In the Right Place: In Memoriam

It’s Memorial Day, a time to remember and honor the military men and women who lost their lives in service to the United States of America.

Above, you see “Taps” being played at Arlington National Cemetery during a military burial ceremony for a friend and colleague of mine a few years ago. Traditionally, when “Taps” is being played at a military burial, it is performed by a single bugle or trumpet. Here, it’s being played by a member of the Marine Corps Band, since my friend served in the Corps and its Reserves.

The National Cemetery, the final resting place for almost 400,00 people, is located in Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. It was established during the Civil War on property confiscated from Confederate General Robert E. Lee, whose former mansion is visible on the distant hill in the image above. Below is the Marine Corps color guard that led the procession at the burial of my friend, whom I still honor.

(Images taken in Arlington, Virginia, on November 13, 2015.)

In the Right Place: When the Lilacs Bloom

A yearly treat here is watching WoodenBoat School’s small fleet emerge and begin to bloom again when the lilacs are doing the same thing.

As usual, WBS's alumni have been here for their annual two weeks of spring cleaning, helping to get the School ready for its opening on June 4 – getting boatbuilding classrooms, dormitories, and boats in shape for another glorious summer of teaching in the shops and on the water.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 27, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Hysteria

Here you see an older male red-winged blackbird sitting on one of the tallest cattails in his territories, puffing himself up as large as he can, and warning other males to stay away in a harsh, hypertensive voice.

As near as I can tell, this red-wing has four distinct territories, each with a nesting female in it. He may own the territories, but not the females. The female red-wings look like gussied-up sparrows:

They’re infamous for their infidelities with unpaired males who sneak in the “back doors” of their neighbors’ properties. Maybe that’s why the dominant males are often hysterical. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 21 and 27 [female], 2023.)

In the Right Place: Reassuring

It’s apple blossom time here. Most of the delicate white flowers and their pink-accented buds are appearing on ancient apple trees that no longer are used for fruit harvesting.

Nonetheless, on a fine spring day, the sight of a familiar, old apple tree still producing beautiful flowers can be very reassuring.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 24 and 25, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Try Wishing Upon a Star

One of the daintiest of our spring plants is blooming now in shaded and dappled parts of the woods. It’s the starflower plant, which looks a bit like a tiny tropical tree before its flowers bloom.

The plant has a Latin scientific name that is descriptive: Trientalis borealis (Raf.). Trientalis means “one-third of a foot,” which is about the plant’s mature height; borealis means “northern” or “from the north.” (Nonetheless, starflowers do grow in parts of the Midwest and the higher altitudes of the southern Appalachian Mountains.)

The starflower plant is a perennial herb that grows from thin, creeping rhizomes that allow it to live in the oddest places (see below). Its simple leaves occur in whorls of 5 to 9 at the tip of the stem. The flowers occur as a single bloom or sometimes 2 to 3 blooms on thin (almost invisible) stalks. The flowers are approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter and have 5 to 9 white petals.

Finally, if you’re a hopeful person, you might want to search for your lucky starflower and make a wish on it. “Lucky Stars” or “7-7s” are starflower plants that have a combination of seven leaves and a seven-petalled flower. They’re easier to find than four-leaf clovers. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 23 and 24, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Sacrifice

Basking painted turtles seem to complete the picture of a serene spring or summer pond. The problem with our painted turtles, however, is that they’re paranoid. As soon as they see or hear you, that perfect picture becomes an uninteresting bare rock (maybe decorated with turtle scat) and a ring spreading on dark water where the PT took a fast bellyflop.

Nonetheless, if you sacrifice the serenity and creep and crawl up to the pond, you sometimes get a quick glimpse of the turtles.

Maine’s subspecies is the Eastern painted turtle, Chrysemys picta picta, shown here. It’s the only subspecies with shell top (“carapace”) segments (“scutes”) that occur in virtually straight rows and columns. The other subspecies are the Western, Midland, and Southern PTs. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 22, 2022.)

In the Right Place: Rant of the Day

Here you see one of our most beautiful and interesting plants, especially at this lush time of the year. Yet, the most common name for this visual delight derogatorily focuses on its emission of a protective, sharp odor when it is damaged.

Yes, the primary common name for this plant is eastern skunk cabbage, although it never smells like skunk spray and is not a cabbage. Even its scientific name is derogatory: Symplocarpus foetidus, roughly meaning stinking compound fruit.

The plant has many pleasing attributes that could have been chosen when deciding on its name. Calling it a skunk cabbage seems to be like classifying Luciano Pavarotti merely as a fat singer. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 21, 2023.) I feel better now.

