by Roland D. Hallee

“It’s that time of year, again.” Probably one of the most over used phrases in the English language, and one that I loathe to hear. Why? Because when you come right down to it, everyday is that time of year for something. Anyway, here we go.

It’s that time of the year again when snapping turtles appear everywhere to lay their eggs. Just this past week I have seen at least a half dozen snappers on the side of the road; saw one person stop to help it across the road, and I myself have done it once on the Nelson Road, in Vassalboro.

And, two concientious young citizens, Bella and Sophie Lefferts, have created and placed signs along a stretch of Village Street, in South China, proclaiming, “Take it Slow, Turtles Crossing.”

Snapping turtles, Chelydra s. serpentina, range across the eastern United States to the Rocky Mountains, from southern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and into Central America.

common snapping turtle

The snapping turtle can be easily recognized by its dark upper shell with a deeply serrated back margin, and a small bottom shell that does not completely cover all of the animal’s flesh. The upper shell can measure between 8 – 12 inches in length on average in adults, and it can weigh between 10-35 pounds. These turtles have long tails, often measuring as long or longer than the shell, and is covered with bony plates. They also have a large head, long neck, and a sharp, hooked upper jaw. This hard beak has a rough cutting edge that is used for tearing food.

Once turtles mature and their shell hardens, they are virtually predator-free.

If you see a snapping turtle crossing the road, and decide to help it out, always make sure you relocate it on the side of the road in which it was headed. If not, it will only try to cross the road again. It’s obviously headed in a direction that is important to it. Always use caution when picking one up. Place your thumbs in the center of the upper shell, and the rest of your hand on its stomach. Be careful not to make contact with its mouth. It could be painfully uncomfortable if it were to bite you.

Never use a broom or shovel to help it along, as you could injure the turtle.

The female turtle will lay eggs in sandy, soft soil between April and November, depending on its location. In our area, they usually lay their eggs in May and June. That is why the shoulder of a road looks inviting to them. Be on the lookout, and try to avoid the nest. The female will generally lay between 10 and 50 eggs, and they take three to four months to hatch. Interestingly, eggs incubated at 68 degrees will produce only females; eggs maintained at 70-72 degrees will produce both male and female and those incubated at 73-75 degrees produce only males.

The female will dig a nest, lay the eggs, using her back feet to position them, and then bury the clutch. That makes the nest extremely vulnerable, and is usually a target for raccoons who consider the turtle eggs a delicacy. Skunks, crows, dogs and other mammals are also culprits. It is estimated that up to 90 percent of the nests are destroyed by predators. Countless turtles are also killed or injured on roads during their terrestrial treks. Despite this high rate of mortality, snapping turtles are not endangered, although some states have placed a ban on harvesting them.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIF&W) has voted to outlaw the commercial harvest of snapping turtles. It was urged by then-Commissioner Lee Perry to support the ban, to ensure the sustainability of snappers, which don’t breed until 20 years of age in the north. “While I have no reason to believe that snapping turtles are threatened with extinction in Maine, there is reason to be concerned about the viability of the population,” he said.

Snapping turtles typically live until between 20 and 50 years of age in captivity, although records are poor as to the actual longevity of turtles in the wild. Some studies have indicated that snapping turtles can live well over 100 years.

However, turtles are not innocent victims. They may cause depredation at privately-owned ponds, fish farms, or waterfowl sanctuaries and control methods may be warranted. They will feed on plants, insects, spiders, worms, fish, frogs, small turtles, snakes, birds, crayfish, small mammals and carrion.

It’s important to be on the lookout for turtles this time of year. By driving defensively and keeping alert to conditions on the road, motorists should be able to avoid hitting a turtle.

Have you ever heard the riddle, “If a turtles leaves its shell, is it naked or homeless?”

Well, the answer is: it is not possible for a turtle to “lose” its shell. Their shell is part of them just as much as our skeleton is a part of us. The turtle is connected to its shell through its nerves, skin, ribs, and spinal cord.

I guess you learn something everyday.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

What do the “away” jerseys of the Boston Red Sox say on the front, Boston or Red Sox?

Answer can be found here.

Bald eagle, left, and golden eagle.

by Roland D. Hallee

Sitting with friends around a camp fire a while back, one of the neighbors said, that while kayaking that afternoon, she had seen a Golden eagle. I immediately chimed in that they were an endangered species, and were not known to exist in Maine (according to something I had read years ago).

The following day, while taking a boat ride around Webber Pond with some friends who are year-round residents on the pond, he asked if we had seen the Golden eagles. That did it.

