Dear Katie,

Please enjoy our August edition of Nature Watchers!

What are you seeing out there? We'd love to hear from you! The following posts are from some of our local Harpswell Nature Watchers. All of the contributions below are seen immediately in our Facebook group. Click here to join.

Unfortunately we can't share videos in our monthly email, so be sure to check out the Facebook page to see videos!

Click here for more information about Harpswell Nature Watchers.

I saw two belted kingfishers chasing along Orr's Cove the other day, and then this one caught a fish and even without my better camera, I was able to get these pics/video. They usually leave (with their characteristic chatter) when you go by, even when you are no where near them—you're in the water, they're in the trees on the other side!

To see the video, visit our Facebook page.

(Submitted by Gina Snyder. August 31, 2022)

(Submitted by M.W. Bittle. August 26, 2022)

I was out on our dock after the tide went out (about 5 PM) and I noticed the mud about 25 feet away moving. I took a few pictures and found that we seem to have quite a population of the invasive green crabs here. Apparently, they are edible, but small enough that they are not worth it except after they molt and are edible whole as soft shell crabs.

(Submitted by Howard Marshall. August 28, 2022)

Does anyone know what this might be? I’ve tried to use an app and websites to identify it. The closest I’ve come so far is harbor porpoise skull. Depending on how you look at it, it could be a skull or a carcass. Found on rocks on Eastern side of Potts Point last week.

(Submitted by Mary Jo Moore. August 26, 2022)

I'm trying to ID this bird, is it a whistling thrush? They're hanging in my yard today.

Thanks Peter Shaw and Susan Hayward for IDing this as a common grackle!

(Submitted by Jess Marie. August 29, 2022)

Great blue heron grabbing breakfast in Card Cove.

(Submitted by Liz Incze. August 28, 2022)

What the heck is eating our lilac bark?

(Submitted by Geoff Kellum. August 27, 2022)

These were taken in a web outside one of our windows. The spider, legs and all, is about the size of a quarter.

(Submitted by Howard Marshall. August 26, 2022)

A veritable bumper crop of poison ivy along the paths at Giant's Stairs. Nature, and a warning.

(Submitted by Howard Marshall. August 24, 2022)

Sometimes you can see how people might think crabs are arachnids. This spider was on the boat, and then swam over and up the line. (Although horseshoe crabs aren't crabs and are arachnids).

To see a video, visit our Facebook page.

(Submitted by Gina Snyder. August 25, 2022)

The little fish have been so active! The patterns on Long Reach from the Cliff looked like the hand of magic! And like little bits of silver shooting out of the water on Orr's Cove.

To see a video, visit our Facebook page.

(Submitted by Gina Snyder. August 24, 2022)

It seems like there are a lot of spiders this year and I would not have liked to walk into this one on the Devil's Back trail! Further along, this fungus covered in guttation droplets seemed to be repelling a slug!

(Submitted by Gina Snyder. August 22, 2022)

This female lobster loaded with eggs is a thing of beauty!

(Submitted by Ted Merriman. August 21, 2022)

First thing Saturday morning while waiting for the coffee maker I spotted this female ruby-throated hummingbird in the raised bed by our front door. It was feeding on the nasturtium flowers and tomatillo buds.

The first picture, with it reaching up into a tomatillo bud, is one of the clearest pictures I have ever gotten of a Hummingbird in flight (1/4000 sec, the fastest my camera will take, ISO 2500, F/6.3). Note that its wings are at the bottom of their stroke, so I got lucky that I caught that particular 1/4000 of a second when they came to a stop for an instant to reverse direction.

(Submitted by Howard Marshall. August 21, 2022)

Pretty sunrise this morning. Long Island, East Harpswell, New Meadows River.

(Submitted by Corrina Roman-Kreuze. August 21, 2022)

A pileated woodpecker stopped by this morning.

(Submitted by Barry Coflan. August 21, 2022)

There are two native Spiraea that are quite common in Harpswell—White meadowsweet and steeplebush or rosy meadowsweet. The white meadowsweet (Spiraea alba) started blooming about a week ago in road ditches, meadows, and wetland margins. The flowers are generally white, but sometimes have a pink tinge as those in the picture. It is a host for the larvae of the lovely Spring azure butterfly. Steeplebush, its deeper pink cousin, (Spiraea tomentosa) has more spire-like cone-shaped flowers with white or brownish fine hairs on the undersides of the leaves. It blooms earlier than meadowsweet and likes the same habitat, although I have found it thriving on hot dry ledges as well. It supports the caterpillars of the Columbia silkmoth. Both attract lots of butterflies and are great shrubs for a native plant garden.

(Submitted by Lynn Knight. August 18, 2022)

Another ID? This little duck has been floating and diving around Orr's Cove. Perhaps a non-breeding black guillemot.

