In the Right Place: Monikers

For the past week, on and off, we’ve had a Merlin around here that deserves the name of the legendary magician. This bird has the mysterious ability to reveal himself nearby when we’re without a camera and appear out of range when we do have a camera. (The Merlin images shown here are from a prior year.)

Merlins are small and fast falcons that like to prey upon slower and smaller birds and animals. During the Middle Ages in England, these birds were called “Ladies’ Hawks” because they were the favorites of female falconers in the court.

Later, in this country, the birds became known as “Pigeon Hawks,” in recognition of one of their favorite slow foods. Birders didn’t like calling this regal bird by such a limiting and impliedly sinister name, so its name was changed to the more mysterious moniker “Merlin.” That name was derived from the Old Frankish word “Esmerillon,” simply meaning “Falcon.”

(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Apologies

We’re sorry; we apologize to our neighbors. We knew that we shouldn’t do it, but we couldn’t stand the way it was. Yes: we washed the car and got rid of all that grime and snow chemical stain. And, yes: somehow mother nature found out and snowed on us this morning.

To make matters worse, it looks like she’ll just lay down enough white to annoy us and then flip the switch to rain mode and create some sticky mud. Images from this morning.

(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Wetness

Recent rains and a relatively warm weekend have cleared out about 90 to 95 percent of our snow and ice and are causing a significant runoff. We went to several of our unofficial wildlife check points yesterday to get a sense of the effects.

Patten Stream, one of our more picturesque fish- and eel-climbing waterways in nearby Surry, was a torrent:

The local streams that the deer drink from in the heart of the Brooklin woods were breaking out of their ice tunnels and showing parts of their beauty:

The boggier parts of those woods were still awash in water over thin ice:

The culverts that drain marsh and field ponds when they reach their capacity were draining constantly:

But, there still were large patches of snow and ice along the back trails:

The March 2019 Climate Review from the National Weather Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. forecasts that April will have above average temperatures., but will not be an unusually wet or dry month. (Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Special

We enjoyed last night’s special Blue Hill Fair. This Fair will continue today and tonight in celebration of April 1, with all rides free. April 1 has been celebrated for centuries all over the world.

For example, in England on April 1, 1698, it was advertised that lions would be washed at the base of the London Tower. Many people came to watch that dangerous activity. When they arrived, they not only saw no lions, they were laughed at and called “April Fools.”

If you don’t want to be laughed at, stay away from the Fair grounds. Nothing will be happening there today or tonight. But, have a nice April Fools’ Day otherwise. (Brooklin, Maine)

March Postcards From Maine

Once again, March proved that she’s totally unreliable. Her primary job was to bring us Spring, but she indulged in such an outrageous on-again-off-again affair with Old Man Winter that her mind was never really on her work.

March often turned a cold shoulder on us, icing up coves and open coasts, while turning woods into vernal ice rinks and residence roofs into stalactites.

We awoke to howling March snowstorms before and after the due date for her to deliver the equinox, astronomical Spring.

To be sure, after a spat with Winter, March would rest with a sunny smile on her face and we would again have visions of Spring showing up.

There are certain events and practices that usually happen in March, no matter how fickle she is. This March’s full moon not only was a super Moon, it came within hours of the equinox — a very unusual event.

Of course, there is St. Patrick’s Day. Wasn’t he the priest who drove snakes out of Ireland and replaced them with pink flamingos? Or was it with snowmen? We’ll have to ask neighbor Judith Fuller, whose road banners appeared throughout the month:

March is when the season opens for netting Glass Eel Elvers near the streams that these youngsters will ascend. (See our prior post, below.) Common Goldeneye Ducks fish for these valuable baby eels without having to buy an expensive license.

In deeper waters, commercial fishing for scallops continues during March’s unpredictable weather. Most of the fishermen use lobster boats that have been converted to trawlers to dredge for the delicious mollusks.

There also is, of course, March Madness, when many of us here are glued to the TV sets to see the best basketball games of the year. Even our Wild Turkeys are inspired; they practice their pick and roll plays constantly during March, while their chin-whiskered fans smile.

Speaking of birds, the large raft of Common Eider ducks that came to nearby Blue Hill Bay to winter were still there this morning, as were some Ring-Billed Gulls in breeding plumage.

