In the Right Place: Killers on the Loose

More bad news: It looks like we’re going to have an abundant crop of Asian Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) berries this year. The red fruits are just now emerging from their yellow husks in beautiful galaxies of future harm. They soon will be converted to widely-distributed bird poop that propagates the loathsome plant all too well.

This non-native plant is a tree and bush killer, and its lethal propagation has proved impossible to control in Maine and other parts of the United States. Its sale is prohibited here, but the State admits that it has lost the control war. The plant uses its sinuous vines like trained pythons that squeeze to death the trees and bushes that are their hosts. It’s all about competing for sun and nutrients.

Asian Bittersweet is a reminder of the dangers of basing an environmental choice on the impulsive pursuit of beauty and/or the mistaken notion that diversity for diversity’s sake is always a good idea. The plant was introduced here in the 19th Century to bring variety and spectacular fall colors to gray winter landscapes. As a result, many trees and bushes will never be green again.

There is a native version of bittersweet, aptly named American Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens). It’s environmentally innocuous, and perhaps that’s why it’s not as successful in propagating itself as its prolific Asian cousin. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 12, 2023.)

In the Right Place: It’s Hooting Season

This image of a great horned owl appears in my monthly column in the current Ellsworth American with an explanation of the unusual circumstances in which the photograph was taken. 

To read the column about these owls and the strange things that they do in October, click here: http://www.5backroad.com/montly-column

In the Right Place: Mixed Blessings

This summer and fall have been abnormally warm and wet, conditions that have prolonged the life of our bogs, swollen our streams, and filled our ponds:

It’s a blessing compared to last year. At about this time of year then, 11.14 percent of Maine was experiencing abnormal dryness, according to U.S. Drought Monitor data. There is none reported now. This year’s wet warmth has its positive aspects, but I’m worried about what might happen if we get a sudden freezing spell. Many trees are still holding onto leaves and apparently are still circulating fluids. 

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 8, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Snakes in the Grass

I’ve seen at least one Common Garter Snake on the prowl during each of the past four days. They sometimes are hard to see among fallen leaves – until they move and make the fallen leaves rustle softly, as this one did:

These reptiles (Thamnophis sirtalis) are Maine’s most commonly encountered snakes, according to the State’s “Species Spotlight” on them. The ones that I’m seeing may be headed upland to find the right size real estate for overwintering, maybe a choice rodent burrow, ant mound, or root tunnel.

On the other hand, our ground remains reasonably damp and the weather has been relatively warm, which leads me to believe that earthworms are still active. Maybe the snakes are just being opportunistic. Earthworms account for 60-95 percent of this snake’s diet, according to that report.

After one or two overnight frosts, however, the snakes should settle down for a sleep, but they’ll come back out occasionally, on warm winter days. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 9, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Good Times

Yesterday was both clear and cloudy at the same time, which is a paradox that happens when the fat members of the stratocumulus family breeze into town for a reunion.

A good time was had by all, including us spectators. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on September 9, 2023.)

In the Right Place: An Omen?

Another apparent Climate Warming and Wetting surprise is happening now: Our Viburnum cultivar bushes are producing spring flowers again, but in the fall, as you see here. Is this an omen of bad things to come or just a nice result of a strange spring and summer?

These double file bushes (Viburnum plicatum f. tomenosum) are turning their beautiful fall burgundy color in a timely manner, but the flowering is unprecedented for them. For decades, these bushes only produced flowers in the spring through June, followed by the summer red fruit and fall purple foliage.  Not now. Oh well, if the world is going to hell, a flowered path might help.

There reportedly are over 150 species of viburnum, several of which are native to North America and were used by Native Americans and European settlers for food and tea. This double file species, however, is a native of Asia that has been cultivated widely in the United States. When abandoned, it sometimes naturalizes itself. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 8, 2023.) See also the image in the first Comment space.

In the Right Place: Marble, Porcelain, and Pewter

This morning is the fourth day in a row that we’ve awakened to overcast and fog. The weather tellers say that we might see partial sun by afternoon. You have to get used to shades of daily gray here on the coast. Nonetheless, it’s not that bad for those of us who worship light in all of its manifestations, especially light’s infinite effects on the appearance of sea water.

