Dear Katie,

As the leaves begin to change, birds migrate and summer blooms fade. Below are just a few of the posts from our Harpswell Nature Watchers Facebook group. Want to see the rest? Click here to join.

What are you seeing out there? We'd love to hear from you! Click here for more information about Harpswell Nature Watchers.

I was very excited to see a white baneberry plant (Actaea pachypoda) fruiting! The cluster of tiny white blossoms when the plant flowers are fairly unremarkable, but the cluster of berries is quite extraordinary with its thick red fruiting stalks and white berries with purple “eyes!" Also known as doll’s-eyes, this plant’s fruit looks a bit scary—other-worldly; and that is a good thing because the berries are toxic to humans.

(Submitted by Lynn Knight. September 25, 2023)

Wooly bear caterpillar. What do you think? Will we have a heavy or light winter?

(Submitted by Lauren Bivona. September 16, 2023)

A few mornings late last week I saw a very bright object (below the moon, around 4:30 a.m.) in the eastern sky, and then I noticed Orion is back, too.

(Submitted by Gina Snyder. September 10, 2023)

Avian Haven rescued an injured northern gannet on Orr's Island today. So thankful for this wonderful organization!



(Submitted by Tonia Gilkey. September 7, 2023)

Male pileated woodpecker.

I heard it calling, then I spotted it flying past me from the woods on one side of the driveway to the patch of woods on the other side, I even got a couple of nice pictures of it in flight. It took me a minute to spot it after it landed in a tree, and at first it was on the shady side of the tree trunk. But it soon moved into the sunlight and I was able to get some very nice pictures. At one point, another Pileated Woodpecker started drumming and calling from a nearby tree, maybe 20-30 feet from this bird, causing this one to spin around and look in that direction, but it stuck around. Shortly afterward, the other one flew off, but I only got a couple of out-of-focus pictures of that one, so I don't know if it was a female and perhaps the mate of this one since this male did not seem particularly concerned about the other one being close by.

I have included a few videos. In the first one (with it crouching on a branch) you will hear the other one drumming nearby and this one then spins its head around, apparently looking for the other. (To watch these videos, visit the Harpswell Nature Watchers Facebook page.)

I can't tell who it looks more like, Lucille Ball or Phyllis Diller, but with that shock of red "hair" and the "lipstick" it definitely reminds me of both of them.

(Submitted by Howard Marshall. August 21, 2023)