In the Right Place: The Pollinator-Predator Paradox

It’s Pollinator Week, which is a valuable international reminder of the importance of those creatures in our ecosystems and food supply. But it also raises a question: Why don’t we have a Predator Week?

I suppose that no politician would support memorializing facts that we like to forget: The world has far more predators than pollinators; they’re part of virtually all animal groups, and predation is still the world’s fundamental survival strategy. Predation is as important as pollination, if not more so, and usually takes more skill.

Nonetheless, here in celebration of Pollinator Week, I offer an image of a lovely eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly doing its best to pollinate deutzia blossoms while it accepts their gratefully offered nectar. Fluttering swallowtails seemingly like to flaunt their brilliant beauty.

However, in celebration of shy unmentionables, I offer two images of little predators that hide their presence and eat pollinators.  Look closely:

Goldenrod crab spiders don’t spin webs; They sit patiently on flowers (such as oxeye daisies, as here), change color, and pounce on unsuspecting small pollinators. But, of course, even spider life has its ups and downs: These spiders are preyed upon by many other predators, including other spiders and hummingbirds that also pollinate flowers.

I’m tempted to extend this discussion into the metaphysical realm of human predation upon ourselves and other creatures, but I guess I’ll leave that to the daily news reports for now. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 15, 21 and 23, 2026.)

In the Right Place: Seldom Seen Scenes

Here you get a grasshopper’s view of Mount Desert Island as seen from the fading lupines and rising grasses on Amen Ridge in Brooklin. MDI is Maine’s largest Island and contains most of Acadia National Park, as well as the tourist-popular Town of Bar Harbor. The puffy pillows above MDI’s western mountains appear to be cumulous clouds and the higher vapor trails appear to be cirrus clouds.

Below, you’ll see Great Cove at low tide, when its rockweed forest is laid to rest and its mud flats are exposed. At this time of day, there can be distinctive primal scents – fresh, briny air mingled with whiffs of fetid mud – that seem to awaken the old animal in me. The rockweed and mud will disappear under the rising tide, as will the scents, but they’ll be back.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine,on June 21, 2026.)

In the Right Place: Windjammers, IV

The little windjammer now known as SWIFT snuck into Great Cove last week and snuck out after a few hours without me seeing her intriguing sail configuration. But here she is showing her rigging:

She hails from Camden, Maine, and was on a four-night private charter when she visited, according to her schedule. Among other names, SWIFT was once named ACTRESS, then CAPT. FRANK SWIFT, and is now plain SWIFT. The latest names honor Captain Frank Swift, the person principally responsible for establishing the windjammer tourist trade in the state.

 She’s a relatively small windjammer at a reported  57 feet of overall length. She has room for about six passengers and usually has a crew of three.  In addition to private charters, she reportedly conducts sailing training and maritime education classes.

SWIFT is rigged as a hermaphrodite brigantine (aka half-brig). That is, when fully dressed, she’s got square sails on her foremast, but angular sails fore-and-aft on her main mast. This configuration reportedly was created to produce a vessel that had a good balance of speed and maneuverability, yet could be sailed by a much smaller crew than vessels with square sails on all masts.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 17, 2026.)

In the Right Place: Happy Fathers’ Day!

Let’s hope we have a pair of potential Rachel Carsons here with their Dad in Naskeag Harbor:

Rachel’s mother and father often are credited with making major contributions toward her eventual scientific and literary success. Her father, Robert W. Carson, reportedly took her on nature field trips beginning at a very early age and encouraged her to turn nature walks into scientific experiments and to keep a journal of her observations.

Unfortunately, Robert suffered difficulties that eventually led to another story that’s too sad to tell on this happy day when I get to reverse-celebrate our wonderful children who make me a proud father. (Leighton Archive image taken in Brooklin, Maine.) Click on the image to enlarge it.

In the Right Place: Peeking at Peaking Peonies

For those who like your beauty voluptuous and exuberant, above is a peony enjoying a shower. They’re starting to reach peak blossoming volume here. For those who like your flower arrangements lush and fragrant, here’s one of Barbara’s peony arrangements:

Peonies have been the subjects of legends for many centuries in Asia and some think that they were brought to Western civilizations by Marco Polo (who was said to be amazed at beautiful blooms that grew big as cabbages.)  Now, in East and West, they reportedly signify romance, happy marriage, prosperity and other good fortune – and all of these at once, if you are lucky enough to grow the right peonies and live in the right culture.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 14 and 18, 2026.)