Was it possible for Golden eagles to exist on Webber Pond. My friend went on to say he had witnessed them on the ice during the winter, actually devouring some fish that had been left on the ice by fishermen.

To prove his point, he steered the party boat toward the west shore of Webber Pond, where, high in the top of a tree, was this large nest, occupied by some rather large birds. We were not able to discern what was occupying the nest from that distance. Bald eagles were circling in the area. I was still not sold.

Well, research taught me that Golden eagles, one of the largest and fastest of raptors in North America, do exist in Maine, although a rarity, mainly to the west and north of Moosehead Lake. So, now are they moving east in our state? Maine hosts golden eagles in all seasons, but is currently on the edge of both the breeding and wintering range in the East. Most migrants in the East pass west of Maine. Very few golden eagles are in the state at any time of year.

Golden eagles, Equila chrysaetos, can be found throughout the northern hemisphere. A large population exists in the western Rockies and north into Alaska. In the east, a small breeding population occurs in Maine, Labrador and Québec Province, although its range is greatly reduced from its former extent down the Appalachians to North Carolina.

According to Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, Golden eagle populations appear to have been stable between 1966 and 2014. Partners in Flight estimates their global breeding population to be 300,000, with 35 percent spending some part of the year in the U.S.

Golden eagles are listed as an endangered species in Maine. The decline in their numbers is directly attributed to environmental contaminants, especially DDT, that caused reproductive impairment during the post World War II era. Although these contaminants are now banned, they still persist in the birds’ bodies. Maine’s golden eagles depend heavily on wading birds as prey, which had high levels of contaminants. Five dead golden eagles have been found since 1985. Golden eagle eggs recovered from a nest in 1996 showed high levels of DDE, a variant of DDT.

Golden eagle populations have declined in the east throughout the 20th century, and were extirpated 20-40 years ago in the eastern states. Only 10 nesting territories have been documented with certainty, but at least 18 more locations are suspected. Six successful nesting attempts were recorded at three Maine eyries [nests of birds of prey] from 1955-1967. Goldens disappeared from Oxford, Franklin and Somerset counties during the 1980s. The last known nesting pair in Maine existed until 1999, then disappeared completely. That pair was heavily contaminated and had not produced young since 1986.

Today, Golden eagles can fall prey to collisions with automobiles, wind turbines, and other structures or from electrocution at power poles. Urbanization, agricultural development and changes in wildfire regimes have compromised nesting and hunting grounds.

There have been sporadic sightings of Golden eagles in recent years, and it is hoped that individual eagles from Canada may be moving into previously unoccupied eyries. Counts at hawk watch sites seem to indicate the Eastern population is slowly recovering. Golden eagles still nest in Québec and Labrador. As a result, they are spotted annually in Maine during migration season.

Adults may live 15 – 20 years in the wild, although they have been known to live 46 years in captivity. The oldest recorded Golden eagle in the wild was at least 31 years, 8 months old when it was found in Utah in 2012.

Once I was almost convinced the two friends thought they had seen golden eagles, I asked if they had misidentified immature bald eagles, which resemble each other. Both told me the birds they saw were much larger than bald eagles. My skepticism continues. Golden eagle wingspans can extend up to six feet, with a 40-inch body, and can weigh 8 – 13 pounds. Bald eagles have a body length of up to 40 inches, with wingspans of 6 – 7.5 feet, and a body weight of between 6.5 – 14 pounds. Many sources say the bald eagle has sometimes been considered the largest true raptor in North America, outsizing the Golden eagle. I summary, Bald eagles are larger than Golden eagles.

Golden eagles are uniformly brown throughout their lives. They get their name from amber or golden highlights on the head and neck. Golden eagles have shorter hawk-like bills, their lower legs are feathered to the ankles, and they soar with slightly uplifted wings, whereas a bald eagle flies with its wings stretched straight out so you can see their “fingers.” Golden eagles remain with the same mate for life. The female is larger than the male, otherwise, they look identical.

Sightseers and photographers should stay away from the nest during the nesting season, which is February through August. Like bald eagles, golden eagles are disturbed by human activities near the nests. Humans should avoid the nests during the nesting period.

Wintering areas for Maine golden eagles can stretch to the Maritime Provinces, depending on the availability of food. Their normal diet consists of ground squirrels, marmots, ptarmigan and seabirds.

I’m still not convinced they saw Golden eagles on Webber Pond.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Who holds the Boston Red Sox career record for being hit by a pitch, Mo Vaughn, Kevin Youkilis or Jim Rice?

