Vinalhaven Sightings: July 2019

Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report – July 17 2019

Highlights: Luna moths, Mushrooms, Slime molds, Butterflies including American snout, Tropicbird, Swainson’s thrushes, Northern Mockingbird, long-tailed jaeger, dragonflies, and “the return of the son of the slime mold clicker!”. And so much more!

Rose Bee
photo by Banner Moffat

Photo Gallery - We’ll start with a series of photos sent in by Banner Moffat. Thanks for sharing some of the beautiful captures from around island! You can too! For more information about sharing see below!

Cones
photo by Banner Moffat

gull scat
photo by Banner Moffat

tidepool shape
photo by Banner Moffat

Business: contact us! vinalhavensightings@gmail.com . It feels good to share! So go look and then tell us about what you see!

Tiit trick – click on the photos to jumbo-size them. Have fun!

Big Thanks! - Before we go any further – thanks to all those who have shared in this post and others, before and in the future. Pre-emptive thanks! And thanks to those who read these posts. Or just look at the photos. We like all of yous.

found on the 4th of July

On the water with Skua…. And Captain John Drury! John has been out and tallying up the sightings, most recently of a Long-tailed Jaeger in the Bay! The “birders guide to Maine” shows long –taileds as the rarest of the three Jaegers, with LTs being considered “rare” (1-4 present in the state from July to September)! Red-billed Tropicbird too!

Click the link and check out John’s blog – “sightings from skua” – for photos and more! Then sign up for a trip aboard the “Skua” and let the good times roll! Thanks for sharing John! - http://sightingsfromskua.blogspot.com/

yellow warbler nest

Sightings – Yellow Warbler update – when we last left – many days ago – I had reported a Yellow Warbler nest on Lane’s island that faced a perpendicular nesting challenge. One that I was happy to (horizontally) help out with. With two in the nest, I found one youngster flopping around on the ground like a soccer player (bad sportsmanship!). Anyway – that was the previous post….go back and take a look if you don’t believe me! I dare you!

yellow warbler youngster

..I returned about 7 days later - July 1^st - to see how they were doing and was happy to see all three youngsters healthy and perky. Or maybe scared of me. Whatever the case, the report is that at the time of the visit they were still in the game. What ‘s happened the two weeks since and how they fared since leaving the nest is anyone else’s guess!

yellow warbler youngster

paired Luna Moths
photo by Diane Lee

Luna Moths – Word on the streets, down the pipeline and through the grapevine is that Luna Moths are having a good year. Or maybe it’s that more people are seeing them, getting excited and then sharing their sighting with others. This is an on island/off island phenom and its cool how a large, green moth with 4 fake eyes can cause such a stir!

another Luna Moth angle
photo by Diane Lee

Luna Moths
photo By Diane Lee

And if one is a great sighting, how about two! Diane Lee was kind enough to send in these photos of a pair of Luna Moths, well, engaging in some tasteful coitis! This tender moment – or several hours’ worth of tender moments from what I have read – took place in the Booths Quarry area. The next generation of Giant Silk Moths created quarry-side. And why not? It’s beautiful habitat and Luna Moths don’t have mouths as adults – so it’s all about the mating! Nice photos and nice sighting! Thanks for sharing Diane!

coral slime - honeycomb version

Rainy weather – What a June, huh? The last time I remember it raining 40 days in June was 2009. And you don’t need me to remind you all how that turned out (but I will anyway). The mid-year season of 2009 will go down (in my mind!) as the official “summer of slime mold”. That summer we had to turn the official to the official “slime mold clicker” to keep things organized and obtain exact counts of slime mold patches per walk.

coral slime - tubular form

chocolate tube slime

It started that summer with a 1 mile Basin Hike that young Angus (who didn’t want to be there!) attended. A strong pace was set that day - 49 slimes patches clicked – easily the biggest slime mold day I “had” ever “had” up to that point. A few weeks later, on a visit to MCHT’s Frenchboro preserve over 475 slime patches were clicked along (maybe) 4 miles of trail? A legendary hike for sure, and a “personal best” that I may be most proud of.

wolfs milk slime

In the years since and prior (we’ll call them normal years) a walk with 20 patches of slime mold would probably be considered a really good day. Needless to say, the clicker has been hanging and waiting ever since 2009. In five different houses granted, so it was taken down to move. But this July it was taken down in earnest….

wolfs milk slime

here's a tricky one - haven't found it
in my guides. starts yellow..

Yes, everyone here at the VSR is proud to announce “the return of the son of the summer of slime (2019)!” That also means (and really ‘twas never far behind) - “the return of the son of the slime mold clicker!”.

and then transitions to brownish

what looks green is actually the yellow
fading away

After counting 10 slimes on one late June walk at Huber, the clicker was brought along on visits to the Basin Platform trail July 8 and early July 9^th. The total coverage for the days was about 3 hours on 1.25 miles of trail. And with the combined total from the two days the clicker showed “63”. Biggest “day” in years!

to this...

covering cones

bunchberry leaves

I returned to the Dogtown trailhead trail system (7/15) and walked/worked about 1.5 miles of trail . On this particular Monday, I by-passed the platform trail itself (a stretch that happened to turn up 45 slimes on the 8^th) – instead heading to Jim Mack’s pond and the woods on the “top of the platform loop”. It’s where the work was. Over the course of 4 hours the clicker was clicked 213 times! One for every slime patch observed of course. Probably the third highest slime count I’ve ever “had”. (How does one “have” a third highest slime patch count?).

