, but apparently he’s
tired of walking or something. Attitude, nice role model for Finn and the
unborn. (Heck, even Captain Pete is in contract talks about an ongoing
ferry-sightings related update for the VSR – Peter can share). So shame on you
“West Nile Crow” for not adding to the data we have on our local river otter
scene. If you have no idea w hat we are talking about check out – www.islandcircumambulation.blogspot.com
. also should mention that the tidewater is the place to stay on Vinalhaven
when you need a place to stay…. www.tidewatermotel.com
. Phil takes credit for the tides there
as well.
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| we learned that freshly thawed orange jelly tastes like apricots. |
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| these nice folk are eating orange jelly |
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| this is a tree with snow along a creek |
Greens Island – John
Drury reports a fly by with a Northern Goshawk, and a Dovekie and Iceland Gull sighted
near the island (not together we presume, that would be tooooooo funky).
Around the island – White-winged Crossbills have been heard
daily in the woods, Pine Grosbeak less frequent…Ravens acting up….
Woodpeckers – Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers are “taking
it up” a notch (not together, I think, hope) with aggressive behavior towards
other members of the species. Sightings include a Norton’s Point male Downy
Woodpecker pulling out a whole bunch of downy feathers from a female Downy
Woodpecker chest (where the kind downy is found) that apparently wasn’t his
choice of a mate (or he’s into that kind of stuff). This was after she had
apparently “won” the rights to be with him after battling another female Downy.
(6 “downy”s so far in this paragraph). Should be a whole lot of cavities
excavated soon.
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| this is one of our two favorite dogs that look pretty much the same. he licked my hand |
Cute Story…..
look at this dog. So freakin’ cute. And it’s got a twin! Both dogs found me on
a snowshoe chainsawing mission at the
Huber Preserve (The Hubes) and were playful and licked my hand and wagged
their tails for forever (it seemed). They patiently waited as I took pictures
of poria fungus, which is way less cuter than these dogs. And after about 15
minutes of hanging out, thinking that the dogs were lost and needed me to show
them the way back out (silly me) one of the doggies ran off, grabbed a raccoon
by its neck and violently shook it inspiring howling and crying like you have
never heard (or maybe you have). The shaking reminded me of the sea lion in the
Blue Planet series shaking a penguin in an effort to skin it. Needless to say
it was awesome. “So that’s why we allow dogs on trails” was my first thought.
Completely violent, and the craziest thing I have seen on the trails out here. Would have been seriously disturbing to a few
of the “regulars” that I know hike the Hubie trail.
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| somewhere on the island |
Anyway, the puppies tried to lick me after the incident, but
I declined the offer –“get your rabies infested saliva away from me!” or
something like that. In the end they didn’t need me to lead them anywhere. They
know the woods better than anyone. I hope folks visiting the Anja and Marco
wedding website are reading this! Sightseeing blog!
Ferry Rides –
(3/11-12) Well, I even wrote up some lists for the two morning rides I took
last week (after not leaving the island in months – maybe once) but where those
lists are is a mystery (I’ll try to include them next time). I’m not a big
“list” fan anyway. What I can tell you is this….
(3/11) 3 Razorbills.
0 red-necked Grebes, loads of Canada Geese heading north
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| what up razorbill? stock photo from seal island |
(3/12) 52 Razorbills,
8 Red-necked Grebes, 1 Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Gulls setting up turfs on grassy ledges , loons and guillemots molting nicely
The Razorbills were impressive on the 12th to say the least, 2nd biggest Razorbill ride (oh what a ride!) of my short ferry ride history. 3 one day, 52 the next day. Groups of 5 razorbills flying by left and right – it was awesome. Red-necked Grebes and Canada Geese remind us that migration is happening and things are heading north – “Go north young grebe!”. Anyway, things are happening, including the lesser-black backed that flew right by the ferry “mid-trip” was a bonus. 8 Red-necked Grebes are about 8 more than I expect to see form the ferry.
Captain Peter notes that there have been many razorbills in the bay for the last month - with days of 100+ in his estimation (not sure what he counts by). Thanks for sharing captain pete!
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| some of the 142 spraints found at "Elaine's den" - # 10 |
(3/12) walk to the
ferry – First woodcock of the
year for me, dazzlin’ display as I strolled down dogtown road to the first
ferry. The other cool thing was a Spring
Peeper peepin’ away (can you say micro-climate?) not too far off. Yep,
froggy time is close by, except for the winter storm that is coming today. Other
than that (and the snow storms after that) spring is here!
Carver’s pond –
on a hot tip from Elaine Drury (never has given me a tip that wasn’t
hot) I, we finally made a little quality time for a stroll along Carver’s
backside (that doesn’t sound right).
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| look at how gross this is the otters have to go over rusty spraint to get into their den |
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| white otter goo on a rusty thing. i like the "goo slide" |
Elaine told me about a spraintload of spraint she had found
along Carver’s shores, at a grout pile that clearly had a few entrances into
what she figured was a den. She had seen that about 5 years before. (Editor’s note: there is no reason to wait 5
years before sharing otter info with us (the royal “us”). If you have otter info,
or stories or whatever, the VSR won’t do background checks or whatever on you,
there will be no questions asked Will
we make fun of you? Certainly, but that’s to be expected. Anyway) Can’t thank
Elaine enough for the tip. 5 years later and it's still hot!
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| talk about spraintsville some of the 160 scats around the den opening - top lefft |
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| the good stuff |
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| mink belly slides |
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| mink tracks with snow fleas |
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| first fish. and my toes photo by carol gentalen |
Leify and I are in Florida at the moment, where lego otters rule snf leif caught his first phish! Looking forward to making it back for another storm! save some snow for us!
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| lego otters photo by carol gentalen |