In the Right Place: Windjammers, III

Here you see ANGELIQUE coming into Great Cove on Wednesday morning. She moored off Babson Island and her crew and passengers took to the long boats to have a luscious lunch on the beach there. Cove traffic continued with hardly a glance at this frequent visitor. She departed in the afternoon.

ANGELIQUE was on a 6-night “Photography and Nature Cruise,” according to her schedule. She’s certainly attractively distinctive. She’s the only gaff-rigged ketch in the windjammer fleet. (Note that her foremast is her main mast, unlike schooners.) She’s also the only windjammer with reddish, tan-bark-like sails and, I believe, the only one with a metal hull. 

ANGELIGUE was designed and built in 1980 specifically for tourist cruising. She’s 130 feet long overall and reportedly has a passenger configuration of between 27 and 31 people, depending on pairings. Her homeport is Camden, Maine. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 17, 2026.

In the Right Place: Thinly Coated

Our white-tailed deer and snowshoe hares are now sporting their summer attire. Above, you see a doe in her cool, thinner reddish coat. Below, you’ll see a hare in her thinner brown coat.

Their coats not only change density due to rising temperatures, the new colors provide seasonal protection against predators. The deer’s summer coat blends better with sunlit fields and sun-dappled woods. Its thick winter gray coat blends better with the woody grays of leafless vegetation.

The hare’s summer coat blends better with summer forest floors (although their big feet usually continue to have some white fur, as if they stepped in paint). The hare’s thick white winter coat, of course, blends with the snow.

If we continue to get fewer and fewer snow storms due to global warming, it’s going to be interesting to see how hares respond. Their coat color transitions reportedly are governed by the amount of daylight more than anything else. If less snow means more light, they may stay brown longer. Without snow on the ground, white hares seem spotlighted. This can be of special concern during the evening and night hours, when sharp-eyed owls, bobcats, lynx and coyotes are on the prowl.

The deer don’t have that problem.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 3 and 6, 2026.)

In the Right Place: At BBY, XIV

A good paint job is essential in fine boatbuilding. And, that’s what this no-name Express Cruiser that we’ve been following is getting at the Brooklin Boat Yard. She’s still in the paint shop and still being completed while the sanding and painting are going on. I wonder whether she’ll be in the water by Independence Day.

As you may remember, this cruiser was designed by Will Sturdy, BBY’s Chief. Designer. She’ll be 47 feet long overall, with a 14-foot beam (widest part), according to the Yard’s sheet on her. She’s scheduled to be powered by an 850-horsepower diesel engine that reportedly will give her a top speed in the low 30s and an efficient cruising speed in the mid- to upper- 20s. That’s knots, I believe; if so and if my top-of-mind math is working, the speed range in mph would be about high 30s to low 30s.

 (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 16, 2026.)

In the Right Place: A Shrub for All Seasons

Above, you see a doublefile viburnum in yesterday morning’s rain. The umbrella-shaped flowers are now at their peak, clustering in cascades like white water or layers of agitated wind-blown snow. Below is another doublefile later that day in the late, lowering sun:

Although natives of Asia, doublefiles are very comfortable here and give year-long pleasure. As a bonus, they don’t seem to interest our almost insatiable deer at all. In the spring, their serrated, pleated and richly veined leaves come early and are thick and vibrant green; soon thousands of small, light-colored  buds appear. They’re flower-rich in the summer, as you see.

In the fall and early winter, their leaves turn indescribable hues of purple and red and thousands of shiny black and red berries sprout up. The berries attract flocks of birds. When the leaves fall in winter, their woody infrastructures often seem to be works of art. As do the fully-flowered summer shrubs:

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 15, 2026.)

In the Right Place: Windjammers, II

Above, you see the schooner GRACE BAILEY being pushed into Great Cove by her yawl boat at mid-morning last week. (She has no internal motor.) She anchored where she could show off her 118-foot profile and exceptionally good lines for a lady well over 100 years old:

GRACE was launched in 1882 in Patchogue, New York, and named after the daughter of her original owner, Edwin Bailey, a ccording to her website. She hauled lumber and oysters along the East coast until she was worn out. She was rebuilt in 1906 and renamed MATTIE, after Edwin’s granddaughter, Martha. She was relocated to Maine in 1919, where she lived the hard life of a coastal cargo cruiser for 20 years.