It should be noted that these counts were done “with little to no effort”. In reality, they are a “by-catch” of weedwacking and maintaining trails. The clicker hangs from my neck and I click as I see as I go. Imagine a full day in June, walking all the Basin trails without working on them. I see a day powered with the potential of over a thousand slime patches! With little effort you could break your “personal best slime mold patch count”, (PBSMPC)! (Why does anyone have a PBSMPC?)

Mucilago crustacean - "dog sick slime".
not a fan of that common name

official slime mold patch clicker

Note about clickers - the clicker is a great “tool” for data collecting. I bought this particular clicker when I worked and lived at Pigeon Point Lighthouse in beautiful Pescadero, CA - 2003/2004. It started out as a “loon clicker” and helped keep track of red-throated and pacific loons heading north and past the lighthouse. There were days of over 5000 loons passing. Later it moonlighted as a “shearwater clicker”, but that is another story altogether…

You and I, we if you will, are big fans of slime molds. The Myxomycetes. Are they probably their own kingdom? Do they move as certain times in their life cycle? Do they eat bacteria and fungal spores? Do they have cool names that often reflect food items? Do they completely change their look – shape-shifter style – before going to spore? Are they fun to find with kids? We’ll go with the answer “yes” to all of the above!

red-mouthed bolete - slug chewed

And with all that June rain…..let’s not forget that mushrooms are at it as well! Well, the fungus below is up to it, and the clue of what’s below is the mushroom pushing its way to the surface. Gotta get those spores out!

Let’s start with a little mushroom art …. How about some mushroom slug art

radula scrapes

red-mouthed bolete

chrome footed bolete

And then some of our favorite groups – continuing with the boletes…

love the Tylopilus stipes
T. chromapes has pink scabers

bitter boletes are up
Tylopilus felleus

cobwebby T. felleus stipe

funky red-mouthed bolete
Boletus subvelutipes

red-mouthed bolete cap butt

pores of a red-mouthed bolete

slug art

Amainta ceciliae - Ceciliae Grissette

And while I love boletes, I’m an amanita man! – personal favorite (playing favorites in the woods) clade within the Amanita genus is the Grissettes. Noted for the striate edge of their caps – in line with the gills that release spores, the next generation of Amanitas!

note the striation along the cap margin
and the scales on top of A. ceciliae

Grissette - Amanita vaginata

note the striation, tan-brown coloration

tawny Grissette - Amanita fulva
note the striations

tawny grisettes have always been a favorite

Grissette with slug art

note the striation and connection to gills

slug radula scraping

yellow patches (Amanita flavoconia)

Yellow patches are pushing their way through the soil as well!

northern mockingbird

Rockland Ferry Terminal – The Northern Mockingbird continues its early morning territorial announcements. The ferry workers I talked to all were Mockingbird fans as the chatty bird has been actively singing and doing flight displays and wing fans to show off its impressive white patches. Once the first ferry slides into the docking space the mocker seems to take off. Fun to have around for sure!

Calderwood island grasslands!
with Jane's tree

Some Calderwood island Stuff – got to spend some time on the trails on Calderwood Island around the 4^th. Nice views… island of Swainson's Thrushes!

Aristotle's lantern - urchin mouth parts

…parts of sea urchins as well. I love finding the Aristotle’s lantern, the jaw parts of the urchin. Processing algae takes a sizable jaw!

different view

Plus close-ups of the “tube feet holes” in the test of the an urchin passed prime!

classic raccoon tracks
photo by Bob Harding

Bob Harding, self proclaimed "Seasonal North Haven resident and longtime VH Sightings fan" was kind enough to send in a few photos of Raccoon sign he and his family found on Calderwood Island recently. Thanks for sending and sharing Bob!

classic raccoon scat!
photo by Bob Harding

note the "long snout"

And speaking of butterflies – Armbrust Hill (7/15). Went up to take some dragonfly photos – they will be a little later…got side tracked by this American Snout butterfly. I have only seen them before in southern Texas, but apparently they are known for their mass northern migrations. Kristen Lindquist put the Snout photo in the right places for success, and word from Maine Butterfly guy, Phillip deMaynadier, is that this American Snout is the first Knox county record. So I was congratulated for taking a photo of a butterfly – which seemed kinda silly at first – but then add the fact that I saw it when I ducked behind some shrubs to relieve myself and the chances of this less than a minute path crossing seen infinitesimally small. How many Snouts pass through, never seen simply because the closest observer didn’t have to go to the bathroom. And that is why I carry a camera with me at all times in the woods. In case you were wondering.