In the Right Place: Turkey Tactics

We see fewer wild turkeys in the winter. They spend more time in the deeper woods looking for food, while also avoiding the visual and windy exposure of our mowed fields. Here in this image you see a small flock (or “rafter”) of wild turkeys that briefly came out of a thick stand of conifers into the sun on Monday.

Note that these birds are all mature males (or “Toms”). Toms often collect together in the winter and then separate and compete with each other when the breeding season starts in the spring. Young males (or “Jakes”) also flock together in the winter. During winter days, you’ll see mature females (or “hens”) eating and traveling with their most recent young (or “poults”), but the youngsters are learning to be more independent and often separate from their moms into nearby trees when roosting at night.

By the way, one of the quickest ways to tell a male from a female wild turkey in the winter is to see whether the feathers on their sides and breasts have crisp black edges that form a scalloping design (male) or brown edges that are not as distinct (female). Males also have horn-like spurs on their lower legs, while it is extremely rare for females to grow them. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 22, 2024.)

In the Right Place: Safari Sighting

If you were describing this scene orally in English and knew what you were looking at, you might say something that sounded like this: “Look, there’s a giraffe in snow!”

The tall, small-headed animal called a giraffe is a tree trimmer; so is this contraption. The equipment was produced by a Minnesota-based company that intentionally named itself “Jarraff” [always pronounced “giraffe”] Industries and adopted an image of an African giraffe as its trademark. 

More specifically, the equipment shown here is cataloged as a “Jarraff All-Terrain Tree Trimmer,” but it’s usually just called a “Jarraff” (again: pronounced “giraffe”). As indicated, it’s used to clear tree branches, especially those alongside the road and near power lines.

The telescoping boom on the trimmer can extend to 75 feet on the latest models and has a 180-degree tiltable saw at the end, according to the published specifications. That boom is made of non-conductive fiberglass that can operate along medium voltage power lines without causing power outages. The beast was at rest yesterday at the Naskeag Point parking lot, where it has been parked for some time. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 22, 2024.)

In the Right Place: Turbulence

Here you see a gathering of ancient apple trees that seemingly are shuddering in yesterday's sharp cold:

Below, you’ll see an iced-up old Camperdown elm braving the day alone:

Yet, today is predicted to be the beginning of a warming spell in this first month of the new year. After that, the polar vortexes may bring some really crazy weather, according to recent reports, and the ongoing El Niño may decide to do a little freewheeling intervention.

The theme for 2024 appears to be turbulence, which usually isn’t good for older things, whether they grow out of the ground or post photographs. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 21, 2024.)

In the Right Place: Insults

This morning, we continue to remain trapped in the week’s Arctic air. As you see, during the cold spell, we’ve gotten some sun to dapple the hard snow, but it’s effect otherwise has been nothing but decorative, not perceptively warming:

Yesterday afternoon, the ice gods apparently decided to add insult to our injury and dump a little snow on us. We and our neighbors hunkered down and waited it out:

By the way, the idiom “to add insult to injury” reportedly came from one of Aesop’s fables as told by the Roman poet Phaedrus in the 1st Century. In the story, a fly bit the head of a bald man who instinctively swatted at the fly, but only whacked himself hard in the head. The fly jeered at the man, saying that his unthinking action had added insult to injury. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 18 and 20, 2024.)

In the Right Place: Topsy-Turvy Times

Last year was the warmest year on record and the first two-thirds of January of the new year seem to be trying to make up for all of last year’s warmth. This month’s country-wide temperature is 1.2 degrees below average through mid-month and more than 56 percent of the contiguous United States was covered in snow this week, according to yesterday’s Washington Post. Next week, we’re supposed to have an unseasonable thaw.

Too many things are not as they should be these days. Which brings me to today’s photograph. It’s our Christmas Amaryllis, which failed miserably at its job and turned out to be a mere Martin Luther King Day Amaryllis. Nonetheless, it’s pleasingly poignant to watch a tropical flower bloom in the middle of what may become Maine’s coldest January on record. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 18, 2024.)

In the Right Place: Seeing Red

Yesterday was too cold and snow-laden to engage in my favorite pastime of walking through the woods with no particular destination in mind. But I did drive by this well-connected local landmark, which is known as “The Red House” around here.

The place always looks patriotic (or at least historic) when it is sitting in white snow under a blue sky. And, it looks appropriate for cold weather, which is why New Englanders decided to have houses connected to barns and other utilitarian spaces. Of course, you’re more likely to find a car and a truck in the barn today than you are a couple of cows. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 18, 2024.)

In the Right Place: Purity Reconsidered

Yesterday was a brilliantly-lit, blue skyed day with fresh snow that seemed to be too pure to tread on, as you see here.

