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| inner tree |
Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report – November
15th, 2016
Thanks to MCHT and VLT
MUSHROOM PHOTOS THROUGHOUT.
Highlights – Great horned Owls, snow buntings, ducks
such as old taileds & rbmergs, Ring-necked snake, bald eagles, common loon, red-necked &
horned grebes, mushrooms, otter dens, trails and wonderful latrines!, other
stuff – mink dens…
Business – contact us! Gosh darn it, we (the royal “we”) are asking for you to
share your nature sightings and photos! I mean, if you want to. You are welcome to share as much
as you’re comfortable with, but still, it’s great to share…
Tiit Trick – click on photos to make them
jumbo
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| bagged dog poop by the haven |
Sightings – Around the island – White-winged Crossbills heard/seen
Reach Road, Wharf Quarry Road (flock of 15), Folly Pond Road and North Haven
Road recently. Week of 11/7 there were more to be heard.
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| orange jelly |
Red necked grebes and horned grebes at state beach.
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| heck yeah! we love hearing about dead things |
Great Horned Owls – Walt Day stopped to tell me about a wonderful experience he had with a pair of Great Horned Owls in the woods near his house. Two owls hooted back and forth to each other for about 45 minutes. Walt noted that one of the owl's calls were lower than the other, which would be it was a “mixed gender” conversation – females have lower hoot tones (lower hoot tones?) than males. Walt was thrilled, as well he should be. Owls are nothing to take for granted, and we’re excited to hear what Walt finds with a little snoopin’ around under some choice trees on his property.
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| ring necked sanke lookin' at yah. photo by Jim Conlan |
Jim Conlan sent in this Ring-necked snake photo as well as a couple of a (probable) giant silk moth cocoon. neat to see what the sleeping moth looks like. thanks for sharing Jim!
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| giant moth pupae photo by Jim Conlan |
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| recent warm rains have resulted in some nice late shroomage. man do we love shroomage |
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| pupae photo by Jim Conlan |
Ferry Rides – (11/9) – 37 old tailed ducks in Rockland harbor, red breasted mergansers, eiders, loons, Black
Guillemots, Bonaparte’s and Laughing Gull.…(11/14) old tails & bufflehead
in Rockland harbor, Great Cormorant, 10 Red-breasted Merganser.
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| looks like a lot of otter potential over there |
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| otter trails with tails |
Pleasant river (10/25)
every time I pedal past the boondoggle I look over across the “pleasant river”
and drool about the river otter potential on the other side. A few weeks ago I
went over and walked the shoreline there and my dreams came true. It was for
work and with landowner permission!
Pleasant River turns into pleasant mud flat at lower tides,
and the mud told some stories of otter crossings….
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| otters |
I walked the shoreline (opposite from North Haven Road) and
actually the entire property line thru the woods before I finally found a
classic otter latrine under a spruce close to the culvert. Some serious
landscaping had been done there including mound building, clearing and
sprainting as the cherry on top!
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| you can really see the boundary of the otter latrine. the area cleared of leaves is totally done by otters. totally |
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spraint and needles
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| the den was in the roots of this tree |
a quick trail from the latrine to the rocks below turned
up a den (#18 for the year) in the rocks and under a nearby spruce. This one
was easy, but took a long time to get there. Slow and easy….just like the Whitesnake song…
Seal Bay – (10/25)
I came across a series of trails, slides and latrines that led me to a mink den along the
shores of Seal Bay. In a perfect world mink dens would get me as excited otter
dens do. So much for perfect, but they are fun to find and the slides and
trails certainly are cute to follow, whereas otter trails are not cute at all.
Fun at times, cool always, but cute never. Awesome yes. Anyway…
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| mink latrine |
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| mink slide into the water! wheeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!! |
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| spark plug |
Paddle to Calderwood
– Old tailed ducks, Surf scoters, Common
Loons, Bald Eagles, Guillemots…
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| I saw my first Oldtail of the season in the thorofare |
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| shaggy manes. how are they not the state shroom? |
Calderwood Island – 8
Snow Buntings sailing around – favorite part of the day was seeing these
guys fly around the high point of the island.
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| we are fans of the basin falls |
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| a different look at a shaggy mane |
(11/9) Walk
around Basin Falls. On this day I completely circumvented the basin on my bike,
or as completely "circumpedaled" as I could and still have stayed on ‘improved’
roads. The first leg of my adventure took me to wharf Quarry road and the ride
was most pleasurable.
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| this rock wall is key to this story |
Part of my job with MCHT takes me once a year to the
property on the north side of the basin falls. It took me a while that morning
to figure out that was my plan of action, but once I knew I was going there my mind focused on the
shoreline I would be exploring.
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| this amanita muscaria froze or something. looked cold. |
On the ferry…in my head…I predicted I would
find a 20th ‘new’ otter den for me on the old rock pier just outside
and north of the basin falls. Back in the day this would have been a busy pier,
but it’s been a long time and it just seemed perfect (even though I had only
been there once and it had been years ago) for otters.