(Submitted by Gina Snyder. August 17, 2022)

The cotton-grasses have been nodding their heads in the bog at Long Reach. According to websites, it's actually a sedge (having edges as sedges are known to do). I'm not sure which kind of cotton-grass, or there may be more than one kind in the bog as some are whiter than others, but perhaps the tawny cottongrass.

(Submitted by Gina Snyder. August 17, 2022)

A sunset over Merriconeag Sound to long remember!

(Submitted by Peter Shaw. August 17, 2022)

I saw this groundhog while visiting Harpswell.

(Submitted by Marcia Vanolinda. August 14, 2022)

I saw this loon, sandpiper and groundhog when visiting in Harpswell this week. 

(Submitted by Marcia Vanolinda. August 14, 2022)

Stover's Cove, osprey fishing for menhaden.

(Submitted by Glen Grauer. August 14, 2022)

I think this is a juvenile cooper's hawk hanging out near the water on Laurel Cove.

(Submitted by Mary Roth. August 14, 2022)

Hummingbird moths. We had two different species of these amazing creatures in our "boomerang" lilacs a couple of weeks ago. ("Boomerang" lilacs—because they bloom a second time around the beginning of August.) We saw both clearwing hummingbird moths and sphinx moths. I don't know how closely related the two are, but their size and body form are very similar, and their markings are similar, after adjusting for the loss of scales from the fast wing beating that produces the clear wings of the clearwing.

Here are pictures of both species and a video of a clearwing flying around the lilacs.

To see the video, visit our Facebook page.

(Submitted by Howard Marshall. August 12, 2022)

A strange insect (bug?) found a good place to hide this morning! Even my camera didn't want to focus on it, it matched the cable it was on so well!

Thanks Shani Lynne for the antlion ID!

(Submitted by Gina Snyder. August 12, 2022)

A couple of butterflies spotted on our porch railing.

(Submitted by Howard Marshall. August 12, 2022)

Walking the dog at Mitchell field yesterday and saw this Eagle, just amazing and It’s the closest I’ve ever been to one. Photo isn’t great, just using the phone.

(Submitted by Denise Murtha. August 12, 2022)

Had two visitors just now!

(Submitted by Jess Marie. August 10, 2022)

Wondering if this tiny tide pool creature is some sort of anemone next to the snail's shell...

To see a video, visit our Facebook page.

Thanks Corrina Roman-Kreuze for the ID of a striped anemone!

(Submitted by Gina Snyder. August 10, 2022)

The birds were all out after it rained today.

(Submitted by Barry Coflan. August 7, 2022)

Cicada shell. I haven't seen live ones, but have been hearing them until it cooled off! From this website, this would be the shell of a nymph that emerged and shed its shell and went on up into the trees ("The first task of the nymphs is to climb a foot or two up off the ground and molt to the adult stage, leaving behind an exoskeleton that looks like something borrowed from a Sci-Fi thriller")

(Submitted by Gina Snyder. August 7, 2022)

A few shots this week in Harpswell.

(Submitted by Glen Grauer. August 7, 2022)

Three plants are blooming now in the wetland near my house—blue vervain (Verbena hastata), monkey-flower (Mimulus ringens) and common snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus). The first two are perennials that grow in wet meadows and freshwater marshes. Apparently one can roast and grind the seeds of the blue vervain to make a “….bitter but palatable flour.” Hmmm… I think I’ll pass. Monkey-flower is an attractive native that can sadly be outcompeted by the invasive purple loosestrife in wetlands. Snowberry, also called wax berry, is a medium-sized shrub that’s a member of the honeysuckle family. They have hollow stems and will bear white, waxy looking pulpy fruits, which are considered poisonous to humans; however, they do provide food for birds and small mammals.

(Submitted by Lynn Knight. August 7, 2022)

This lovely butterfly was at Mitchell Field the other day, and paused long enough for me to get photos and video. 

To see the video, visit our facebook page.

(Submitted by Gina Snyder. August 5, 2022)

After a loud and physical battle between four hummingbirds, this one got a quiet chance to feed in solitude.

(Submitted by Liz Incze. August 5, 2022)

Two welcome pollinators.

(Submitted by Elizabeth Boerstling. August 4, 2022)

I should probably post these on a gardening site, but does anyone know what could be eating my roses? What are these?

Thanks everyone for IDing these Japanese beetles! This website has some tips to get rid of them.

(Submitted by Gwen CW. August 3, 2022)

Great blue heron feeding on the Widgeon Cove flats.

(Submitted by Barry Coflan. August 3, 2022)

Bald eagle on Quahog Bay turned its head almost 180 by the looks of it!

(Submitted by Gina Snyder. August 3, 2022)

American goldfinch snacking on seed pods at Mitchell Field. 

(Submitted by Howard Marshall. August 3, 2022)

It's baby bluebirds fledge day! One is out and one is scoping the situation.



(Submitted by Lynne Rumba. August 2, 2022)