These scenes brought to mind the outdated saying that someone was “as pure as the driven snow.” I thought that the simile was mistaken – that it should be “as pure as the UNdriven snow,” because we all know what happens to snow after vehicles have had their way with the precipitation. But, then I looked up the origin of the saying.

The saying has been used at least since the late 16th Century. It’s actually a comparison to snow that has been carried by the winds and driven into untouched, white drifts. Being “as pure as the driven snow” meant that you were chaste and otherwise unsullied. It often was used to describe young females who were (or who were thought to be) “untainted” by sexual relations. As I said, it’s outdated. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 17, 2024.)

In the Right Place: A Gentle Reminder

We had a gentle reminder yesterday that it’s still winter. A fine-flaked snowstorm began yesterday morning and slogged on at a slow pace into the night. We got about two to three inches of new carpeting eventually.

The local lanes took a long time to get white coverings and the bright colors at various places stood out.

At Naskeag Harbor, the visibility through the fine snow was low and the temperature was just at freezing. Yet, it wasn’t too cool to keep our courageous neighbor, Sarah Havener Brown, from taking her daily therapeutic dip in the Harbor waters while her loyal dog, Esme, stood watch.

This morning’s first light, seen below, revealed cold (18° F, wind chill 07°), but peaceful, views. The morning also brought our faithful snow-plower, Jerry Gray.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 16 and 17, 2024.)

In the Right Place: Solidifying and Thawing

Here you see one of our bog areas filled with water and melting ice yesterday. The two storm systems that moved up the Eastern Seaboard within the past few days brought the Northeastern coast heavy rain while smothering some of the inland areas with heavy snow.

It has become confusing to our vegetation as the temperatures fluctuate between above-freezing and below-freezing. The solidifying and thawing that we’re experiencing is not good for root systems or for old woods-walkers (such as Yours Truly) who sometimes don’t see clear ice.

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 15, 2024.)

In the Right Place: Sucking Up

Here you see Naskeag Harbor on the day before the recent rains and high winds came. That day had darkened and become very still, creating the kind of indirest northern light and reflective waters that often are associated with Maine winters.

Thinking of this still, almost eerie  day now made me wonder about the origins of the popular saying about “the calm before the storm.” That saying often is used figuratively to describe a time of peaceful harmony before harmful chaos.

It’s first known metaphorical use reportedly was during the 1600s in the English play “The Dumb Knight”: “[B]ut hush, no words; there is calm before the tempest.” By the 20th Century, the word “storm” was used more often in the metaphor than its older form “tempest” and the word “lull” was sometimes used instead of “calm.”

But the saying, which reportedly originated with sailors, actually has a basis in science. Before many (but not all) storms, especially those at sea, there can be a calming effect on an area. I’m not sure that I fully understand how this happens, but the process apparently involves the physics of warmer, moist air being sucked upward to cool and condense before being transformed into precipitation.  (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 9, 2024.)

In the Right Place: Brief Respite

The latest revenge attack by our environment yesterday was brutal and the images of the damage here and elsewhere often are shocking. Perhaps that’s what we need to wake up to what we’re doing. But now, I think that I need a brief respite. Here’s a hint of the possible other side of the story, a soothing mood of the elements that took place Thursday evening:

As the sun set, there was a showing of royal colors over Great Cove and Eggemoggin Reach. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 11, 2024.)

In the Right Place: Unhidden Treasures

Here you see one of Brooklin’s treasures earlier this week, still sporting a holiday wreath. It’s the Friend Memorial Public Library, which has expanded and been modernized several times since its founding in 1912. In fact, it recently began a two-year campaign to raise funds to again revitalize and expand the building and grounds, and to assist with long-term operating expenses.

Moreover, the Library recently formalized an agreement with Jon Wilson to acquire his extensive and extraordinary maritime research library. He is the founder and prior owner of two of Brooklin’s other treasures, the famed WoodenBoat School and WoodenBoat Publications.

It’s expected that Jon’s 6,700 books and additional rare documents will be part of a Maritime Research Center available to FMPL users once the Library’s overall expansion is completed sometime in 2026. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 8, 2024.)

In the Right Place: Starting Anew

This image of a sea smoke dawn in Naskeag Harbor appears in my monthly column in the current Ellsworth American. 

To read the column about sea smoke and another remarkable thing that happens here in January, click here: https://www.5backroad.com/montly-column

In the Right Place: Warmer, Wetter, and Windier

Climate change has been brutally obvious. Yesterday’s temperature here reached the 50s (F); the day’s wind gusts sometimes exceeded 70 miles per hour, and its torrential rain flooded some low areas. The results were many power outages and high, violent tides.

These forces eroded our coast, ripped rockweed from its granite anchors, and brought that seaweed, dock parts, and other coastal detritus ashore, as you see here in these images of the Town Dock in Naskeag Harbor.

