Welcome to the Vinalhaven Sightings Report

September 15, 2025

Brought to you by the kind support supplied by VLT and MCHT

‘All I Had To Do Was Look Up’

Highlights – Birds – featuring American Golden Plover & Red-necked Grebe, Berries and Fruits, Cladonia pleurota, Pitcher Plants, Sundews, historical stuff and so much more!

(lot of plant stuff).

 

Business: PSA – Deer Hunting Season is Here!

 

Alright – I am familiar with the perspective that hunting season is something to be aware of in November as that is when the rifles come out and a lot of deer killing/culling/harvesting takes place. The woods thanks all hunters who participate in this undertaking.

 

But hey – did you know that deer hunters hunt in September and October (and into December as well!), with bows and loaded muzzles?

 

Do yourself (and the hunters) a favor – and get some orange on! Get in the survival spirit with an orange hat, shirt, coat, gloves (underwear and socks optional)!

 

Chances are (maybe) no one wants to shoot you, and if they do why would you want to give them an ‘out’ by not where orange. Orange it is – slap some on!

 

Share and share alike – hey – vinalhavensightings@gmail.com – is the/a place to send photos/reports/sightings of the natural history like -  if you are someone who likes to share with other nature appreciators.

 

Lots o' Peepers out there these days

And while we are at it, vinalhavensightings@gmail.com is also the/a place to send email addresses of folks – be it for you or a gift (that keeps on giving) to some nature appreciator you know. We are making a list – starting from scratch unfortunately– of addresses that will receive an email announcement whenever one of these VSRs gets posted. Get on the list – its exclusive and inclusive at the same time! Everybody wins with the VSR.

 

Murre with youngster. Good fatherly role model.
Photo by John Drury

Bird walks – Vinalhaven Land Trust sanctioned Thursday morning bird walks continue this week and throughout what remains of September. Check out the VLT website for more details - https://vinalhavenlandtrust.org/calendar .

 

Short-billed Dowitcher
photo by John Drury

Sightings - And speaking of bird walks – the bird walk on 9/4 turned up some great looks at wonderful birds. Jay Manning reports an American Golden Plover  (Pluvialis dominica) from State Beach from that bird walk (State Beach is for Plovers!)  as a highlight from the trip.  Close relative of the Black-bellied Plovers (and slightly distant relatives of Semi-palmated Plovers and Killdeer) which can be a species that is seen yearly during migration, Golden Plovers are a much rarer visitor to Vinalhaven (and Maine in general) and just another example of one of the  of the spectrum of bird species one might find on a VLT bird walk, or a personal walk of ones own!

 

More on American Golden Plovers –

‘

Razorbill with youngster, good father role model
photo by John Drury

The American Golden-Plover breeds on the Arctic tundra of northern Canada and Alaska, then migrates to wintering grounds in southern South America, primarily the grasslands of Argentina and Uruguay. During migration, the species follows an elliptical path, traveling through central North America in the spring and taking a long, over-ocean flight across the western Atlantic in the fall.’

 

whimbrel
photo by John drury

Vinalhaven is just one stop for some individuals of this species, and it’s great that they find food and shelter on island. Migration is mind-blowing.

Lots of shorebirds passing through as you can see! Thanks for sharing the photos John Drury!

 

red-necked grebe
photo digiscoped by Rick Morgan

State Beach - Rick Morgan sent in these photos of ‘digiscoped’ Red-necked Grebes from the (9/4) bird walk as well.  Red-necked Grebes breed as close as the great lakes/Minnesota region – with regular breeding western Ontario, Manitoba and Canada up through Alaska (breeder in Beluga Lake, downtown Homer, AK).

 

red-necked grebes
photo digiscoped by Rick Morgan

State Beach happens to be a Red-necked Grebe hotspot, and these are the first of many that will/may use the waters around State Beach/Geary’s Beach to ride out the winter. More to come as the fall progresses, with November counts of over 100 not unheard of.

 Great spot and digiscoping!

Historical, non-Fiction

great egret, minding its business
photo by Rick Morgan

– Hey – the VSR was ‘gone’ for a few years, and some folks have asked about photos/sightings/reports from the ‘hiatus’ (thank you for that terminology Rick Morgan!).  So the answer is – yes! – send in what you want to share from the last couple of years – in fact – send in stuff from even before the hiatus. In other words – we here at the VSR are inter. ed in sharing the stories – both timely and reminiscently. Just let us know when the photos were taken, sightings were sighted! Thanks!

 

face to face
photo by Rick Morgan

And speaking of Rick! Here are a series of photos Rick took of a local Great Blue Heron that was not welcoming to a Great Egret that entered its turf.

 

crouching
Photo by Rick Morgan

And turf being the Indian Creek area between Lane’s Island and Vinalhaven proper.

 

flying
photo by Rick Morgan

Nature is everywhere out on Vinalhaven – 

keep yer eyes peeled,

it's on
photo by Rick Morgan

Yer camera handy,

And share with us!

 Thanks for sharing Rick!

Feel free to send in photos from the hiatus or beyond!

pitcher plant

Plant stuff – hey – lots of fruits out there, that’s what grabbed my attention the last stretch I was on island.

 And pitcher plants

Can almost be read with an apology tone, but I am told by like 3 people that there is nothing to be ashamed of about being a plant person. Sometimes they/those people sound like they are trying to convince themselves.