It’s bad enough having to fish in cold water, but imagine what it’s like to pry frozen larvae out of wood to eat. Our smallest and largest resident tree walkers — Brown Creepers and Pileated Woodpeckers — still had that challenge in March.

There were a few signs of Spring outside and inside in March: Pussy Willows extended their furry paws out of their catkins and our windowsill Hibiscus delivered a salad-plate-sized blossom.

Oh, sorry: we forgot about the largest and strangest blooms of all in March. They appeared just as a Spring party was starting and were gone the next day. We’ve got the flora books out, but haven’t been able to identify them yet.

(All images above were taken during March 2019 in Down East Maine.)

In the Right Place: Whistler

This male Common Goldeneye duck is fishing alone at the bubbling mouth of Patten Stream on Wednesday, March 27. He appeared to be diving after the Glass Eel Elvers that are migrating up the stream now. See prior post.

Common Goldeneyes are informally known as “Whistlers,” due to the sound that their short, fast-beating wings make when they take off. And, when they do take off, they’re unlike other water fowl: they take only two or three steps on the water and then burst into the air; their zero-to-60 ability is phenomenal.

They also are the only North American duck that can survive in acidified lakes that contain no fish. They can digest the acidified insects and other small wildlife that also survive there.

(Surry, Maine)

In the Right Place: Transparency

For some people, the arrival of Spring is when they can see flocks of Robins alighting on lawns and fields. For others, it’s when they can capture swarms of Glass Eels swimming up streams and rivers. A favorite spot to do the latter is the mouth of Patten Stream, shown below as it looked Wednesday (March 27).

These “Elvers” are the valuable babies of American Eels (Aguilla rostrate). The youngsters are called Glass Eels due to their being transparent, except for their spinal cords and eyes:

Prior year image.

They’re harvested here during their March 22-June 10 Maine fishing season, usually by Fyke (“fick”) nets, which are fine-mesh funnel traps that end in a cylindrical netting bag.

Prior year image.

Prior year image.

Most of the trapped Elvers are air-shipped alive in special containers to Asia, where they’re raised to nontransparent adulthood and then sold as delicacies.

Prior year image.

The many Elvers that are not caught swim up the streams where their parents were born and stay there for 8 to 25 years. Then, they swim down and out into the ocean to the Sargasso Sea, where they’ll spawn and die. Their eggs will become drifting larva that transform into the babies that return to their family streams in Spring. (Surry, Maine)

In the Right Place: Trust But Verify

Spring in Maine is different. You must be ready to throw open the doors to today’s sultry 40-degree sunshine, while remaining ready for tomorrow’s snowy surprise.

(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Scoured

These unusual tidal waves, so graceful in low light, are caused by a geological rarity at nearby Blue Hill Reversing Falls. In this country, only Maine has this kind of falls, and there are only eight of them in our State, according to the research.

Such falls occur when bedrock geology forms an inclined channel of a certain width and depth between two bodies of water, at least one of which is strongly tidal. There also must be the right height difference between the two bodies of water to produce rapid surges in rising and falling tides.

Apparently, during the last Ice Age, Maine’s coast was under a glacier cover longer than the coasts of more southern, smoother-coasted states. The moving ice here scoured the coast down to its granite bedrock, deposited boulders, and had a furious meltdown via rivers and other waterways that gouged geologic anomalies seen nowhere else.

(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Luck

We’ve recently seen advance teams of migrating Canada Geese stop by in Patten Bay on their way to their namesake.

There actually are some Canada Geese that stay all year in Maine, but they tend to propagate non-migratory residents that don’t have the instinct or skill for long, high-altitude travel.  We don’t seem to have any of those year-round Canadas in this area, perhaps because most of our still water is solid during parts of the winter.

This year, we haven’t yet been able to get close enough to shoot any of the courageous when they come in for a lay-over in opening water. But we’ve be lucky enough to do so in prior years, which is where these images came from.

(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Precious

March historically is our third-wettest month, after November and December. This March seems destined to keep or exceed its family standards. The lower parts of the woods are trapped in about one to two inches of ice and awash in two to three inches of water on top of the ice.

