Vinalhaven Sightings: August 2018

Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report- August 29^th 2018

Brought to you, in part , with the kind support of VLT, MCHT and U

Miss you Dad (2/5/40 - 8/31/12)

Highlights – South Polar Skua, Great and Snowy Egret, Shorebirds, Great Horned Owl youngsters, Slime mold over time, mushrooms, foggy pictures….

Business: contact us – send your photos and sightings to vinalhavensightings@gmail.com . Take your time, get your stuff together and send those sightings in! Everyone loves to hear what you have been seeing! Sharing is fun!

Tiit trick – click the photos to make jumbo sized.

south polar skua
photo by John Drury

Sightings – John Drury sent in these photos of a South Polar Skua he took out “in the bay” (8/16). South Polar Skua are the big cousin of Jaegers and Gulls and are even bigger bullies! South Polar Skua breed way south. In fact, they breed as far south as you can go - Antarctica! SPSkua are considered “uncommon” for Maine during the summer months (Pierson, Pierson, Vickery), with sightings mostly coming from further off shore – like a lot further. 25 miles or so off shore from the Whale watch I worked on ’04 and ’05. Incredible sighting.

south polar skua
photo by John Drury

Don’t forget to visit John’s blog “Sightings from Skua” for more recent posts and photos.

At – http://sightingsfromskua.blogspot.com/

snowy egret
photo by Rick Morgan

State Beach – Snowy Egret. Rick Morgan sent in this photo of a Snowy egret that has been spending time in the State Beach area. Rick has seen it on at least two occasions and it was also seen (8/23) before the bird walk out there. Snowy Egrets are an uncommon, yearly (or close to yearly) visitor to the island. Commonly seen the mainland – Westkeag and the Marsh in Tenants Harbor - just another in the ever growing group of birds we call

“(somewhat) common on the mainland and no good reason there aren’t more frequent on Vinalhaven”. Thanks for sharing Rick!

broad-winged hawk
photo by Rick Morgan

Rick also sent in a few other shots from around island – Broad winged Hawk – check out my column on Broad winged Hawks – “Another Roadside Attraction : Broad-winged Hawks” at the St George Dragon online –

http://stgeorgedragon.com/another-roadside-attraction-broad-winged-hawks/

common terns - adult and juvenile
photo by Rick Morgan

Here’s a few more from Rick!

mosaic darner dragonfly laying eggs
photo by Rick Morgan

state beach shorebird mudflats

Bird walk – (8/23) State Beach – Great Egret, Semi-palmated & Black-bellied Plover, Semi-palmated and Least Sandpiper, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper, Red-necked Grebe, Common Eider, Double-crested Cormorants, Song Sparrow, Common Yellowthroat, Great Blue Heron, Crows, Osprey, Cedar Waxwing, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Golden-crowned Kinglet.

least sandpiper

This was a great bird walk. Welcome back Red-necked Grebe!

semi-palmated sandpiper

day 1 - that is the first day I crossed paths with this slime mold
see the acorny thing towards the top of the slime.
that's the landmark we are using here

Seal Bay – scouting some properties I have come across some good stuff in these woods, which comes as no surprise. Especially with some rainy days, 4 kingdoms were going strong out there – I am one of those who believe that slime molds are their own kingdom/universe. Call it a bald man hunch. Makes sense to me. Anyway.

Bryce canyon is my favorite national park
this slime, on "day 1" reminded me of that great
park

Scrambled Egg Slime – repeat visits and passing this scrambled egg slime mold over the course of three weeks was a treat. Day 1 I called it the “Bryce Canyon” of slime molds. I took photos from above and from beside. The brightness of the yellow of the slime mold was particularly striking this day, and a darkish, acorny round thing stood out as the slime mold approached it from below.

view from above - note the acorny thing

week later and here's what we found

Visit two – a week later – and the slime moved completely beyond where it had covered the stump in the earlier photos. The round acorny darkish thing is now below (“is now below”) as the slime moved as high onto the stump as it could to release spores. Bright yellow with a dark undercurrent the slime is going to spore, drying up and getting ready to disperse.

from above - note the slime moved up from the acorny thing
week later

Visit three – another week has passed and the slime could easily be passed as part of the stump. Crispy and flakey – like a good friend – this scrambled egg slime mold session appears to have come to a close. I will return and check out the scene, and will report any further developments.

yet, another week later and the slime
looked like this

there's the acorny thing, below the slime that has gone to spore

On Another visit I was welcomed by the begging and demanding whistles of a pair of Great Horned Owl fledglings. Late summer youngsters that left the nest in May, hatched in March apparently look like adults but act like teenagers! Well, not really. Except that they were making loud begging sounds. They tolerated my presence rather than took an interest in it. Almost like they hadn’t seen many people before, or any at all. This was cool.

Family of Red crossbills still seen/heard on most visits.

lots of brown creepers these days.
here's one blending in with bark and lichen

Mixed Species Flocks – plenty of them around – well two on the property – but they provided tons of entertainment none the less.(8/15) – flycatchin’ Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Parula…also Hermit thrush, Cedar Waxwing (plucking an orbweaver spider from its web)…

brown creeper

(8/22) Black-throated Green Warbler, Brown Creeper, Black-capped chickadee, Hairy Woodpecker , Golden-crowned Kinglet, – we love the mixed species flocks!...Pileated Woodpecker

destroying angel scream

Fungus seen – Destroying angel, Bleeding tooth, Hedgehog Mushroom, Emetic Russula, Butter Bolete, Salmon-unicorn Entoloma, Blusher, King Bolete, Red-mouthed Bolete, orange-gilled waxycap, chantrelle waxycap, “Hygrophorus unguinosus”, dye-makers polypore.

orange gilled waxycap

Hygrophorus unguinosus

chantrelle waxy cap

King Bolete - slugged!

baby dye-makers polypore

sea lavender submerged

sea lavendar

Plant stuff – sea lavender, sea pickle, lesser rattlesnake plantain (orchid).

lesser rattlesnake plantain basal leaves

lesser rattlesnake plantain

silverweed
photo by Beth Guilford

Pocus Point – Beth Guilford was kind enough to send in this photo of Silverweed (Argentina anserine). Sweet plant in the Cinquefoil family that lives on the coast (literally). Thanks Beth!

Monarchs – Many readers will recall a summer or two, maybe 5 or so years ago where there were basically no Monarch butterflies to be seen. If I remember correct (big “if”) one summer/fall I saw zero Monarchs and then the following summer maybe 3 or so. Well, in 2018 it feels like we come “full circle” or something because not a day goes by without seeing “a bunch to many” pass by. A quick walk at Lane’s recently resulted in about a dozen sightings, with all heading south. Is it that time already?

And sightings of Monarch caterpillars is off the charts (at least as far as the mainland goes). Here are some photos I took with Leif at the St George Library – Jefferson Memorial to be exact.