Answer can be found here.

by Roland D. Hallee

Have you ever noticed during the summer, especially when we head into the more humid days, that trees begin to drip on you? It isn’t sap, just water.

Well, the simple answer is the tree is “sweating.”

Now, for the more scientific explanation.

According to the United States Geological Survey, the process is actually called transpiration, and it is the process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from aerial parts, such as from leaves but also from stems and flowers. Leaf surfaces are dotted with pores, similar to our skin, which are called stomata, and in most plants they are more numerous on the undersides of the foliage. The stomata are bordered by guard cells and their accessory cells that open and close the pore. Transpiration occurs through the stomatal apertures, and can be thought of as a necessary cost associated with the opening of the stomata to allow the diffusion of carbon dioxide gas from the air for photosynthesis. Transpiration also cools plants – again similar to our sweating – changes the pressure of cells, and enables mass flow of mineral nutrients and water from roots to shoots.

Mass flow of liquid water from the roots to the leaves is driven in part by capillary action, but primarily driven by water potential differences. In taller plants and trees, the force of gravity can only be overcome by the decrease in water pressure in the upper parts of the plants due to the diffusion of water out of stomata into the atmosphere. Water is absorbed at the roots by osmosis, and any dissolved mineral nutrients travel with it through the xylem (the woody portion of the plant).

Plant transpiration is pretty much an invisible process, since the water is evaporating from the leaf surfaces, you don’t just go out and see the leaves “sweating.” Just because you can’t see the water doesn’t mean it is not being put into the air, though. During a growing season, a leaf will transpire many times more water than its own weight. An acre of corn gives off about 3,000-4,000 gallons of water each day, and a large oak tree can transpire 40,000 gallons per year.

The rate of transpiration is also influenced by the evaporative demand of the atmosphere surrounding the leaf such as humidity, change in temperature, wind and incident sunlight.

Soil water supply and soil temperature can influence stomatal opening, and thus transpiration rate. The amount of water lost by a plant also depends on its size and the amount of water absorbed at the roots. Transpiration accounts for most of the water loss by a plant, but some direct evaporation also takes place through the cuticle of the leaves and young stems. Transpiration serves to evaporatively cool plants as the escaping water vapor carries away heat energy.

Transpiration rates go up as the temperature goes up, especially during the growing season, when the air is warmer due to stronger sunlight and warmer air masses. Higher temperatures cause the plant cells which control the openings (stoma) where water is released to the atmosphere to open, whereas colder temperatures cause the openings to close.

As the relative humidity of the air surrounding the plant rises the transpiration rate falls. It is easier for water to evaporate into dryer air than into more saturated air.

Increased movement of the air around a plant will result in a higher transpiration rate. This is somewhat related to the relative humidity of the air, in that as water transpires from a leaf, the water saturates the air surrounding the leaf. If there is no wind, the air around the leaf may not move very much, raising the humidity of the air around the leaf. Wind will move the air around, with the result that the more saturated air close to the leaf is replaced by drier air.

When moisture is lacking, plants can begin premature aging, which can result in leaf loss, and transpire less water.

So, if anyone asks you why the trees are dripping, you can go into the long, scientific explanation, or you just simply say, “the tree is sweating,” and watch for the looks you will get.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Who played for both the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Celtics?

Answer can be found here.

hairy woodpecker

by Roland D. Hallee

One of the things I enjoy doing at camp on a Saturday morning is grabbing a cup of coffee and sitting on my deck, focusing on the bird feeders. There is much activity around there, not just the birds, but the squirrels and chipmunks, and the occasional cat that comes around to harass the wildlife.

On a recent Saturday, I watched two hairy woodpeckers in particular – one male, one female.

I didn’t notice at first, but after a while it became evident the male, which was perched on a suet cake, would fill its mouth, fly down to the female that was sitting on a tree stump nearby, and transferring the food to her.

What a nice thing to do, I thought. The male providing for the female – I’m not being sexist here. Actually, upon closer observation, the female would then fly off into the woods, and return a short time later. This occurred over and over, again.

My deduction at that time was the female was, in turn, returning to the nest to feed the young. Adults regurgitate and insert food in the mouths of the very young. Food is transferred from adult to older offspring through open beaks with heads at an angle.

The hairy woodpecker, Euconotopicus villosus, is a medium-sized woodpecker that is found over a large area of North America. It is approximately 9-3/4 inches in length with 15-inch wingspan. With an estimated population in 2003 of over nine million individuals, the hairy woodpecker is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a species of least concern.

