Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report
January 30, 2022
Happy Birthday Grandma!
Highlights – Northern Harrier, Ice, tracking including otter stuff,
belted kingfisher, golden-crowned kinglets, other stuff…
Business – contact us! – vinalhavensightings@gmail.com – easy-peasy! Send in your photos,
stories, questions and queries. Sharing is good, even if your heart tells you otherwise.
Tiit Trick –
click those photos to jumbo-size them! Fill up your screen with otter slides!
Go ahead! We’ll wait for you!
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| mink tracks |
Tracking walk Update – well, in case you couldn’t figure it out, yesterday morning’s tracking
walk was postponed until next Saturday –
Feb 5! My dad’s birthday no less (miss you Dad). This is the second
postponement due to weather, and the 5th is the ‘last chance’ type
of thing. SOOOOOO – we’ll you see next Saturday!
Sightings – Cay Kendrick spotted a Northern Harrier at the ball ground
recently. Seems like a good winter for raptors and predators around. Lots of
vole activity around. These are the best of times.
Belted Kingfisher(s) – a least one male Belted Kingfisher is hanging around so far this
winter. I have seen on each trip in January at the basin bridge, old harbor bridge and the ferry terminal. Seems like
it could be one, but it also could be more than one. Like two or three even!
What a world, I know…..
Not the first winter one/some
Kingfishers have hung on as long as he/they could. Is it a case of ‘first one
back is first one to breed’? If life were only so organized. Anyway, we’ll keep
watching to see if it sticks.
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| otter tracks photo by Miles Ditzler |
Otter stuff – Miles Ditzler was kind enough to send
in these photos of otter sign he, Oakley
Jackson and Sam Rosen came across on Greens
Island last Wednesday. Belly slides and trails that led to a ‘new’ den (new
for human knowledge as far as I know).
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| otter den photo by Miles Ditzler |
From the amount of tracks and
activity it looks like multiple otters in
this group. Thanks to Miles for sending in the photos.
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| otter belly slides photo by Miles Ditzler |
Excellent work gentlemen! Snow is a fantastic medium to find otter dens and latrines.
Look for the slides! Follow those
trails, take those photos, and share those photos!
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| Lairey's Island Otter Activity |
And Speaking of otters - I was on the 7am
ferry out of Rockland Thursday (1/27) and was able to track some otter
activity along the ferry route. The otter latrine on Lairey’s Island showed sign of lots of activity with belly slides
and what looked like spraint – could not get the captain to pull up for a
closer view. No trails led to the historic den in the vicinity.
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| Norton's Point Otter Activity |
Greens island –
two sections of shoreline of otter
slides (both new to me) could be seen from the ferry this day. Photos of
neither spot turned out good, which doesn’t matter at all. More important – two
new places to look as the ferry passes through great otter habitat! Not where
Ditzler took his photos.
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| Norton's Point Otter Activity notice belly slides on the right |
The otter spots on greens that I could see from the ferry did not show sign of multiple otters, but rather one. Could it be the legendary Rex from years past? Fair chance.
Norton Point –
the classic otter latrine below the ol’ ‘Worst
Ever’ foundation (now with a lovely dwelling on top!) was showing lots of
sign otter activity. Look at all that sliding!
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| Can you see the 'C' |
Strawberry Island – this trail was a peculiar one in that a single (not relationship
status) otter came up to the beach, slid in a large arc and headed back out to
sea! A view from above would have shown a big ‘C’. Here’s the best shot I could
get from the ferry.
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| Black-legged Kittiwake |
Too much fun otter tracking from the
ferry! Winter ferry rides are the best.
Also from the ferry – Ye Olde-taled Ducks, Common
Loons, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Common Eider, Black Guillemots, Red-breasted
Merganser, Harbor Seal, Surf Scoter, Bufflehead.
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| Common Loon |
Around island – Ravens acting up, but when aren’t they?
Golden-crowned Kinglets seem to be everywhere in the woods.
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| mink bounding trail |
Visit to Huber. Lots of Mink trails,
between the limited data seen at Huber and in the Basin it looks to be a ‘good’ winter for mink on island. This
is nice (for me) because I rarely see sign of them on the mainland. And it’s
good for the mink!
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| mink tracks and seal bay |
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| snowshoe hare tracks |
Not surprising that Snowshoe Hare tracks and trails seemed
to be in big numbers too. Got to have that prey if you are going to have
predators. Not a good nor evil thing – unless they are getting into your
chicken coop maybe – but more of a food web kind of thing.
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| deer trail |
Basin – Mink, Snowshoe Hare, Deer, Golden-crowned
Kinglets.
Great to be on Old Harbor Pond again. Old stompin’ grounds.
Before snow – fire cracklin’ the last
of ‘cabin #2 wood’.
Can’t get enough of Shaq!
Cat puzzle. Understanding and
respecting diversity through cat puzzles. I don’t see the Estonian cat though
Limited edition – ultimate chocolate.
Bold statement, many shades of brown in that cookie. ‘probably looks better on
the way out’ – Ace Ventura
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Leif looking all sharp on game day.
Having a great time with middle school basketball.