In fact, there is ice everywhere in the woods and it would be treacherous to walk them without hefty cleats chained to your boots.

The wooded streams are running fast, but often only noticeable by their gurgling – many of their bends and falls are invisible under an inch or more of ice.

The culverts that take our huge amounts of surface water under paths and roads are open hydrants 24 hours a day.

It’s all a reminder that one of Maine’s major resources is fresh water, something more precious than gold in the long run. (Brooklin, Maine) See also the image in the first Comment space.

In the Right Place: Gamboling

Warmer temperatures and rain have melted most of our snow. This is the time when the fields are bouncy and so are some of the White-Tailed Deer yearlings.

They gambol – chase each other, do four-legged leaps, flash their luxuriant namesakes, and make everyone wish we were young again.

But, the older deer seem to share our doubts about seeing the last of snow and cold; we’ll all wait until May to gambol.

(Brooklin, Maine) (Images reflect current activity, but were taken last year.)

In the Right Place: Heading North

Fickle March presented us with some feeble snow last night and is now raining on it to destroy the evidence with her favorite coverup, mud. It’s best to ignore her moods at times like this and think about how cheerful she can be, such as on Tuesday (March 19). That’s when we saw this beautiful old John Deere heading North, just off Naskeag Road.

(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Paws

The furry catkins of American Pussy Willow (Salix discolor) have been a welcome sight recently. They’re usually the first sign that winter is losing its grip, although we’re never surprised by wintery April days.

Named after the cat paws that they resemble, the furry catkins protect the male plants’ “flowers” from the cold. (The flowers have no petals or scent; they’re just stamens loaded with pollen.) The cat paws soon will disappear. Then, the stamens will cast massive amounts of dusty pollen to the wind, which has the job of delivering some to eagerly-awaiting female flowers and the rest to sneezing hikers. (Brooklin, Maine)

Inthe Right Place: Worm Time

Yesterday’s full moon was unusual for four reasons. First, it was what farmers called a “Worm Moon,” the moon that comes as the ground is softening enough for robins to find worms.

Second, it was a “Super Moon,” a full moon that appears during the moon’s closest approach to earth (at its perigee).

Third, it was a “Spring Moon,” which appeared on the first day of Spring, mere hours after the astronomical second that Spring (the March Equinox) arrived here; this was the first time in 19 years for such proximity.

And, finally, it was a “Day Moon,” rising above our horizon before sunset and during a very low tide.

The images in this post are of last night’s moon over Blue Hill Bay and over Naskeag Harbor.

(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Jig-Sawing

Old Man Winter’s grip is weakening. The sunny south side of Blue Hill is virtually devoid of snow and the sea ice in Blue Hill Bay is jig-sawing apart.

Naskeag Harbor, where our fishing vessels moor, is virtually free of ice. Here we see Dear Abbie: in her scallop dredging rig rolling in light chop there:

(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Being

It was a balmy 34 degrees (F) yesterday morning; the sun was warm to the cheek; the sea-scented air was delicious, and some of our neighbors at Amen Farm found satisfaction in just being.

So did we. (Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Resorts

As of Saturday (March 16), there still were hundreds of Common Eiders vacationing just outside Blue Hill Falls.

One day soon they’ll vanish north, but now they’re massed in a flotilla of black-trimmed white males and dark-barred brown females.

The “Falls” that attract these birds consist of fast whitewater tides within a rocky channel between Salt Pond and Blue Hill Bay. Eiders, our largest native ducks, are among the few birds that can swim in this fast water.

However, even they strain at times.

The tides surge into and out of the Pond and become a food funnel – sweeping up crabs and starfish and uncovering mollusks. In the winter, the fast water doesn’t freeze, making this place a far better winter resort than Mar-a-Lago, if you’re an Eider.

(Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Concept

Where do you go to find a pink flamingo wearing a leprechaun hat and celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in the snow? You go to Neighbor Judith Fuller’s place.

We join in her friendly message to all today, as we ponder the concept of Irish flamingos. (Brooklin, Maine)

In the Right Place: Emergence

Warmer temperatures and rain have been melting our snow fast.

This means that stone-cold bunnies are reappearing in gardens and lost wagon wheels are being found.

(Brooklin, Maine)