She was converted to a coastal tourist cruiser in 1939, served in World War II briefly as a training vessel for the Maine Maritime Academy, and underwent another major restoration in 1989-90. That’s when she was re-christened with her original name, GRACE BAILEY. She homeports now in Rockland, Maine.

In the images here, GRACE was on a 6-night cruise that featured live music, among other entertainment, according to her schedule. She left the Cove by early afternoon as a fog was setting in:

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 11, 2026.)

In the Right Place: Happy Flag Day, Traditional or Wild

Today is traditional Flag Day in the nation at large. The day commemorates the June 14, 1777, resolution of the Continental Congress that adopted the first flag of the United States, which symbolized the union of the 13 colonies that had declared independence the year before.

That flag, as does today’s, contained 13 stripes of alternating red (7) and white (6), including red top and bottom stripes. In an upper left field of blue there were 13 white stars, which were described then as symbolizing the “new constellation” of self-declared states.

Today also is another kind of flag day for wildflower lovers in Down East Maine: Blue flag iris (shown above) and yellow flag iris (shown below) appear to be at their peaks. Yes, the blues are natives and their beauty is benign, while the yellows are foreigners and they can be beautiful troublemakers. But that’s a different story. Today, let’s let Old Glory, blue iris, and yellow iris wave beautifully.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 12, 2026.)

In the Right Place: Pollination vs. Pestilation

Above, you see a Canadian tiger swallowtail feeding on the deeply hidden nectar of wild honeysuckle. The flower’s pollen will stick to the butterfly’s hairs and probably be rubbed off on another plant to propagate the honeysuckle.

Below, you’ll see what appear to be black garden ants (Lasius niger) feeding on the oozing nectar from a peony bud’s "extrafloral nectaries" — special glands that secrete a sugary liquid. The ants aren’t engaging in pollination; they’re engaging in “biological mutualism.” That is, in exchange for the bud’s sweet sustenance, the ants perform pest control on it – they repel pests, such as aphids and thrips.

By the way, peonies don’t need this Orkin-like treatment to bloom beautifully, as many people believe. The pests usually don’t do lasting damage. The ants get the better part of the deal, but no one’s complaining except the aphids and thrips. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 9 and 12, 2026.)

In the Right Place: A Golden Rule for Babies

This image of an unattended fawn appears with my monthly column in the current Ellsworth American. Click on the image to enlarge it. J To read the column about June being a wildlife birthing month and what to do if you find an unattended, abandoned, injured or sick fawn or bird, use this link: https://www.5backroad.com/montly-column

In the Right Place: Windjammers, I

The prize for the first windjammer to overnight in Great Cove this year goes to – drum roll and trumpet fanfare, please – AMERICAN EAGLE! How appropriate for the nation’s 250th birthday.

Here you see her yesterday morning at 5 a.m., just as the low dawn light reached the Cove and gilded her gold. Several hours later she was admiring herself in the mirror as her passengers awoke:

Below, you’ll see her resting and leaving the Cove in the haze of mid-day. Between those times, there was a special moment for me.

After breakfast, most of the EAGLE passengers were ferried ashore to explore the campus of the renowned WoodenBoat School; a few people remained on deck. This is not unusual for visiting coastal cruisers. However, while I was sitting on the Cove’s green bank watching the sun-lit schooner swing slowly around her anchor in a nice salty breeze, I heard something unusual.

Then the mystery made itself clear: someone was stumming and plucking a banjo and the notes were wafting off of her deck over to me. It nicely completed a moment of maritime nostalgia. It seems that the EAGLE is on a 5-night cruise ending June 12 that features onboard modern folk music, among other things, according to her schedule.

The EAGLE was launched in 1930 out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, under the name ANDREW & ROSALIE, according to the literature. Her name was changed out of patriotic sympathy during Worl War II. She’s a tidy 122 feet long overall and a high rider. She now homeports in Rockland, Maine. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 10, 2026.)

