In the Right Place: Tiny Lives Report IV

Here we have one of those delightful little beings who is heard more than seen. He is, after all, always drably dressed and only about 6 inches long. Yet, what a talented performer he is! He can make your day when you wake up to his song, or go to bed to his song, or walk with his song wafting in a fresh breeze, or get plinked by raindrops as he sings on a wet day.

He’s the aptly named song sparrow and he sings virtually all the time. His melodic nature was recognized in Latin by scholars who gave his species the scientific name Melospiza melodia. Even his slightly smaller mate sings, but not as frequently. It’s a musical family.

It's impossible to accurately describe the song sparrow’s theme song, the one  that we hear all summer. Forbush gave up and used Henry David Thoreau’s report of how “country people” described the song: “Maids! Maids! Maids! Hang up your teakettle-ettle-ettle” -- with the first three notes long but brisk and the last notes run together quickly. That does not nearly do this Top 10 Tune on the Bird Billboard justice.

And, this meister singer is not just a soloist. He’s been reported to come close and harmonize to the sound of music heard through an open window from a piano or radio. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine on April 23 and May 8, 2025.)

In the Right Place: To Our Mothers!

There’s nothing more important than motherhood in its fullest sense for us and the many other beings who are born needing life’s primal necessity, nurturing.

Perhaps, there’s also nothing more beatific than a quietly proud mother nurturing her young well.

Happy Mothers’ Day! (Leighton Archive images taken in Brooklin, Maine.)

In the Right Place: Furry Projections Department

Here’s a bit of a rarity: a North American river otter in repose. Usually, these otters are furry perpetual motion machines.

When he sensed me sneaking up on him, this guy turned my way, flared his mustache in distain – click! – and disappeared into the pond with a long, lithe “slurp.” I sat down and waited for half an hour and he never popped up. (There are burrows with underwater entrances all around the pond; he probably went back to sleep in one of them.)

I’m assuming that this otter is a male because it's about the end of mating season for his kind and I’d like to believe that he’s tuckered out from wandering from pond to pond and mating uproariously with all the females he could find. (Hope that’s not too much psychological projection on my part.)

(Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 8, 2025.)

In the Right Place: Worth Bearing in Mind

The evolving wildlife professionals’ advice on what to do when encountering a black bear is the subject of my latest column, which is appearing in the current print edition of the Ellsworth American (and in the May 2, 2025, digital edition). 

The above image of a local black bear that I encountered appears with the column; click on it to enlarge it. To read the column about what to do if you meet a black bear, use this link: https://www.5backroad.com/montly-column

In the Right Place: Being in Line

In a fog,

Sometimes the intended way is made virtually mandatory:

And, sometimes the intended way is strongly suggested.

But, often, the intended way remains befogged:

Above, you see the Brooklin Boat Yard pier at Center Harbor in yesterday’s fog, the crosswalk and parking area at Naskeag Harbor in Tuesday’s fog, and the Town Dock at Naskeag Harbor on Tuesday.

I’ll soon be taking a walk in the woods in this morning’s fog where there is no intended destination. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 6 [Naskeag] and 7 [Center], 2025.)

In the Right Place: Coastal Classics

A foggy day in Brooklin town,
Had me low and had me down,
I viewed the morning with alarm,
The pier and boathouse had lost their charm.

How long, I wondered, could this thing last?

I apologize for those slight lyric changes to lyricist Ira Gershwin, not to mention composer George Gershwin and the legendary vocalists and jazz instrumentalists who made “A Foggy Day” an American Songbook classic. I’m just wondering how long our current coastal daily fogs can last.

However, let’s keep in mind that, despite its depressing beginning, the famous song turns out to be about a very happy experience – as are most coastal classic foggy mornings in Down East Maine. See also the image in the first Comment space. (Images taken on the WoodenBoat Campus in Brooklin, Maine, May 6, 2025.)