At Naskeag point, for example, Harbor Island’s tall spruce and balsam fir trees can cast black reflections that make parts of the snug harbor’s waters appear to be rippling black and white marble:

Yet, peering into nearby Great Cove and beyond, the same waters on the same day can appear to be an unlikely composite of milky porcelain and polished pewter:

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 6, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Outdoor and Indoor Art

The annual mooring gear outdoor art exhibit has appeared on the WoodenBoat School Campus.

This functional abstract expressionism – so free, yet neat – counterbalances the School’s annual marine architecture encasement, in which artful vessels are enclosed for the winter in a post-and-panel shelter:

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine on October 4, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Seeing Red

Winterberry fruits seem to have come out early and bountifully this year. Some of our shrubs look as if they have been blasted by red shot. Maybe it’s because of our relatively wet and warm spring and summer. When the leaves disappear, winterberry’s red blush on the gray landscape will be a pick-me-up.

Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) is native to Maine and grows wild here in acidic soils, especially those that are damp or wet, such as roadside embankments and marsh edges.  The plant’s berries are among the last to be eaten by birds in the winter, apparently because they are less nutritious than the other foods that are consumed first.

However, the winterberry fruits are reported to be the ultimate survival foods for late-wintering American robins, bluebirds, brown thrashers, cardinals, catbirds, cedar waxwings, grosbeaks, and thrushes, among other birds. Mice and raccoons also reportedly gobble the berries in winter. For humans, it’s another story: The uncooked berries apparently are toxic to some of us and dogs, cats, and horses. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 4 and 6, 2023.)

In the Right Place: The Last Schooner?

Here we see the good schooner American Eagle as the first light reached her in Great Cove yesterday morning, where she overnighted.

She sailed out with a fair wind at about 11 a.m. yesterday. She’s on a four-night fall color trip, according to her schedule. She probably will have been the last coastal cruiser that we see this year.

The Eagle is a 90-foot, high-riding schooner out of Rockland, Maine. She was launched in 1930 as the Andrew & Rosalie, the last fishing schooner built in Gloucester, Massachusetts. In 1941, during World War II, she was patriotically renamed American Eagle.

She fished until 1983 and then went through difficult times until she was totally renovated in 1986 as a tourist coastal cruiser. She has since become a National Historic Landmark. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 4, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Requiem for the Lily Pads

The pads of fragrant water lilies live quiet summer lives in the shadows of their plants’ beautiful floating flowers, and then they die lonely deaths in the fall, weeks after the flowers have gone.

Some pads just darken quickly and slip submissively into the murky depths at this time of year. But others silently protest, curling and twisting on the surface and eventually turning into colorful abstractions that lie just below the water’s surface for days, shrinking but not sinking.

They become more interesting than they ever were; but, eventually, even they slip away like our memories of summer’s good times. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 3, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Something’s Amiss

Here you see an adult male White-Faced Meadowhawk Dragonfly during his last days on earth. (This species [Sympetrum obtrusum] is not known to migrate, according to reports.)

Only the males of this species have red bodies and only the adult males look like they were hit in the face with a cream pie. That is, as with some other animals, the common name for this dragonfly only describes the more dramatic mature male.

The red juvenile male has no white on the face and all the females of the species are yellowish-green all over. Yet, both sexes and all ages are called White-Faced Meadowhawks. (Something’s amiss in the naming here, like “mankind” including women and children and “ladybug” including males and young, but I digress.)

All of these dragonflies are small, usually getting to no more than 1.5 inches in length, but they’re among the most ferocious creatures in the animal kingdom relative to size – they’ll catch, kill, and eat almost any soft-bodied insect that will mostly fit into their mouths (including mosquitoes, black flies, midges, and flying ants), and they’ll eat hundreds of them daily. They’re good to have around, no matter what they’re called.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 1 and 2, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Ancient Airs and Dances

October is the time to see the ancient architecture of old apple trees as the dropping leaves reveal the trees’ secrets. We monitor this clutch of beauties at the WoodenBoat School year-round, but they are at their most interesting now, seemingly line dancing over a crest. (Or is it contra dancing?)

