Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report
December 9 2020
Thanks to the Vinalhaven Land Trust and Maine Coast Heritage Trust
Happy 12th Birthday to Leif! Few days back at this point, but
the way he celebrates it’s a weeklong kind of thing!
Monolith fatigue is a real thing. Symptoms started with the first one,
like thinking – ‘this is really stupid’.
Highlights – Winter moth, dead stuff on trails, winter finches – evening grosbeak.
PSAs – COVID Alert – And so……
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| my newest shirt |
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| slipper shell |
Keep up with the changes and alerts
by following/checking in with the Town of Vinalhaven website - https://www.townofvinalhaven.org/home/covid-19-1
And the chamber of commerce site as
well - https://www.vinalhaven.org/
And of course, you can do your part
in stopping/controlling/limiting the spread simply by wearing a mask, practicing social distancing, and washing your hands. Have
you heard about these three things? It’s been the same freakin’ broken record
of a message since March.
Winter Moth – Remember these b*stards? Or when they were the biggest thing to worry about? Okay – maybe they were never the biggest thing – but it’s become a Thanksgiving time tradition to look for evening flights of these buggers as they attempt to spread their deciduous munching populations through the mixed wood sections of Vinalhaven and coastal Maine. I did not hear of any significant winter moth flights from island this year– maybe the parasitic flies are working!
Here in St
George there was a notable winter moth
presence in my neighborhood on the nights of Nov 27-29. Over the past few years there has been a noticeable
similarity between moths on the mainland and on island – they almost always fly
the same nights. So maybe not getting reports is a sign that the moths are
decreasing on island. Maybe it’s a sign that people were hunkered down and
doing the right thing covid wise. Did you see any winter moths in late
November?
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| cattail ice |
Tiit Trick –
click on the photos to jumbo size them – have the photos take up your world!
Click ‘em – I dare yah!
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| brown tailed moth webs |
Sightings – Dead Flicker – clipping Brown Tailed Moth (more b*stards) webs
from along Lane’s Island Trails was very satisfying – maybe clipped a hundred
or so. It was also eye opening – lots to do this winter. Anyway – that is another story.
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| thin line between heart .... |
The story of the visit was kill site
in the trail. Patches of feathers, mostly brown with dots littered the trail
that crosses the island from the beach to the sunset bench. My first thought
was of pheasant – re-introduced last year and numerous around island. I’ve been
finding plenty of pheasant sign on Lane’s and folk have been reporting them
from all over the island. Anyway,
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| and butt |
That thought when out the window when I took a closer look. Even the smallest of the feathers had a yellow shaft – sure sign of the Yellow-shafted, or Northern Flicker, aka Yellow Hammer. State bird of Alabama – and the only woodpecker to be a state bird. Flickers have a lot going for them.
Another fun fact is that they die a lot. I mean, each individual Flicker only dies once, but as a species it is not uncommon to find flicker carcasses and remains around island and other places I’ve lived.
At least two different houses on Vinalhaven seem to entice Flickers into
making their way inside, only to have it be a death trap. It was a regular
enough occurrence at one house – maybe 3 times? – that John Drury and I used to
refer to said abode as ‘the dead Flicker house’. How’s that for a land mark?
John talks of days on Seal Island where Peregrine Falcons are lined up a top
the eastern cliffs, waiting patiently until a migrating Flicker is in sight. It
is then that the Peregrines race out over the water, hoping to be the one who
gets to the Flicker first, the one who gets the meal.
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| check out that yellow shaft |
For me, when it comes to dead
Flickers I am more likely to find something like the collection of feathers on
Lane’s. Although they are woodpeckers, Northern Flickers seldom use their bill
to find food in trees. Their bills are slightly curved, which apparently makes
them ‘weaker’ than other woodpecker bills. This may be why Flickers often
choose well decaying trees to make their nest cavities in – a little easier on
the bill as they say.
And so, in turn, Flickers have
adapted by finding food on the ground. Especially ants – of which it is said
that Flickers eat ‘more ants than any other bird in North America’. Which
places Flickers on the ground – they are the large bird with the white patch
near the base of their tails that fly off with sparrows and juncos as your car
putt-putts by. Spending time on the ground means flickers are vulnerable to cat
and surprise attacks in general. This was no cat attack though.
Still, only a theory. I remain open to other options as well.
Beautiful feathers either way. Thanks
Flicker!
Basin – otter latrine with recent spraint.
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| recent white winged crossbill action |
White-winged
Crossbills, Pine Grosbeak,
Saw-whet owl scat
Nice to see irregular earth tongue (Neolecta irregularis)
And then not totally sure what to make of this find. - Dead thing on the side of the trail, under some ferns.
Felt bigger than a red squirrel-
which is a bummer. Red Squirrels are by far
my favorite mammal to find dead, That always puts little bounce in step. Maybe
a small raccoon? The head was gone –
story of my life – and much of the fur was too. Large back legs may mean
Snowshoe Hare. Pretty dry and somewhat mummified.
Identification wasn’t the focus; instead
the claws demanded attention and were so cool to check out.
What do you think it is? Dead is an
acceptable answer.
3 mushrooms – amongst many – to look for when taking advantage of the
open space on Vinalhaven, as of late. These are mushroom growing off wood,
being it branches, twigs or the truck of a tree. These three
Orange Mock Oyster – (Phyllotopsis nidulans) – hot, late fall –winter mushroom. Tend
to see it on birches, especially up Fox Rock way, but have seen on all
preserves at one time or another.
Flip over the log they are growing on
for some cool under world views. The gills are cool
Crimped Gill (Plicaturopsis crispa) – Schizophyllum family (Schizophyllaceae) along with
the Split Gill! One of our favorites.
another hot one , small and shell-like,
I’ve seen maybe 7 patches of Crimped Gill in the last week, I think I had
noticed maybe 7 patches before in my life. Good year for Crimped Gills!? Maybe.
At least it is for me!
Here’s a good quote from the Audubon Field Guide, Gary Lincolff, 1981 –
‘The
Crimped Gill is quite common in some years and absent in others’.
Look for these on small deciduous
branches. Birches along the coast for me.
And, Crowded Parchment – (Stereum complicatum), Family Stereaceae (that
is 6 ‘e’s and 2 ‘a’s in that 10 letter word). Parchment Fungus Family
Parchments, such as the Crowded and
False Turkey Tail, look like polypores
but have ‘smooth undercarriages’ rather than tubes and pores when the spore
releasing features are examined.
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| crowded parchment with tree ear |
Spice is nice –
A photo gallery of otter spraint with ice = sprice. Frosty mornings at the
beaver dam by my house in St George. They are not too bad on the eyes.
Hearsay –
let’s just say a little bird on a skateboard told me that Evening Grosbeaks were spotted recently on at least one Round the Mountain Road. The ‘Mountain’
being Ambrust Hill. Anyway – that’s the way rumors spread. Confirmed rumors I
mean. Word o’ mouth.
And with that we are going to wrap this up. More
to come soon enough.
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| Leif, Evie and Lily stalking a porcupine |
Leif on some of his recent adventures.
See you out there!