In the Right Place: O-Nest Report III

Life has been difficult for Ozzie and Harriet since you last read about them here. Above, you see Harriet just about to leave her nest to defend it against a home invader — let’s call him Putin. Putin keeps driving Harriet off the nest and invading her home:

Ozzie always arrives in a hurry and some vicious fights have ensued, including one in which Putin lost almost half of his tail, as you see in the above-right image. Here’s Ozzie beginning a chase:

This is not rare behavior. Aggressive bachelor ospreys returning to breed for the first time sometimes attempt to take over an established nest that has taken years to build. It sure saves time and effort to steal rather than build. However, it’s also a good way to get yourself killed if the homeowners are still vibrant raptors.

Nonetheless, home invasion can be a successful tactic when the nest owners have lost some of their rapturing capabilities. Survival of the fittest is still the name of the game here. A major threat to Ozzie and Even if Putin is thwarted eventually, there is the possibility that his persistent attacks could prevent successful egg-laying and brooding by Harriet.. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 5, 2025.)

In the Right Place: Buoy Oh Buoy

Our spring sights include the appearances of warblers, ospreys, and Vulcan. As for the latter, I’m not referring to the Roman god of fire and forges, although he certainly would be a fantastic sighting for the life list. I’m referring to the moorings vessel Vulcan owned by Brooklin Marine, LLC:. Here you see her on Saturday, when her crew was laying boat moorings in Great Cove:

The moorings apparently are for the WoodenBoat School's fleet, visiting boats, and perhaps the boats of some local residents. During the summer, the Cove is a breath-taking tableau of bobbing and swinging recreational boats and often one or more high-masted coastal cruisers.

Vulcan is not as graceful-looking as most of the boats that will be tied up to those moorings she’s installing. But, she’s built for tough jobs and apparently does them well. I’m told that the drum winch on her bow is rated for hoisting 10,000 pounds.

The basic parts of a mooring setup start with an anchoring object that could weigh hundreds to thousands of pounds, depending on the boat that it will secure and the water conditions. Where the sea bottom is soft and the boat is not huge, a mushroom anchor might do the job nicely, but many prefer more permanent “anchors” in the form of a heavy block of granite or concrete with an eyebolt on top.

Chains run from the anchors’ eyebolts to the mooring buoys/balls. Unless the boat is large, a nylon rope-like pennant can be attached to the buoy to be hooked up to the boat via shackles and swivels. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 3, 2025.)

In the Right Place: A Telling Long Tail

This is the second painted turtle that I’ve seen in our ponds this year. He was trying to bask in yesterday’s on-again-off-again sun and chilled air and, accordingly, he seemed a bit grim, himself. (I’m guessing that this is a male because of the relatively long tail. Among other sexual differences, female PTs have shorter, stubbier tails to facilitate mating.)

Painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) have existed for at least 15 million years, according to fossil records. These common natives to the United States evolved into four geographical subspecies during the last glacial age, which ended almost 12 thousand years ago.

Maine’s subspecies, shown here, is the Eastern painted turtle, Chrysemys picta picta; it’s the only subspecies with shell (“carapace”) segments (“scutes”) that are patterned in virtually straight rows and columns. The other subspecies are the Western, Midland, and Southern PTs.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 3, 2025.)

In the Right Place: Passing the Smell Test

Here’s a white-tailed deer quartet that I snuck up on in yesterday’s light rain. A couple of them had just realized that I had slipped within their comfort zone:

The eyes of a startled or amazed deer are fascinating; they seem to enlarge. You have to wonder what thoughts they have at such a time. See, e.g., the eyes of this yearling, which also may have some genetic (piebald/leucism) whitening issues:

As for the weather, white-tails have a reduced ability to scent humans at a distance in the rain, according to reports. However, other reports indicate that humidity enhances deer olfactory systems’ ability to detect scent molecules. Since rain increases humidity, the tracking advantages of rain may be something of a trade-off in many situations.

Nonetheless, rain usually makes tracking deer quieter, which seems to provide an edge over dry-weather tracking, albeit sometimes an uncomfortable one. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 2, 2025.)

In the Right Place: Tiny Bird Report III

Female ruby-crowned kinglets such as this deserve to be crowned winners for laying perhaps the largest clutch of eggs of any tiny bird who runs a tiny nest – they can lay up to 12 eggs, according to reports. Yet, despite their names and accomplishments, female ruby-crowned kinglets have no crowns. It doesn’t seem right.