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| rocky pier. otter den on top! |
Predicting an otter den in old rock pile on vinalhaven? Not too bold a call at all. Otters are easier
after all. The bold/bald (the bold and the bald!!!!!!) part of the prediction
was that it would be my 20th, as I had only found (only) 18 dens up
to that point. I was figuring I was going to find one along the stretch of
shoreline inside the falls and north from there for a stretch. How bold? Not
that bold really. I would say it’s about a 50/50 chance to find a den along any
stretch of shoreline on any property on Vinalhaven. They are either there or
they aren’t. And if they aren’t there must be a more attract place not too far
away. Anyway….
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| otter trail in the fersn |
…once far down wharf quarry road I have to end south into
the woods until I cross paths with an old rock wall. This is my favorite rock
wall on the island probably.
Anyway, from this rock wall it’s pretty much a straight shot
down to the basin shoreline, just cutting across and down a hay-scented fern
field. At the shoreline is where I figured my adventure would begin.
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| tracking rover otters in ferns. what a world |
As things would be, my adventure started about half way down
the fern field when I noticed a worn trail that cut across downed ferns, but
went under ferns that were still standing, less than a foot off the ground. Too
wide to be a mink (svelte), the trail looked to have been made by a raccoon or
an otter. So I followed it to a beautiful latrine by the shore (very dreamy)
and then took about 5 more steps and found the entrance to den #19. It was
destiny. And way too easy.
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| waterfront den entrance. not bad |
I followed the path back up the hill thinking it might be a trail across property – kind of a short cut to avoid having to go by the basin falls. Up, up and up the tracking took me until I was face to face with acres and acres of huckleberry. If the otter went thru that stuff I was not about to follow. Too much work! Not enough time!
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| on the way the otter went under this log |
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| this is an otter trail going up a small incline |
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| another orange jelly shot! |
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| spraint. |
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| can you see the water from here? otter latrine with spraints, moss scratches and mounds. with a view! |
But it didn’t cut through that huckleberry world, instead it
veered through some rocks to a spot where I couldn’t get much of a feel for the
trail. I climbed up to a high rock to see if I could get an overview, but when
I got to the top I learned I wasn’t the first visitor to the mossy rock. It was
an otter latrine!
Hot fat that was cool. The otter(s) went all the way up there
just to “lay some spraint”. I found
the entire thing very inspirational. Very satisfying movements I would think.
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| mink den entrance and latrine. |
Back at the shoreline I found a nice mink den as I
approached the falls from inside the Basin. Cool leaning tree with a view!
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| nice latrine outside an entrance to the den |
I worked my way towards the stone pier, serenaded by Old tailed Ducks and White-winged
Crossbills, climbed up, over and onto the pier (I will assume access was
easier back in the day!) and within seconds found otter trails criss-crossing
the underworld below the spruce. Within minutes (conservative guess) I was on
top of den #20, and I raised my coffee mug up in a salute to all the dens I had
found as well as the ones that I had walked by.
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| den #20. |
The whole experience left me with a smile on my face, like
calling the entire second set at MSG (9/18/88). It was fun, but all in all
not too surprising. They were both are straight forward and somewhat easy. But as you all should know by now, otters are easier….
Basin - (11/14) - More White-winged Crossbills on the ride in, access via Folly Pond Road. 7 Bald Eagles at Folly Pond, 5 different ages were represented. that is always cool to see.
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| folly pond looked like this on the 14th |
As I walked along the Basin shoreline I made sure I checked by any freshwater streams, criks, or drips for otter sign. Spots where the fresh water meets the salt water are perfect places for latrines - otters exploring an area might be interested in following streams in hopes to find a pond or other areas for feeding. Anyway, in my experience these are good spots to check...
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| latrine and brown out |
I only crossed one such spot, just below High Mountain and found a latrine and trail almost immediately. the trail was classic, heading up and away from the latrine and the basin. I followed for a bit and realized it was heading up to Otter Pond, which makes sense it being made by otters and all that.
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| otter trail heading up from the latrine |
So that would mean that this trail is another land crossing from the Basin to Vinal Cove, via Otter and Folly Pond.
Why would we (the royal "we") say this? Because that's the way they go, or at least one of the ways they go, from the Basin to Vinal Cove. These are the ancient, sacred trails used by otters for generations (like 4 or 5 maybe?) that connect the east and the west coasts of the island. Both coasts might not always get along, but through otters just about everybody on island is connected. Deep spraint. in at least a few ways....very cool to find
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| flicker tail feather |
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| that white dot in the intersection between me and the yellow arrow is a black capped chickadee. seemed weird |
Random shots
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| recently the moon was as close to the seaweed factory as it will be for like 50 years or something. special times |
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| good low tides, palmer is not bending at the knees |
and of course there is Leif...
...love that kid
have yourself a wonderful thanksgiving everybody. I for one am looking forward to reflecting on the good things. gagillions of beautiful things happen everyday, enjoy some. see you out there!!!!!!!