 

Jack in the pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)–

 

jack in the pulpit

hey – it’s been a dry august and September. Any fruits are good fruits , and seeing Jack in the Pulpit (Daddy in the pulpit) in its fruiting stage gives a little hope the dryness was tolerable.

 

jack in the pulpit

Some fruits were green…

 

Some fruits were red…

 

We like em both, but there is something about that red…

 

 

Skunk Cabbage fruit nugget

 Skunk Cabbage – so beautiful at all stages of development

 

winterberry

Winterberry ( Ilex verticillata) – just getting going with the fruits turning from green (not shown! Ha! Made you look!)

 

winterberry

… to red. Winterberry is a year round plant! 

And we love it!

 

Large Cranberry – Vaccinium macrocarpon – hey – they call them craneberry bogs for a reason.

eld
erberry

 

Common Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) – Fruits are purplish. And fun.

 

Mountain Ash – hey – looking for thrushes and waxwings in the next few weeks to a month or so?

 Why not try your local Mountain Ash? birds can't resist their clumps of red berries.

 

backswimmer

Mack’s Pond – Always nice to go on a stroll with Javier Penalosa, and Mack’s Pond visits are cool enough to begin with , so a combination of the two is a ‘cool stroll’ I would say.

 

We didn’t look too close at polypores (a little more moisture would go a long way , fungally speaking of course), but luckily wherever Javier goes there are plants and lichens to entertain for sure. Quick visit to Mack’s Pond turned up

 

Pitcher plants galore! 

 

Always fun to see the ‘pitchers’ of the Purple Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea), one of the local carnivorous plants found on Vinalhaven.

 

Here’s what Steven Clemants and Carol Gracie have to say about this species…

 

‘The pitcher-leaves capture insects that fall in, eventually decomposing; the plant absorbs their nutrients. …… Populations from southwestern Pennsylvania to West Virginia are introduced’ –

                                                            Page 130, ‘Wildflowers in the field and forest’

 

More on Pitcher Plants from John Eastman – (we like John Eastman)

 

‘Pitcher-plant, along  with sundews and bladderworts, ranks among the most common insect-trapping plants of North America. Its passive method is unique. The modified leaf that forms the pitcher has several easily seen interior zones.

 

‘The topmost zone is a flared-out lip – a sort of landing platform – with nectar glands and conspicuous reddish veins.

 

On the inside rim, a coating of fine, downward-pointing hairs and a numbing secretion make an insect’s escape from the container almost impossible.

 

pitcher with floaties

Just below this zone is a slippery, smooth-walled, sticky constriction, a further impediment to escape.

 

Then comes the actual water container, where the prey dies by drowning.

 

pitcher plant flower

The liquid hosts bacteria (often anerobic Rhodopseudomonas palustris)  and possibly plant enzymes, a ‘digestive fluid’ that helps decompose trapped insects and converts their tissues into nitrogen and other nutrients absorbed by the plant. This absorption occurs by means of special cells at the bottom of the pitcher’.

 

In other words – there is a lot going on out there!

 

 

 

spatulate-leaved sundew

Spatulate-leaved Sundews (Drosera intermedia)

 

Nice to see the plant,

 

sundew fruit things

Nice to see the fruits/seeds

 

Can’t say I have seen them before…the fruits/seeds that is!

Carex lasiocarpa

Sedges are the spraint! or so Javier says. check out this Carex lasiocarpa.

Carex lasiocarpa's most common names are Slender Sedge, Woolly-fruited Sedge, Narrow-leaved Woolly Sedge, and Wiregrass Sedge. These names refer to its characteristic thin leaves and the fuzzy appearance of its fruit. 

 Check out these fuzzy fruits! Thanks for showing me Javier! 

Cladonia pleurota

Red-fruited Pixie-cup – (Cladonia pleurota) – Hey – fun to see this lichen.

 

I mean, as far as lichen looking goes, we’re cladonia that we got to see it! Ha!

 

Decorated Mop

Fungal speaking of course – there was a rain, on the 5^th or so. A few mushrooms have been seen popping up as a result of this rain.

 

Another rain would be good. Decorated Mop (Tricholomopsis decora) is a species that happens to be fruiting/blooming at the moment.

 

Decorated Mop

These photos were from the Basin Preserve, but look for the decorate mop on stumps and logs on just about any preserve these days.

 

Birch Polypore

Birch polypores
multi-generational,
but essentially the same

– (Piptoporus betulinus) – a classic of the woods – some fresh fruiting bodies blending in with last years bloom have been seen lately.

 

Birch Polypore, of course, is one of the 2 mushrooms that Otzi (the glacier mummy from Italy, roughly 5300 years old) had on him when he died. Wish I had an umlaut button right about now.

 

Birch polypore is known for its medicinal uses, especially aiding with digestive issues. And autopsy of Otzi showed that he ‘suffered’ from intestinal worms. There you have it and so it goes…

 

And in conclusion –

 

Hey – hope you enjoyed the VSR and hope you feel comfortable sending in photos and sightings and whatever.

 

Aunt Linda with Puffin!
Photo by Tom Gentalen

All photos and sightings are welcome here.

 

first day of school

Some judgment at times , but nothing life threatening !

 

See you next time and out there!