Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report
February 15, 2018
Thanks to MCHT and VLT for supporting the sharing of
nature observations!
Highlights – Varied Thrush!, Snowy
Owl, Rough-legged Hawk, Northern Goshawk, Red Crossbill, Long-eared Owl
pellets, and yes, more otter shots!
Business – Contact us! Send in your photos and
sightings to vinalhavensightings@gmail.com
to share your “stuff” (stuff being observations). Sharing is a good thing!
Tiit Trick – click on photos to
enlarge. Miss you dad!
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| varied thrush photo by Jim Conlan |
Sightings - Varied Thrush –
for the second time in VSR history photos of a Varied Thrush visiting
Vinalhaven have been sent in by someone named Jim. This time the shots were sent in by Jim Conlan as the Varied Thrush spent some extended time in his
(and Colleen’s) neck of the woods.
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| raccoons are fat, alive and well up long cove way |
Look at a Varied Thrush range map (I dare
you!) and you’ll find that these little beauties (judgment) who happen to be
cousins of American Robins – not another Turdus, more of a second cousin thrice
removed (not sure what that means at all) – are predominately a West Coast
species. Varied Thrushes overwinter from coastal California thru much of
Washington State, and breed all the way through Alaska. In my experience
Varieds are the thrush of Alaska (take that Grey-cheeked!) and are one of the
few bird songs I can sing – it’s a hum and a whistle at the same time. Quite
lovely actually.
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| warmer days mean winter jelly mushrooms like orange jelly |
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| and Tree Ears! |
It’s cool and great that another
Varied Thrush has been spotted on Vinalhaven, and even cooler that the Conlans
ID’d it and realized that this individual had come a long way – Northwest
Territories maybe even! Thanks for sharing Jim and Colleen, this is an awesome
sighting!
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| a red red crossbill. not the best shot, but crossing bill is clearing seen |
“Otter pictures are nice, but how about some Crossbill shots” – this comment sent in from an anonymous,
poetic birdwatcher got me thinking – how come I don’t get Crossbill shots very
often? Is it because they are often quiet and inconspicuous until they are
about to fly? Or is it because they make the most noise while they are in
flight, and thus are 6 inches of undulating movement and tricky to get photos
of? Or is it because this combination of Crossbill behaviors often results in
crossbill hang out sessions less than 5 seconds before they take off?
Barely time
to find and “slap some glass” (use binoculars) on them, much less get the
camera focused and snapping shots. It ends up the answer is because I never
really try to get photos of them. If I have a 4 session day with Crossbills that
often means about 15-20 seconds total with them over the course of a full day. Or
is it because I am working when I hear them and often don’t try to get photos? Probably
doesn’t help in the frequency I get crossbill photos!
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| interesting thing about this guy was his pulling at what appeared to be a cocoon of some sorts. |
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| the interesting this is that they don't really eat insects much. could this pulling be part of gathering nesting materials? |
Upon this request for Crossbill shots
(one of the finest requests I have fielded) I kept the camera handy while in
the Basin recently and timed my lunch perfectly with the lunch of a Red
Crossbill as I was able to snap a few shots before the dude took off.
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| this is ice made out of ice bubbles |
Crossbills come in two flavors – Red and White-winged. White-winged
males are red, so body coloration isn’t the best route to identification
between the two species. White-wingeds have white wings, and reds don’t. This
is a good, quick and easy way to tell the species apart if you see the wings. In
flight the white on the wings shows up clear, like a pine siskins wing.
Crossbills are finches and thus fly in an undulating – flap, flap, glide, flap,
flap glide – sort of pattern (number of flaps in between glides is up to the
Crossbill!). As with all finches, both genders will sing their “breeding season
songs” as opposed to most songbirds where only the male sings.
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| this is a family of ice made of ice bubbles |
All that is fine and good, but let’s
face it – the coolest things about Crossbills are their bills and the lifestyle
that allows them to have. The bills of both Crossbill species do not line up
when the bill is closed, resulting in the “crossing of the bills”. This is an
adaptation to get into conifer cones and gain access to the tasty (level of
tastiness cannot be confirmed) seeds within. A crossbill will jam (or place)
its bill between scales of a cone and then close their bill, once again
resulting in the bill becoming crossed. The crossing acts to pry scales apart
and then the bird will use its sticky tongue (level of tongue stickiness
somewhat confirmed) to pull out the seed (treasure) found within. This relatively
easy access to seeds allows crossbills feed offspring and raise young no matter
what time of the year as long as there are enough cones around, even in the
middle of winter. I took videos of a red crossbill feeding fledging youngster on
Vinalhaven in April several years ago. This means that courtship and mating
probably started in February during a huge snow year. As long as there are cones,
it’s warm enough for love in the Crossbill world (anthropomorphism).
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| this is a female red crossbill |
And then in Tenants Harbor I had my
camera handy and snapped some more shots of some Red Crossbill here on the mainland. Maybe it’s just timing, or that
I was trying to get photos, but the relatively longer sessions with lots of
calling….i don’t know….maybe it means something about what Red Crossbills are
up to. Probably timing and trying.
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| frozen cascasdes |
Northern Goshawk – while working up Long Cove way I (inadvertently) blocked a Goshawk
from its approach on a group of Chickadees it was hunting. The goshawk was
working its way through the spruce forest on its approach to a mixed species songbird
flock that was near me and had no clue of the sneak attack that was about to
happen. Unfortunately at the last second the Goshawk pulled up as it saw me
munching on a sandwich and it bailed back through the woods and was not spotted
(by me) again. The songbirds had no idea of the relatively huge predator or the
situation, and I felt bad for a moment – I would have loved to have shared some
lunch time with a goshawk!
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| close up of frozen cascades |
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| somewhat old, slightly algaed long-eared owl pellet |
An evening trip to Lane’s (2/6) was
pretty cold, but a little exploration turned up a Long-eared Owl pellet directly
under the same perch where I saw one on Lane’s 11 years ago. Creatures of habit!
Good chance it was not the same owl – good perch I guess!
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| otter latrine on a hump in the basin |
Mainland – otter neighbors – so I had
yet another session with Larry the otter on the ice since the last VSR post. He
kept coming onto the ice to stretch and itch – doing some fur maintenance in
between dives of a minute or so – catching fish under the ice!
There you have it, a little shorter
and sweeter than the last few (dozen) VSRs!
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| little scratchin' |
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| leif with a list of places where you can find gentalen writing and photos |
Enjoy the silence and we’ll see you
out there!