In the Right Place: Is There an Orthodontist in the House?

Here you see an unusual bird that looks like he has serious over-bite issues. He’s a male red crossbill, a type of finch with a special beak adaptation in which the mandibles are crossed at their tips.

Their namesake crossed beaks allow the species to extract seeds from unopened conifer cones and fruit. I was lucky enough to come across him in the deep woods yesterday while he was feeding two of his fledglings; the female was not in sight.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 21, 2023.)

In the Right Place: One by One

One of the joys of spring is to watch marsh ponds awakening from a mostly sleepy winter, changing day by day, plant by plant, animal by animal. Here you see the largest pond on the WoodenBoat School campus, where the flora and fauna have been transforming quickly.

Among many other developments, fragrant water lily pads are starting to rise to the surface and green clumps of arrow arum have emerged well over a foot out of the water. The pads arise fully formed in earthy colors and soon soon will be accompanied by scented flowers.

The arum’s beautiful arrow-headed leaves are now forming and soon will be large enough to make their plants bow gracefully as if looking into the waters from which they arise.

A muskrat (or is it two that look alike?) recently has been extremely busy chewing off succulent new stems and swimming them to what apparently is an underwater entrance to a den:

The first litter of muskrat kits usually is born in May; I hope to see  a family soon. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 19, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Patchy

This year’s spring molt among our white-tailed deer seems to be occurring unevenly. Some deer already have experienced a smooth transition from heavy gray coats to lighter/cooler reddish-brown ones; others – such as this doe – are still virtually all gray and so patchy that they almost appear to be mangy:

We seem to be having an unusually chilly May so far. I wonder if that is affecting the molt. Nonetheless, don’t worry about this patchy cutey; we see her frequently and she’s acting normally – too normally when she sneaks into our garden.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 17, 2023.)

In the Right Place: The End Is Near – and Blooming

The flowering crabapple trees guarding the entrance to historic Naskeag Cemetery are now blooming, as if presenting arms in full dress uniforms.

Ironically, the cemetery’s name, “Naskeag,” means “the end” in the language of the Abenaki Native Americans who lived here before European settlers arrived. The area is a peninsular, the end of land and the beginning of fishing waters.

The cemetery was located there hundreds of years ago and includes the remains of some very early settlers, including William Reed, an American militia Captain in the Revolutionary War. He died and was buried there in 1790. 

The settlers liked the Abenaki name: The area eventually became known as Naskeag Village on Naskeag Peninsular, which was reachable by Naskeag Road. There was a community there that had a school and attended Beth Eden Chapel that you see across Naskeag Road in the first image.

Beth Eden is a one-room church and meeting place that was completed in 1900 and is now used primarily for occasional ceremonies and programs. Named in 2001 to the National Register of Historic Places, the Chapel is listed as an example of late Victorian architecture. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 18 and 19 [closeup], 2023.)

In the Right Place: Bog Blooms

Rhodora blooms are appearing in our bogs, as you see from these images taken yesterday. These delicate flowers appear in the shady areas before their plants fully leaf-out, which seems to give them an interesting candelabra effect.

The plant (Rhododendron canadense), also known as Canada rosebay, is one of only two azaleas that are native to Maine, according to State reports.

The other is the endangered swamp (or “clammy”) azalea (Rhododendron viscosum). Azaleas, as you probably know, are deciduous members of the rhododendron genus. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 17, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Osprey Nest Report 4

Ozzie and Harriet seem to be on their way to having a family by next month. Harriet apparently has been brooding on eggs for at least 10 days – she spends most of her time hunkered down in the center of the nest, where I can’t see her.

Ozzie has been very attentive. Above, you see him bringing Harriet breakfast in bed last week. Below, you see him (in light rain) bringing home some siding to patch up their love nest. He also occasionally helps with the egg incubation when Harriet needs to stretch her wings.

The incubation period usually takes about 38 days before the fuzzy, red-eyed nestlings appear. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 13 and 15, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Skewered

Kousa dogwood trees have been blossoming this week. Although native to East Asia, the trees are fairly common here and some appear to have naturalized themselves in our woods. They are also known as Chinese dogwood, Japanese dogwood, and Korean dogwood.

What appear to be four white petals are actually four bracts spreading from below clusters of often-unnoticed yellow-green flowers. (In botany, a bract is a specialized leaf, usually associated with protecting a reproductive structure such as a flower.)