Male ruby-crowned kinglets have the red crowns. (To be fair, these males do hide their crowns most of the time, but they’ll flare them up and get majestic when they see an attractive female or otherwise get excited.)  And don’t forget that both the male and female of our only other kinglet (small king) species, the orange-crowned kinglet, have crowns. But not the forgotten female ruby-crowned kinglet, who is royal in her special, tiny, 4.25” way.

April Postcards From Down East Maine

April here this year threw everything she had at us — sun, snow, rain, wind, fog, cold, warm, clear skies, cloudy skies, and a lot of indeterminates. Meanwhile, our flora and fauna flourished with buds, early flowers, the return of migrant birds, and the seeming joy of all-year resident wild life.

As usual, we begin our Postcards with the monthly view of four iconic scenes for future reference. The views of Mount Desert Island (where Acadia National Park is) and the white house on Harbor Island deserve contrasting images this month:

The views of the near-mountain named Blue Hill and the old red boat house in Conary Cove look best in sunshine and amid evergreens in mostly-leafless April:

Many of us will remember April of 2025 for its magical spring snowstorm that swept in one day, covered spring growth in crystals, made everything dazzle in the next day’s sun, and melted away almost before we knew what had happened:

As for wildlife, the April resident standouts included our resolute white-tailed deer herds that bedded down in rain and enjoyed making shadows on the sunny new grass. Porcupines came down from the winter trees to nibble grass that had newly-turned green, painted turtles and North American river otters appeared in ponds, and resident black-capped chickadees kept a sharp eye on their territories while migrant birds started to arrive.

The big news among migrant wildlife was that Ozzie and Harriet returned to their nearby nest once again. These osprey (fish hawks) busied themselves in April by copulating often, fixing up their huge nest with new branches and moss, and defending their home from jealous ospreys who can’t afford waterfront property:

Canada geese flocks made many stopovers on their way north and we might have convinced a great blue heron to stay and be a warm weather resident.

Incoming wood ducks loved to parade in the ponds while rain drops plinked the water around them.

Finally as to fauna, April is when the glass eel season begins in earnest here. Large nets are spread at the mouths of the streams that these migrating baby American eels (“elvers”) use to get to the freshwater ponds and lakes in which they’ll mature.

As for flora, April is when much of our vegetation starts to awaken and a few traditional spring plants burst on the scene in dramatic flowerings. In terms of trees, the biggest contrast is the new growth on our mighty white pines compared to the flowerheads on red maple trees:

Two favored spring bushes that are famous for producing beautiful flowers before they grow leaves are forsythias, which have small yellow flowers, and star magnolias, where the white flowers begin as pussy-willow-like buds and burst into shooting stars.

Of course, it wouldn’t be spring if it weren’t trumpeted in by daffodils and sprinkled with wild bluets

Around and in the vernal pools, orbs of Japanese sweet coltsfoot and spires of skunk cabbage were the usual early risers that produced life-saving nectar for our first pollinating insects, while young fiddle-headed ferns sprung to attention and began to unfurl.

On the working waterfront, the season for hand-harvesting divers’ scallops ended in April. Here, sporting the blue and white international diving flag, is a fishing vessel used as a platform for winter scallop harvesting by a diver in a wetsuit and underwater breathing apparatus:

April also is the month when many Maine towns hold their Annual Meetings at which the townspeople make community-related decisions for the future:

Finally, and perhaps most spectacularly, there was the April full moon that we never saw fully. It snowed that night and the sky was full of fleeing storm clouds. But, the full moon had plenty of luminescence and shone through those storm clouds to create a night-time (2 a.m.) snowscape of extraordinary drama:

(All images in this post were taken in Down East Maine during April 2025.)

In the Right Place: Maple Marvels

Some male red maple tree flowers have opened recently and their leaf buds are evident at branch tips. Apparently, depending on their inclination, red maples (Acer rubrum) can produce both male and female flowers, or just male flowers, or just female flowers.

