Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings
Report
September 22nd or so
Brought to you with the kind support
of the nice folks over at the Vinalhaven Land Trust and Maine Coast Heritage
Trust.
‘Fall is Fun!’
Highlights – Raptors, songbirds,
white-sided dolphins, harbor porpoise, shorebirds, some mushrooms,
business
Business:
rock fern, common polypody
Contact us - feel free to contact us with
“questions, queries, queasts” about anything nature or naturally feeling. Good
way to share, and an even better way to make friends. At least 10 people have
become friends directly related to the VSR . vinalhavensightings@gmail.com
.
Tiit Trick – click on the photos and they
magically will fill your screen. Great way to avoid reading whatever is being
typed here!
atlantic white sided dolphin
photo by John Drury
Sightings! – John Drury sent in this photo of an Atlantic White-sided Dolphin that is trying its hardest to leap
over Seal Island! Spotted on ‘this
side’ of Seal, about as close as John has ever seen dolphins to Vinalhaven.
slug attack on chrome footed
bolete
Tom and Patience Chamberlin sent in some recent lists from sessions at Lane’s, Fox Rocks
and the Reach. Great stuff – check ‘em out!
Lane’s Island
Sep 20, 2020 - 20 peep sp. –
Migrating, 1 Black Guillemot, 1 Common Loon, 2 Turkey Vulture, 2 Northern
Harrier, 17 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1 Cooper's Hawk, 3 Bald Eagle, 2 Broad-winged
Hawk, 2 Northern Flicker, 4 American Kestrel, 4 Merlin, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 1
Eastern Phoebe, 2 Common Raven, 2 Gray Catbird, 1 American Goldfinch, 1
White-throated Sparrow, 4 Song Sparrow, loads of Yellow-rumped Warbler --
Constantly present. Impossible to count accurately.
The story of this day on lane’s might
have been the 2 Broad-winged Hawks. John reports a Broad-winged on
Greens every few years or so, but I’ve never seen nor heard of a Broad winged
sighting on Lane’s. Sounds like a great picnic!
broad winged hawk
The Reach -Juvy Northern harrier
juvenile 9/17. 2 Great Horned owls
called on Green’s.
2 Broad-wingeds at 31 Reach Road, one perched on
boathouse.
red eyed vireo
Fox Rocks (9/18) in that cloudy
chilly north breeze. 2 osprey, 6 sharp shinned, 3 B eagles, 1 Am . Kestrel, 1
Peregrine Falcon. 2 C yellowthroats, 1 Magnolia W, 1 Chestnut sided, and lots
of yellow-rumps.
John has also witnessed some active
songbird migration as of late. Here’s his official report from Greens
its all habitat
Northern Parula, Redstart, Yellowthroat,
Red eyed vireo, Philadelphia vireo, Palmer, yellow, Magnolia, Wilsons, black
and white, black and green,black and blue, blackpoll, blackburnian, tenesee, &myrtle
warblers. golden crowned kinglet, red breasted nuthatch, olive backed thrush,
pewee, purple finch, RC kinglet, yellow-billed cuckoo, solitary vireo
John is quick
to point out the multiple Philadelphia
Vireos that showed up in his zone on Greens,
not a regular occurrence at all. Very cool! And all those warblers…..yummy!
Non song birds - Coopers hawk,
kestrel, merlin, harrier, Boston Condor, osprey, eagle, lesser yellow legs,
semipalmated plover,
otters et. others highway
Polly Cove – Eleanor Campbell preserve –Been having some nice walks with Linnell Mather on some VLT properties. All walks are nice with Linnell. This one was particularly nice as well ‘discovered’ an epic river otter trail across the preserve and connecting carver’s cove with the bathing pool.
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| moss killed, skunk cabbage not |
 |
| sign of a lot of activity |
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| And a lot of spraint |
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| the beach is always nice at polly cove |
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| banded cort |
Nice mushrooms at Polly Cove as well. Banded Cort (Cortinarius armilatus)
red belted conk on birch
Tawny Grissette
purplish bloom russula
Zeke’s point is no stranger to otter sign and sightings with reports from the early 2000s, when a lot of folks still had doubts about River Otters on island.
Basin – took
these photos during the basin clean up – calm and wonderful, great crew
(thanks!) and good fun.
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| can you see the pickles? |
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| sea pickles |
The bright red Sea Pickles of the Kintner
Marsh section of the Basin were conveniently located close to, and still
can be viewed from, the roadside pullouts before the Basin Bridge.
Sea pickles (also called
glasswort, samphire, saltwort, or, picklegrass) are Salicornia sp. of the amaranth family
(Amaranthaceae). They are halophytes - plants adapted to salty
conditions and are decent at playing Halo – and have adapted by becoming
succulents through the process of succulation
- Having thick, fleshy, water-storing leaves or
stems.
kintner marsh sea lavender patch
Sea
pickles may be found on fancy restaurant menus, usually as 'sea beans'
or samphire greens or sea asparagus. They are the salty vegetable
that makes your mouth twist. Yes, they are that good.
To French
speakers in Atlantic Canada, they are known, colloquially, as "titines de souris" (mouse tits). Just
another reason I am glad the border is closed
Also in the marsh that day 3
Greater Yellowlegs, Turkey Vulture and lots of Sea Lavender. Cool day.
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| bunch of vultures |
Crockett Cove Road – a dozen Turkey Vultures circled over a far off,
waterside field the other day. Here’s 8 vultures in a photo.
Shorebirds …. Foggy at state
beach when I finally got to visit the other day! Semi-palmated plovers were kind enough to hang close. Other than
that it was shorebirds in the midst.
Lane’s – great shorebird tracks on Lane’s
beach the other morning.
Ferry Rides –
Did my first walk on ferry rides in forever, fun to be outside again. There’s
like a whole ocean out there. Anyway, foggy one morning ride…
guillemot snorkling
…and pretty windy on my second walk
on….but the common connector between the two trips were the harbor porpoise.
Plenty of them and nice to see them as well!
leif hand with peeper
Some with Leif,
Some with the animals.
get outside! its good for you!
see you out there!
