hallnatec's Journal

April 23 2018 - Kennebunk Plains, Kennebunk, ME

I started by parking at the parking area off of Maguire Rd which passes through the southern part of the plains. I was birding with an eye for Field Sparrow, Upland Sandpiper, Eastern Meadowlark, and Vesper Sparrow. I was also keeping an eye out for Northern Black Racer, which I knew could be found in this area.

I started by walking north from the parking area to the treeline and then east toward the big pond. Along the way I was able to first hear and then see a Field Sparrow which was a first of the year (FOY). I also stopped to take some pictures of a singing male American Goldfinch as I knew that I didn't to take a stab at drawing one later. At the pond I watched a number of Tree Swallows and Eastern Phoebes snatch insects.

As I was heading back I noticed a dog walker with two dogs coming towards me. His dogs instantly took off away from him without listening to his commands. They were clearly on the scent of something and I was expecting to see something bolt out the grass near where they were sniffing. Instead they circled around some area. At this point the man had gotten to his dogs and contained them. He then stopped and looked at something on the ground. I was curious so I headed over to him and asked what they had found. He said a snake and showed me the deceased Northern Black Racer (Life Snake, if it wasn't dead). He and I talked for a little while and after he left I took some pictures of the snake and the numerous insects which were on the snake. Of note, he mentioned that he had been watching a Canada Goose couple at the pond who had been sitting on a nest. One day when he showed up they where both making a huge racket and off of the nest and the next day they were both gone. It did seem like good habitat for a Canada Goose nest and I was kind of looking for one while I was there for the Maine Bird Atlas.

There were clearly Common Greenbottles and some kind of beetle which I wasn't able to identify or get a good picture of. The snake was starting to smell and was grayish/black all over. There was an area were some of its scales had been disturbed but the cause of death wasn't apparent. My guess is that the snake was about 3' long.

More information about Northern Black Racers in Maine can be found here.

eBird checklist #1

I had wanted to see a live Northern Black Racer, but a dead one would work for now. After this I headed over the northern part of the plains and parked on the south side of the road. There I was welcomed by great looks of a Vesper Sparrow (FOY). I poked around a bit more but there wasn't too much of interest at that point.

eBird checklist #2

My final stop was into the parking area just across the street. Here I spotted another birder about 100 yards away and I headed towards him. We talked for a while and he informed that he had a Vesper Sparrow on that side as well, and that he had a number of Eastern Meadowlarks (FOY). As we talked I kept hearing their zert calls but I didn't see any. But after a while of watching we spotted two birds take off together and one landed on the top of a small pine at which point it started to sing.

eBird checklist #3

April 25th, 2018 - Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, ME

Because it was a spring evening with temperatures above 45f and rain I decided to attempt to find some amphibians. I was really hoping for salamanders but instead I found three American Toads, a young American Bullfrog, and heard a number of Spring Peepers. Given the rain I didn't really stop to do much for observations. Instead I when I found an amphibian, I would stop take a number of pictures of it and then move on.

It was probably a little earlier in the evening than ideal when I got started at about 8:00p. There was still some light in the sky when I first got to the ponds. I walked the main road of the cemetery from Brentwood down to the ponds, then took the gravel road behind the ponds back a good distance and then checked the road which runs parallel to the ponds before I headed back to Brentwood. By the time I was heading back I was pretty much soaked and glad to be home but I did note on the way back that the road which hadn't been covered in earthworms was now covered in them. This made me various curious about what else might be coming out if I had stayed longer.

Finally, I did these observations in Evergreen Cemetery after dark which I later realized is not allowed. Evergreen Cemetery is not open after dark and being there at that time can get you into trouble.

For more information about American Toads in Maine check here.

Learn more about American Bullfrogs here.

April 26, 2018 Sanford Lagoons, Sanford, ME

I spent about an hour and a half at Sanford Lagoons and had a number of FOY experiences. The highlight of which was a watching a Red Fox which was down wind of me, as it got closer to my position. Finally, after watching it bounce around and explore various smells and sounds I got withing 30 yards of me and stopped and stood and watched me a little bit. Then it turned and bolted for the woods where it quickly disappeared.