Nearby, the queen of the group has been allowed to celebrate as she wishes and cast large shadows:

Based on the history of their land, it would appear that these trees are at least 100 years old or near that point. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 1, 2023.)

September Postcards From Down East Maine

September is our most poignant month. It’s when we have to let go of summer, the time of year that may be Maine’s reason for being. When the overture to fall is good, and this September it mostly was, we first feel the change in the crispier, clearer air, and seemingly see deeper into the daylight. Unless, of course, we’re experiencing Maine’s famous September fog, which can make us see deeper into ourselves.

This year, there was a special exception to the September blue-sky-or-fog-choice. Atlantic Storm Lee, a hurricane wannabe, lurched up the east coast doing damage wherever she went. At one point, she was headed directly at us and storm clouds collected here. But, she veered off and we felt only the effects of her swishing skirts — pounding rain and fairly high winds that blew down a few trees. However, she didn’t do large-scale damage here.

On the positive side, Lee’s rains and a fairly wet summer kept our wooded streams flowing strongly, our ponds high, and our woods lush.

This September featured two special events involving the classics. That is, we received a “Roll-In” of 20 vehicles from the Down East Model T Ford Club of America and a “Sail-In” of nine coastal cruisers from the Main Windjammer Association. The Sail-In occurred on a foggy-rainy day and some of these windjammers visited Great Cove at other times of the month.

On the working waterfront, our lobster fishing was in what one veteran fisherman called “The September slump,” which is when catches are light and there are a significant number of foggy days.

On the educational waterfront, part of the poignancy of September is that classes at the famed WoodenBoat School here end in the last few days of the month and their fleet of small boats — the small classrooms for learning the fundamentals of seamanship — are pulled from the water for storage. During the month, however, the sight of these small boats darting around Great Cove and even moored there in fog and sun always was a reassuring reminder that it was still summer.

September wildlife highlights involve migrants and residents. The month’s departures of the migratory birds and insects that play a large part in making our summer into SUMMER is another element of the month’s poignancy. We’ve most likely seen the last of this year’s regal monarch butterflies, their brightly striped caterpillars, and their chrysalis hatcheries. The month’s last generation of monarchs is on the way to Southern California and Mexico.

Similarly, most of the ospreys and their new families that were raised in Maine have begun their dangerous flights south, some destined for as far as South America. Here you see the last image taken of June, the youngest and most timid of the three ospreys that we watched being raised nearby. She kept returning to her birth nest and begging for food until almost the end of the month before (we hope) her instincts overcame her fear and she flew south.

As for our resident wildlife, the velvety antlers of our white-tailed deer appeared in September, the wild turkeys assembled larger roving congregations, and our local male pileated woodpecker staked out his territory again with some serious pounding that had woodchips flying.

Finally, the flora: September is when the wild blackberries ripen and become the perfect snack on a crisp day. Many of our wild (abandoned) apple trees lost their leaves during the month, making their tart, ripening fruit stand out on the old, gnarled limbs. Also dramatic in September are the ripened Northern Ash Tree berries that old-timers say predict a harsh winter.

However, what got our attention as September’s days dwindled down were the previews of what must come: the prematurely reddened maple leaves that start to fall singularly every now and then and the cinnamon fern that becomes a bold bronze memorial before it curls and dies away.

(Images taken in Down East Maine during September 2023.)

In the Right Place: Trash Talk

Yesterday, when this image was taken, was the last day of WoodenBoat School classes for 2023. Another sad reminder of how quickly good times pass.

Above, you see, from an unusual southern perspective, the WBS BoatShop building, which is over 100 years old and still has its original slate roof. (It was primarily a huge stable on an estate.) This view discloses the kind of unique trash that the WBS boatbuilding classes generate. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on September 29, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Familiar Visitors

Yesterday morning was mostly overcast and there was little wind, but we had three coastal cruisers enchanting Great Cove: “Angelique” and “Lewis R. French,” both of which overnighted from the previous evening, and “Mary Day,” which stopped by for a visit just before mid-day. We’ll show “Angelique” and “Lewis” in this post and maybe get to “Mary” in a day or so.

“Angelique’s” red tanbark sails and unusual profile are unmistakable to Cove watchers. Launched in 1980, she’s 130 feet long overall and the only Maine windjammer that is configured as a gaff-rigged topsail ketch.