In the Right Place: Iris, U-Ris, We All Ris

Bearded iris are revealing all in the gardens and wild blue flag iris are waving like crazy in the meadows. It’s a good time for those who like their flowers complicated and sexy and don’t distinguish much between foreign and native beauty.

Bearded iris, shown above, are native to the Mediterranean area, including southern Europe. They get their name from the fuzzy, caterpillar-like “hairs” that guide pollinators to their nectar. Blue flags, shown below, are native to Maine and like wet feet and sun-warmed petals, although they’re hardy enough to live in partial shade.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 9, 2026.)

In the Right Place: At BBY, XIII

Today is Primary voting day in Maine and among my choices for potential winners is this express cruiser. As some of you know, we’ve been watching this beauty being built at the Brooklin Boat Yard for months. She’s recently been moved to the paint shop, as you see here. She was being primed yesterday:.

As you may remember, this cruiser was designed by Will Sturdy, BBY’s Chief. Designer. She’ll be 47 feet long overall, with a 14-foot beam (widest part), according to the Yard’s sheet on her. She’s scheduled to have an 850-horsepower diesel engine that powers a propeller in a funnel-like enclosure to reduce draft and maximize propulsion. Here’s BBY”s drawing of the finished boat:

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 4 and 8, 2026.)

In the Right Place: Yesterday Morning

A weak dawn light eased through the overcast skies and came probing through the woods from the east,

As a smothering fog emerged from Great Cove in the west and sidled up the north meadow,

As an advance party of raindrops descended from above and plinked an arpeggio in the bird bath.

They converged on the lushening garden, which never says no.

 (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 7, 2026)

In the Right Place: Watching Paint Dry

Here and below you’ll see a few of our resident painted turtles. Their spiffy paint jobs are not to impress passers-by, according to the literature – quite the opposite. Their markings are functional and have been inspirational to Native Americans.

At one level, the random, bright markings and the irregularly outlined shell plates (“skutes”) are evolved camouflage. They break up the turtles’ familiar profiles and make them harder to be noticed by predators when the reptiles are still, which is frequently. (However, apparently no one has informed these sun worshipers that, when they bask, their shells often give off a distinctive dull reflection that allows a practiced eye to detect them at great distances.)

While meant to deter predators, their decorations can be enticing and informative to other painted turtles. Male painted turtles flash their distinctive yellow-and-red markings to attract a mate. The brightness of a turtle’s markings signals its age and health, factors that females apparently value when deciding to accept a suitor.

Native Americans also valued the markings of painted turtles, we’re told. Our first settlers, especially the eastern forest and Great Lakes peoples, reportedly depicted these turtles’ patterns in face paint, decorative art, jewelry, and clothing. In some Native American legends, painted turtles were tricksters that used their bright colors to entice and outwit humans, especially women.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 1 and 3, 2026.)

In the Right Place: Paul & Anne

It’s that time when the lupines and lilacs are doing their best to make us feel good to be alive in June. Both plants like to sleep in the northern cold, perfume the spring and early summer, and rejoice in colorful exuberance until they fade. However, they also have significant differences.

Lupines, shown above, are herbaceous, ground plants in the pea family that like to clear and take over wild land. Lilacs, shown below, are woody shrubs and trees that always seem resiliently optimistic about the summer.

(Imagine having the good fortune of the pioneering Paul Bunyon showing up in your area at the same time as the resilient Anne of Green Gables.)  (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 4 and 5, 2026.)

In the Right Place: Dock Tours Without Borders

Now that the area’s docking floats are mostly in the water, we’ll take a look at the three major floats to tie up boats in Brooklin, each of which has a distinctive character. Below, you see the Town float at Nakeag Harbor, which mostly hosts the skiffs used by lobstermen to get out to their boats in the Harbor.

Up the coast about two miles in Great Cove is the docking float at the end of the sturdy and straight WoodenBoat School pier. It mostly is a platform for members of the School’s sailing classes to board runabouts that take them to and frow from their assigned sailboats:

Further up the coast from Great Cove about a mile or two, in Center Harbor, are the docking floats below Brooklin Boat Yard’s pier and shed. Here you’ll see some exquisite boats that were built by BBY or are there for some other reason:

(Images Taken in Brooklin, Maine, on June 4, 2026.)