For birds I finally saw a couple Ruddy Ducks. I never see too many of them any given year and these two had been around for a little while. I also picked up a FOY Swamp Sparrow. I was attempting to get a picture of this little guy and left my scope on its tripod where I had been scoping ducks. As I turned around to head back to it a gust of wind shifted and knocked it down, breaking the foot. To say the least I was unhappy.

There were tons and tons of Painted Turtles throughout and one dead Common Snapping Turtle. Interestingly I was alerted to the dead Common Snapping Turtle because a small Painted Turtle had been sunning itself on its larger dead cousin.

Sanford Lagoon eBird Checklist

April 26, 2018 Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, ME

My evening walk through Evergreen Cemetery turned up a new and interesting organism for me. While searching through the ponds for turtle, frogs, and insectivore birds, I discovered a flat greenish organism working its way through the leaf litter along the edge of the pond. It went in and out of the leaves moving as in a wave-like fashion. I watched it for a while and was able to get a number of pictures of it. At the time I had no idea what it was. I thought flatworm but it was too big. I also thought leech, but it was so green. I also wondered if it was the larval form of an amphibian.

Once I got home I spend a good amount of time trying to figure out what it was but I couldn't find anything. Finally, I showed the picture to a couple of people and it was suggested to me that it was a leech. So I zeroed in on leeches in Maine. Finally I found this website. With a picture of a similar thing and a scientific name I was able to figure out that it was indeed a leech.

In fact, it appears to be a leech which loves to eat the eggs of frogs. Knowing that those ponds have such a large frog population it isn't surprising to me that there would be something there which eats them.

I also found my fourth Garter Snake in as many days. Interestingly, this one has been identified here as a Maritime Garter Snake. I had thought the subspecies of Garter Snakes in Maine was Eastern. So now I'm wondering if Garter Snake subspecies are location specific or if there are other ways of telling them apart. I'll have spend some time researching this question.

Update---There isn't a lot of information online about Common Garter Snake ssp, but I did find this website which had the following information:

Maritime Garter Snake
Thamnophis sirtalis pallidulus Allen, 1899
A checkered subspecies found in northeastern New England, Quebec, and the Maritime provinces.

Eastern Garter Snake
Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Wide-ranging (across most of eastern North America) and variable, with striped, checkered and melanistic populations, and some with considerable red coloration.

Update #2---I reached out to a @billryerson about the differences between these two subspecies of snakes and he writes:

"I use primarily field marks when I am trying to decide, but the two do overlap in NH and Maine. The range maps differ a lot depending on which resource you are looking at.

When I am looking at the two, I use the dorsal stripe and dorsal patterning to tell the difference. If the snake has a bright yellow dorsal stripe, and the dorsal patterning is a pretty uniform color, then I lean towards eastern. If the stripe is pretty faint, thin or gone, then it is likely maritime. Maritime garters also have a fairly prominent checkerboard patterning dorsally, with "squares" being mostly brown and red, but they can be green as well."

Update #3---The observation found here also provides more clues for identifying the differences between these two subspecies.

Evergreen Cemetery eBird Checklist

April 29th, Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, ME

I didn't start my walk with a visit to my delimited site in mind, but after I got out there I just couldn't stop myself. When I started my walk at 6:19 am it was a little chilly, fairly wet, and very overcast. This didn't change throughout the entire time I was out. In fact, even though it didn't rain while I was out I was fairly wet by the time I got back home. In total I was explore for about 1 hour and 45 minutes and walked about 2 miles. I explored fairly well-trodden areas, but still was able to find many things which surprised and delighted me.

As usual, I entered the cemetery from the Brentwood entrance. Before I even got into the cemetery my bird list was large and growing fast, there were a number of different birds vocalizing. I debated in my head about which way to go. The overgrown area just below Brentwood Farms can be very productive but then I have a lot of less productive woods to go through before getting to the ponds, which is where I was heading. So I decided to skip the overgrown area and go right to the ponds. I'm happy that I did.