This is “Angelique’s” fifth visit here that I’ve seen in the four summer months and she may be back before her season ends on October 7.

The 101-foot “Lewis R. French’s” well-sheared gray hull and schooner configuration also are familiar to us. She’s one of the oldest cruisers in the fleet, having been launched in 1871. She needed a push from her yawl boat to get going in yesterday’s light air.

This is the third time that I’ve seen her visit this year and her season also ends on October 7.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on September 28, 2023.)

In the Right Place: State of the Woods Report

It’s overcast early this morning, but there’s still a chance that the clouds will break today. That’s okay; we’ve just had a four-day spate of sparkling Maine weather – big blue skies, wincingly-full sun, temperatures at the thrill point. Those days mostly have dried up the pooled water and mud in the woods from many prior rains.

In the mixed wood portion of the forests, the leaves of a few of the deciduous trees are starting to turn color and there usually are one or two early-sailing leaves to track on erratic journeys to destiny. Things are looking good. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on September 27, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Good Grief

It’s time that we take a look at one of the specimen trees that I monitor here regularly. This is the iconic Weeping Beech at Amen Farm. I’m told that it was planted there about 1950 and it still seems very healthy.

Judging by tree-weeping standards, its grief seems inconsolable. Some might say it’s because it’s gotten a bad haircut; they don’t like that horizontal under clearance pruning technique. However, the tree has sported it for many years without apparent incident. As with many weeping beeches (Fagus sylvatica, 'Pendula'), this tree is wider than it is tall. My very rough estimate is that it is about 80 feet wide and 45 feet tall. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on September 22, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Top of the Pecking Order

I had the pleasure yesterday of watching this young male Pileated Woodpecker at work. As usual with this species, he was not delicate about what he was doing, which was hunting for insects in dead conifer tree trunks.

As you see, he worked in a haze of self-created sawdust (“peckdust”?), and often stripped off long lengths of wood and tossed them aside as if they were paper packaging.

Pileateds are Maine’s largest woodpeckers at almost 17 inches and, if the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker is extinct, Pileateds are the Nation’s largest woodpeckers. They’re residents (nonmigratory) here. They’re easy to identify by their size and pointed red feathered caps (crests), which often are flexed up on end when the birds get intense:

The male’s red cap is a full one, worn pulled down to his beak, while the female has a smaller, almost beany-like, cap worn at the back of her head. (The male also has red-feathered war paint streaming back from his beak, making him look fearsome.) The cap is the characterizing feature of the birds and the reason it has a Latinized name.

“Pileated” is derived from the Latin words for conical felt caps. Thus, this bird is a capped or crested bird.  (By the way, the similar word “pileum” is the name for the area on any bird from the top of its head to its nape.) There is a debate, however, as to how to pronounce “pileated.”

The world seems to be divided between pie- eaters and pill-takers when it comes to pileated. That is, some say “PIE-lee-Ay-tid” and some say “PILL-ee-Ay-tid.” Both pronunciations seem to be well-accepted by birders, but English teachers will say that the pie people are technically correct. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on September 25, 2023.)

In the Right Place: It’s Not That Simple

Here you see two handmade boats for sale at the WoodenBoat School last week. At one time, I simply would have called these two vessels “rowboats,” although they are quite different. However, I’ve learned that boatbuilders here prefer greater specificity when it comes to describing their creations.

The red boat in the image is listed by WBS as a19.5’ “Chamberlain Gunning Dory.” That is, it’s a big dory based on a design by respected boatbuilder William Chamberlain. He reportedly wanted to create a strong, sea-going boat, but one that was light enough to be hauled up on the rocky shores of sea islands by duck hunters. This one also has a sailing package.

A “dory,” generally speaking, is a small, shallow-draft rowing (aka “pulling”) boat with high sides, a flat bottom and two pointed ends. The red boat is a dory, the unpainted one isn’t quite a dory. That unpainted vessel is listed as a “John Karbott Semi-Dory Skiff.” That is, its design is by John Karbott, also a respected boatbuilder, but the boat is a skiff, which would be shorter than most dories, have lower sides relative to oarsmen, and a rectangular stern.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on September 22, 2023.)