[NOTE: August here in the nation’s self-designated “Vacationland” is THE BIG MONTH. Be prepared for many images in our comprehensive visual review of our August scenes and activity.]
As usual, we start with images of the local vistas that we record monthly through the year. Here are the August views of Mount Desert Island , as was seen from Brooklin’s Amen Ridge; the old red boathouse in Blue Hill’s Conary Cove; the summer house on Brooklin’s Harbor Island, and Blue Hill at the end of Blue Hill Bay:
We’ll move now from some of the well-travelled areas to examples of Down East’s hidden trails and byways that were especially inviting to knowledgeable hikers, cyclists, and (in some cases) motorists during August:
The state of stream flows and ground water levels always is a concern in August, when there can be dry or even drought conditions here. But not this year. This year, there was ample rain and the streams and ponds generally stayed at acceptable levels:
The essence of high-summer is in the green fields turning dusky and becoming crowded with white, yellow, and purple flowers that attract the last of the butterflies. This year, the August fields contained an abundance of white Queen Anne’s lace and daisy fleabane; yellow goldenrod, black-eyed Susans, and tansy, and purple meadowsweet, bull thistle, and loosestrife, among other last-of-the-summer blooms. But, along the field edges, the wild blackberries were ripening.:
August is when you can tell how good the fall apple crop will be, and all signs pointed to a bumper crop. The same was true for the rose hip crop that was maturing on beach rose bushes as the flowers were disappearing:
We had a relatively cool and wet August, which meant that some of the stranger flora appeared, including Indian pipes (a colorless wildflower) and various fungi including large red-belted polypores acting like shelves on trees, small scarlet waxy cap mushrooms, and yellow and white coral fungi.
Among the cultivated flora, the many August standouts included sunflowers, tiger lilies, and viburnum bushes:
On the fauna front, August is when the young wildlife come of age and start to learn the ways of their worlds. We had a good birthing of white-tailed deer fawns this year; they blend well into the white-speckled August fields. Other young mammals exploring their new worlds included newly-born eastern cottontail rabbits.
The fields of August always are good classrooms for young wild turkeys who learn from their moms and aunts how to find seeds and pounce on insects. In the nests above them, there still was at least one fledgling osprey who hadn’t learned to fish yet. She returned regularly to the family nest and begged until Dad brought her a fish (after he had eaten the nutritious head).
Other fishing birds that were very active in August included great blue herons, snowy egrets and herring gulls. But we must never forget our seed-eating black-capped chickadees, the Maine State Bird. They’re very active in August, even though they wear their winter clothes all summer.
Finally, as to fauna, we turn to the insects. Among the two most important are the monarch butterflies and dragonflies. The August monarchs, whose recent ancestors migrated here in the spring, produced the caterpillars that will pupate into the last Maine generation of the year — the generation that will migrate to Mexico and reproduce there to begin a new cycle. The dragonflies consume millions of mosquitos and other annoying pests and some migrate in August and September, but not blue dashers such as the one shown below.
On the waterfront, August is a busy month here for classic windjammer visits, lobster fishing, and recreational boating. As for windjammers, five of them overnighted in Great Cove during the month in varying weather. Usually, their passengers come ashore and explore the renowned WoodenBoat School and Publications campus there. Here are the August visitors:
American Eagle
Angelique
Mary Day
J.&E. Riggin
Stephen Taber
As for the working harbor, you’ll see below the August portraits of six of our resident fishing vessels at rest after hauling lobster traps:
Blue Sky and Judith Ann
Dear Abbie:
Dream On
Meghan Dee
Tarrfish
I should mention that this year the Town of Brooklin added a new boat landing and docking float at Naskeag Harbor to assist fishermen and the public at large. Here’s Tarrfish using it:
As for the recreational waterfront, the first Saturday of August is the day for the Annual Eggemoggin Reach Regatta for wooden boats, which ends in Great Cove. This year, the race was socked-in by fog, but that show went on as it virtually always does:
Nonetheless, there were very spectacular days — sunny and foggy — in Great Cove during Augusr. That’s where the WoodenBoat School sailing classes take place, exotic vessels visit, and well-balanced individuals glide.
Finally, we come to the month’s full moon. It’s called The Sturgeon Moon, the name Native Americans gave it because those fish run in August. Like the fish, this year’s August full moon was difficult to see. We had fog and haze during the three nights and dawns that it was supposed to be full to the human eye, but there was one short period when the sky cleared.
(All images in this post were taken in Down East Maine during August of 2024.)