Not too long after I got into the cemetery I spotted a RED FOX running in away from my location with something fairly large and dark in its mouth. I watched where it went and kept heading towards the ponds hoping to see it again. After just a short while I noticed I was being watched by the RED FOX, as I watched it I also noticed some movement around it and quickly realized that it was young fox trying to play with the adult. The young one disappeared and then the adult followed suit.

I kept walking but kept an eye on the location of the two foxes. As I passed the location I noticed again that I was being watched but this time by just the pup. I stopped for a little while took some pictures and moved on. The entire time that I watched the pup it sat and watched me with what seemed like equal interest. It even yawned a couple times and after a while settled into a low resting position.

I've seen many RED FOX in the cemetery but this was the first time that I was able to see a pup.

After the fun of spotting the RED FOX pup I continued down to the ponds. They weren't all that busy but I kept looking. While I was down there because the bird action was lacking I also kept an extra eye in the water for turtles and frogs. Finding none of them either, I headed the powerline cutout. I knew there were some season pools there and I wanted to see if there were any indicator species, I didn't find any indicator species for a vernal pool, but was I alerted to BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER (FOY) by its call and got quick looks of it as it flitted through the recently budding maples.

As I entered the cutout area, I heard the classic 'drink-your-teeee' song of an EASTERN TOWHEE, which was quickly followed by the 'zee-zee-zee-zo-zee' song of a BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER. I was able to snap a picture of the EASTERN TOWHEE but the BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER was much more elusive.

It was only at this point that I decided to head over the junk pond and log some delimited site time. So I worked my way over, making sure to check the OSPREY nest on the cell tower. It didn't look like anyone was there today but I have seen birds there as recent as a few days ago.

I got to my delimited site at 7:31 am and was instantly welcomed by DOWNY WOODPECKER, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, and SONG SPARROWS all singing and calling. I also noticed that a shrub which seems to grow every around and near the site was fairly far along in leafing out. iNaturalist suggested that the shrub was MORROW'S HONEYSUCKLE, but at this time I haven't done any research to make sure that identification is accurate. I also noticed that the pond had a layer of gunk on it. I wasn't sure what it was but it seemed to cover the shallow parts of the pond while the deeper middle section was lacking it. The gunk was green and a little lumpy looking.

An interesting side note, is that the tent which had been there most of the winter and there as recent as last weekend is missing and one of the slippers had been flung into the water. In terms of human connections I was also informed that the University of New England owns the pond and won't allow other people to clean it up because there is unspent ordinance in the pond and they are afraid someone might get hurt. Further, the road traffic was very noticeable, as was the hum of some kind of electrical apparatus housed in the industrial park behind the pond.

Another green plant that I noticed this time that I hadn't seen before, looked like it might be a type of iris. It was very green and growing up in a muddy spot with a lot of water. The leaves looked straight and were growing in a fairly tight bunch. I'll keep an eye on them and see if I can't get a better sense of what they are as the season progresses.

As I sat there I heard some SPRING PEEPERS and what sounded like a NORTHERN PARULA. I only heard that call once and it wasn't even to go on but it really sounded like one. I also took some time at this point to reflect on the call of the TUFTED TITMOUSE, a call which I say goes 'pew-pew' but my partner says is 'cheer-cheer' and I think she is right and I'm wrong. It does sound more like 'cheer-cheer' but I really like the idea of them pretending to fight space aliens or something.

After sitting at the bench for a while I headed on my way walking away from pond in the opposite direction from how I came in. As I was just about to stop my official time in the site I caught some movement and found a HERMIT THRUSH working the undergrowth. After I looked at it for a while I took note of the time and headed on my way. It was in the site for about 23 minutes.

At this point I needed to get home so I cut through the UNE fields (found a few NORTHERN FLICKERS there) and headed directly through the cemetery back to Brentwood Street and ending my morning walk in the cemetery.

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