Kousa dogwoods (Cornus kousa) can be distinguished from our native flowering dogwoods (Cornus florida) by the Kousa’s pointed, rather than rounded, flower bracts. One explanation of the origin of the word “dogwood” is that the very hard wood was used to make “dogs” or “doggerwood” – Old English terms for a meat skewer.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 13, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Greatness

Here you see a great blue heron ascending. In flight, great blues lumber along on their huge, curling wings that can be more than six feet in length. They often fly quite high and resemble bald eagles when their trailing legs are not visible.

When standing erect, the birds can be more than four and one-half feet tall. While hunting in the coves, marshes, and fields, these birds are silent stalkers; they move slowly on their reed-like legs, then stand still. At a distance, they look like a curl of smoke.

Nonetheless, they’re among our sparest birds; they usually weigh less than six pounds, according to reports. Yet, they’re voracious and indiscriminate eaters: They seem to eat just about anything that will fit down their slim necks – including insects, mice, snakes, frogs, toads, eels, and of course fish.  

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 2, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Arisings and Arousals

Here you see the clear, rising tide seemingly and magically causing some of the rocky ledges of Blue Hill Bay to float.

The beauty of the scene belies the fact that our sea levels are rising dangerously due to climate change. Moreover, the speed of that sea rise is, itself, increasing even more dangerously.

Maine is vulnerable to sea level rises due to its long, relatively open coast. Measurements at nearby Bar Harbor show that the sea has risen more than 8 inches since 1950 and is now rising faster by about an inch every 8 years. Further acceleration is expected to increase the danger.

As I understand it, warming of the Gulf of Maine, alterations to the Atlantic Ocean’s circulation, and ice melt seem to be the biggest threats. The rate of ice melt has been increasing significantly since 1992 and changes to the waters’ circulation and temperature have been increasing the frequency and viciousness of storms, especially those blowing in from the northeast (“Nor’easters”).

It's past time to take climate change seriously and many Maine towns are doing so by doing such things as raising causeways and structures, building seawalls, replacing culverts, and forming planning committees to study longer-term activities that would mitigate and prevent the expected effects. (Images taken in Blue Hill, Maine, on May 11. 2023.)

In the Right Place: Oh Buoy

Our springs here are marked by the arrival of such welcome sights as migrating warblers, budding flowers, and Vulcan. I’m not referring to Vulcan, the Roman God of fire and forges, I’m referring to the moorings vessel Vulcan owned by Brooklin Marine, LLC. Here you see Vulcan on Thursday laying mooring buoys in Great Cove for the WoodenBoat School's fleet and visiting boats.

You may have noticed that Vulcan is not exactly graceful with a slick racing profile. But, she’s built for tough jobs and apparently does them well. I’m told that she has a drum winch that is rated for hoisting 10,000 pounds. Moorings need to be heavy to be secure.

The basic parts of a mooring setup start with an anchor weighing hundreds to thousands of pounds, depending on the boat and water conditions. Where the sea bottom is soft and the boat is not huge, a mushroom anchor usually will do the job, but many prefer more permanent anchors in the form of a block of granite or concrete with a galvanized (rust-proof) eyebolt on top.

Galvanized chains run from the anchors to the mooring buoys/balls. Unless the boat is large, a nylon rope-like pennant usually is attached to the buoy to be hooked up to the boat via shackles and swivels. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 11, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Squirrelly Situations

This image of a feisty red squirrel appeared yesterday in my monthly column in the Ellsworth American. Click on the image to enlarge it. T

o read the column about the problems that we have with these squirrels and those that they have with us, click here: http://www.5backroad.com/montly-column

In the Right Place: Morning in Maryland

We’re back in Maine and would like to share with you a few images from several refreshing morning walks that I took this week in Maryland’s Cabin John Regional Park, just to the north of Washington, D.C. The Park is now in dense, full leaf, unlike most of our Maine woods, which are just starting to leaf-out.

The Park is dominated by tall oaks and tulip poplar trees that emerge from a thick understory of smaller native and foreign trees and bushes. (There even are Chinese Princess trees [Paulownia tomentosa] in there.)

Cabin John Creek meanders slowly through the Park’s lush greenery. The 10.9-mile-long Creek is a Potomac River tributary that flows southward from Rockville, Maryland, to a culvert under the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, which allows the Creek to empty into the famous River.

Winding, switch-back trails run along the ridges above the Creek, providing hikers and trail bikers a view of the Creek and a good workout. May apples and Christmas ferns grow in profusion beside the trails

(Images taken in Cabin John, Maryland, on May 4, 5, and 8, 2023.)

NOTICE

In the Right Place has gone on vacation for about 10 days. Hope to see you again then.