Male flowers, as you see, have long stamens that extend beyond the petals; their tips will get covered in yellow pollen, which the wind will whisk away. In the female flower, the stigma extends past the petals, ready to catch some of that pollen. The female flower then produces the tree “fruit” in the form of double samaras or “spinners” (winged seeds that “helicopter” to the ground). (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on April 29, 2025.)

In the Right Place: Tiny Bird Report II

Here you see an eastern palm warbler standing tall – all 5 inches of him – among the blossoming maple tree flowerheads. This bird usually is among our earliest spring warblers.

The eastern subspecies (Setophaga palmarum hypochrysea) that we have here usually is called the “yellow palm warbler” due to its bright yellow underparts, whereas the western subspecies (Setophaga palmarum palmarum) usually is called the “brown palm warbler” due to its much drabber, gray-brown appearance.

The yellow palm warbler’s most significant characteristic was perhaps described best by Edward Howe Forbush in his incomparable Birds of Massachusetts and Other New England States: “It flits from bush to ground … with its loose-hung tail almost continually wagging with methodic regularity, not from side to side like that of a dog, but up and down like that of a Phoebe, and with the same easy unhurried motion.” (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on April 24, 2025; sex assumed.)

In the Right Place: Misery Loves Company

I was out and about a bit yesterday in the cold and rain and it was miserable. I came across a bevy of white-tailed deer, does and their yearlings, and my misery was compounded by envy.

The deer were resting and dozing off and seemingly thoroughly enjoying the dousing of a Maine April shower. They appeared to have some of their protective winter fat left and still were wearing their heavy winter coats, which L.L. Bean has been unable to replicate.

The winter coats of white-tails have two layers of fur, the outer one of which is designed to trap air for insulating heat and to shed rain; their skin also produces an oil that coats the coat hairs and makes them more water repellant.

But, these coats are not completely waterproof; a hard, drenching rain can make our deer miserable, too. I wasn’t so envious as to wish that on them.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on April 27, 2025.)

In the Right Place: Tiny Bird Report, I

This is the first of a series of occasional collections of a few interesting facts about some of our smallest feathered cohabitants that I encounter in the wild. I’ll eventually get to some of the flashy tiny birds, but it’s only right that I begin the series with the plain-dressed black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), who usually gets to achieve about 5 inches in length. This bird is seen by more people on Maine license plates than on branches, which is part of a little-discussed embarrassment.

The black-capped chickadee apparently was intended to be the Maine state bird when Maine legislators were choosing one in 1927. They then designated “chickadee” as our winged symbol, apparently thinking that black-caps were the only chickadees in the state. But, ahem, we also have the less common boreal chickadees.  Attempts by Audubon society members and others to correct the birding faux pax have failed, apparently due to black-capped chickadees having very little political pull.

(Related interesting fact: By the time that Maine was ready to name its state tree, however, our legislators had learned their lesson. In 1946, instead of picking simply the “pine tree” to symbolize this “Pine Tree State,” they specifically named the eastern white pine tree [Pinus strobus] as the state tree to avoid confusion with the three other native pine species that we have.)

As for Maine’s intended state bird, it gets its species differentiating name, “black-capped,” from that sailor’s cap that it likes to wear pulled down low over its ears and eyes. It gets its bird group common name, “chickadee,” from its call, which sounds like a kazoo playing variations on a “chick-a-dee” theme.

The more “dees” at the end of the black-cap’s call, the more alarmed or annoyed the bird is. Five “dees” (“chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee!”) often signifies that a bird-eating hawk or a cat is in the area. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on April 14, 2025.)

In the Right Place: Mini Milky Way

This is not a fat and furry pussy willow catkin; it’s a fat and furry star magnolia bud that has been visited by one of our first spiders of the year. This bud soon will be one of a small, dense Milky Way of bursting white stars that appear before the plant’s leaves do. Here’s a Leighton Archive image of a star magnolia flower in full bloom:

Star magnolias (Magnolia stellata) are one of the smallest magnolias. They usually are cultivated in bush or small tree forms that produce their showy flowers in early spring. The plant reportedly is from the highlands of the Japanese island of Honshu and was introduced into the United States in the 1860’s. (First image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on April 24, 2025.)