That dock seemed to hold up well; the Brooklin Boat Yard dock in Center Harbor did not fare as well. We’re told that a similar storm should arrive this weekend. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 10, 2023.)

In the Right Place: Stick Poking

Vigorous outdoor family enjoyment is alive and well in some places, even on a cold and gray winter’s day, such as yesterday. Pond ice here was thick enough to skate on and even to play ice hockey yesterday, but today’s relatively warm weather and rain may change that.

This pleasing sight made me wonder: Where did this strange game originate and how did the sport (ice “hockey”) and its projectiles (“pucks”) get their unusual names? A little online research provided some possible answers.

The hazy origins of ice hockey apparently began with stick-and-ball games similar to field hockey played on unfrozen ground in the Middle Ages and perhaps even ancient Greece. Variations played in the winter on ice began to appear in Britain in the 17th and 18th Centuries and in Ireland, where a milder form of manipulating an object on ice – hurling – apparently originated.

In the middle of the 19th Century, British soldiers stationed in Canada played the game on ice there and fascinated locals; it was there that it apparently was influenced to become rougher by the Native American sport of lacrosse. It caught on big-time in Canada, where ice hockey and its equipment apparently were developed into what became the game we have today.

The name “hockey” is thought by many to be derived from the French word for a shepherd’s stick, “hoquet.” Shepherds’ sticks often had curved ends to hook sheep or defend against predators. The word “puck” is thought to derive from the Scottish Gaelic “puc” or the Irish “poc,” meaning (among other possibilities) to “poke.” (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 9, 2024.)

In the Right Place: Northern Winter Wonderland

It’s time for the obligatory New Year’s image of this vista across Blue Hill Bay to the western mountains of Mount Desert Island, taken from Amen Ridge in Brooklin. This is one of the iconic views that I monitor for subtle changes over the years.

MDI is Maine’s largest island and one of the most popular tourist sites in the world. It contains most of Acadia National Park, as well as many popular sites, including Bar Harbor. The Island is accessible via a bridge and by water, and the Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport is located a few miles away on the near mainland shore. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 8, 2024.)

In the Right Place: Benign

Yesterday’s much-ballyhooed storm came through during the much-maligned Patriots game. Of the two, the storm was the more interesting, albeit benign. We got about 3.5 slowly-accumulated inches here on the coast and never lost power. A few images of Sunday’s snowfall:

Today, we awoke to sunny ground flows of snow that were unscarred by human boots, skis, or tires — until the snowplow came to clear the driveway. Here are a few images from today:

They say another storm is on the way. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 7 and 8, 2024.)

In the Right Place: The Buck Stops Here

The white-tailed deer hunting season here ended last month and I saw only one buck then – briefly, within heavy woods, and I didn’t get a good shot of him (with a camera). So, of course, I’m now seeing bucks all over the place, including open areas.

This young buck ambled slowly through our south field Friday, saw me, and didn’t change his slow pace. I would guess that he’s about one and a half years old, judging from his small antlers and other signs (disproportionately-long legs, relatively tight stomach, hardly any leg gland stains, etc.).

As you probably know, those are temporary bones grown on his head, not permanent horns like those on cattle and goats. He’ll be shedding that antler rack sometime between now and early spring.

It looks like he has six “points” (three on each side) of his rack. A projection out of the “beams” (the two major arm-like bones) of the rack usually is eligible to be counted as a point if it extends at least an inch out of the beam with that length exceeding the projection’s width by one or more inches. A beam tip is counted as a point, but not measured as one. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 5, 2024.)

In the Right Place: A Thursday Vision

The sky was angry Thursday night as the setting sun slid below streaming stratocumulus clouds.

When the sun sank below our horizon, its wake soaked the sky in orange-red light, which disappeared into the following darkness within minutes:  

(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 4, 2024.)

In the Right Place: Survival of the Latest

Some winterberry shrubs here still contain red galaxies of fruit within the gray outer space of our roadsides, as you see from these images taken yesterday. These plants are unlike other fruiting trees and shrubs that ripen when it’s warm and get eaten then. Scientists think that it’s all part of a survival plan.

Winterberry shrubs (Ilex verticillata), as do other American hollies, produce fruits that ripen late, are not as nutritious as many other fruits, and contain bad-tasting compounds that don’t dissipate until the winter months. These plants compete with many plants that apparently are designed to produce fruit for migrating birds; those feathered summer residents may or may not disperse those earlier fruit seeds in the area where they originated.

The theory is that, by delaying fruit ripening until many birds are gone and the remaining resident birds are less particular about what they eat, winterberry is avoiding competition and maximizing its chances to have its seeds dispersed nearby. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 4, 2024.)