In the Right Place: What’s in a Name, Deer Department

Here you see two female white-tailed deer and their offspring at first light yesterday. I realized when seeing them that I have no idea why those creatures are called “does” and “yearlings” and other age descriptors such as “fawns” and “bucks.” “So, I did some quick online research, which I share here with those who might be interested.

White-tails usually are born in May or June and called “fawns” then. It’s a lovely description that apparently derives from Old and Middle English words meaning “glad” and “joyful,” which is what a fawn usually is and what it often makes us feel like. (Thus, in cynical modern English, if you “fawn over someone,” you gush about and praise the person too much.)

Somewhat strangely, white-tails are called “yearlings” at about 1.5 years old, the fall following their birth. This is when, on average, they become capable of sexual activity, although they have not fully matured physically otherwise.

I found no reliable etymological reason for calling deer that are older than a year “yearlings.” It appears that it just seems logical to call a deer that is older than a year, but younger than two years a “yearling.” So be it. However, if that 1.5-year-old white-tail is a male and has small bumps on his head, he is likely to be called a “button buck.”

The names “doe” for a female deer and “buck” for a male apparently are mere derivatives of “da” (Old English for female deer) and “bucca,” “bukkon,” and “bookkr” (Old English and Germanic for male deer). Curiously, in Britain now, it’s apparently more common to call a mature male deer, especially a red deer, a “stag.”

I found no clear explanation of when to begin calling a deer a “doe” or a “buck.” White-tails reportedly don’t completely physically mature until 4 or 5 years of age and most males don’t peak in neck blending, frontal body mass, and antler spread until 5.5 to 6.5 years. But, generally, white-tails that are two years or older apparently are called “does” and “bucks.” (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on April 24, 2025.) Click on the image to enlarge it.

In the Right Place: O-Nest Report II

Harriet arrived! She seems to be in excellent shape after her long migration north. I first saw her on Monday. Here she is imperiously reigning over her nest yesterday. Both she and Ozzie have been very busy since she arrived. Their two principal activities have been almost-constant copulating when they’re together and fixing up the nest. It seems that they’ve gotten their evolutionary priorities right. 

Ozzie has been doing most of the fixer-up foraging for repair materials: principally collecting new branches for the nest’s siding and gobs of moss for its new floor. Here he is returning with a branch. Both Ozzie and Harriet also have been rearranging some of the older branches that form the almost 100-foot-high nest. The old place had gotten a bit catawampus from the winter winds.   

Harriet already has been spending most of her time in the nest, while Ozzie is leaving it more and more. This is typical. Yesterday, for the first time that I’ve heard, she started what’s called osprey “solicitation calling” while Ozzie was away. This calling is a form of routine, high-pitched begging (some would say “nagging”) by females for food and/or attention from their mates:

The females seem to know that they’ll be spending much of their time in the nest and usually will be dependent on the males’ delivery of the fish that will feed them and the pair’s nestlings. The females’ initial soliciting may be an evolved attempt to establish a necessary routine with their males before life for everyone gets more complicated.

The solicitation calls clearly are distinct from alarm calls that nest-sitting females make when their home is invaded by a rogue osprey, bald eagle, high-climbing raccoon, or other intruder. The male ospreys often are a bit slow to come to their mates when they hear a solicitation, but they come lickety-split if they hear an alarm.

Both male and female osprey homeowners will attack an invader ferociously with everything they have, especially when nestlings are cowering at the nest bottom. Some osprey parents have been known to die doing so. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on April 21 and 23, 2025.)

In the Right Place: The Return of Happiness

Here, bobbing eagerly in yesterday’s light rain, are the first daffodils that I’ve seen blooming in the neighborhood. Daffodils always seem as happy as puppies to be back.

Daffodils usually are the first popularly-known planted flowers to bloom after the cold gray of winter. Thus, they’ve come to symbolize rebirth, resurrection, and/or hope for many. They’re perennials of various species in the amaryllis family, which makes them part of the narcissus genus.

Many people call them “jonquils,” but, as I understand it, jonquils are a specific species (Narcissus jonquilla) within the genus and “daffodil” is the collective name for all of the species that look ready to play something joyful on their frilled trumpets.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on April 22, 2025; background eliminated in first image.)