The hairy woodpecker was described and illustrated with a hand-coloured plate by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in his The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands which was published between 1729 and 1732. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he included the downy woodpecker, coined the binomial name Picus villosus and cited Catesby’s book.

The specific epithet “villosus” is the Latin word for “hairy”. Linnaeus specified the type locality as North America, with specific mention of Raccoon, New Jersey.

Adults are mainly black on the upper parts and wings, with a white or pale back and white spotting on the wings; the throat and belly vary from white to sooty brown. There is a white bar above and one below the eye. They have a black tail with white outer feathers. Adult males have a red patch or two side-by-side patches on the back of the head; juvenile males have red or rarely orange-red on the crown.

They have a somewhat soldierly look, with their erect, straight-backed posture on tree trunks and their cleanly striped heads. Look for them at backyard suet or sunflower feeders, and listen for them whinnying from woodlots, parks, and forests.

More than 75 percent of the hairy woodpecker’s diet is made up of insects, particularly the larvae of wood-boring beetles and bark beetles, ants, and moth pupae in their cocoons. To a lesser extent they also eat bees, wasps, caterpillars, spiders, millipedes, and rarely cockroaches, crickets, and grasshoppers. A little more than 20 percent of their diet is made up of fruit and seeds. My wife usually gets suet cakes that contain fruit, seeds and nuts, thus attracting the hairy woodpeckers.

Hairy woodpeckers have helped control pest outbreaks.

The hairy woodpecker is virtually identical in plumage to the smaller downy woodpecker. The downy has a shorter bill relative to the size of its head, which is, other than size and voice, the best way to distinguish them in the field. These two species are not closely related, however, and are likely to be separated in different genera. Another way to tell the two species apart is the lack of spots on its white tail feathers (present in the downy). Their outward similarity is a spectacular example of convergent evolution. As to the reason for this convergence, only tentative hypotheses have been advanced; in any case, because of the considerable size difference, ecological competition between the two species is slight.

The hairy woodpecker inhabits mature deciduous forests in the Bahamas, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and the United States. It is a vagrant to Puerto Rico and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Mating pairs will excavate a hole in a tree, where they will lay, on average, four white eggs. Hairy woodpeckers are common in mature woodlands with medium to large trees.

These birds are mostly permanent residents. Birds in the extreme north may migrate further south; birds in mountainous areas may move to lower elevations.

These birds forage on trees, often turning over bark or excavating to uncover insects. They mainly eat insects, but also fruits, berries and nuts, as well as sometimes tree sap. They are a natural predator of the European corn borer, a moth that costs the U.S. agriculture industry more than $1 billion annually in crop losses and population control. They are also known to peck at wooden window frames and wood-sided homes that may house prey.

Courting birds stretch out their necks, point their bills high, and bob their heads from side to side, flicking their wings as they circle a tree trunk. They also sometimes chase each other in fast, looping flights through the trees.

The entrance to the nest is about 2 inches tall and 1.5 inches wide, leading to a cavity 8-12 inches deep. The inside widens at the bottom to make room for the eggs and the incubating bird. It’s typically bare except for a bed of wood chips at the bottom for the eggs and chicks to rest on.

The female probably selects the nesting site, but both sexes work alternately at the labor of excavating the cavity. This work requires one to three weeks, depending on how hard the wood is; a cavity in the soft wood of a poplar, which is a favorite with this species in some localities, might be excavated in a very short time. A new nest may often be recognized by the presence of fresh chips on the ground around the tree, as the birds are not very particular about removing them.

Both male and female incubate and brood the young. The male sits on the eggs and broods the young during the night and the female relieves him every morning after sunrise. They alternate these duties throughout the day. Incubation last about 11-12 days and the young leave the nest in about 28-30 days after hatching.

We continue to watch the hairy woodpeckers, and the downy, come and go at the feeders, but we haven’t seen the exchange of food recently. Maybe the fledglings are now old enough to go out on their own.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Which Boston Red Sox player won back-to-back American League batting titles in 1999 and 2000?

Answer on can be found here.

Green June beetle (left), June Bug (right)

by Roland D. Hallee

Well, it’s the middle of June and I have yet to see a June bug this year.

Generally, June bugs, Phyllophaga, do make their appearance in mid- to late-May. So why are they called June bugs? It all depends on what you want to call them. They are also known as May beetles and June beetles. But, the name is derived from the fact that adult June bugs emerge from the soil at the end of spring or the beginning of summer.

Females bury their eggs just below the soil surface in the fall, they pupate and emerge in the spring. They hatch within three to four weeks and feed on grass and plant roots from several months to as long as three years. In spring, these grubs, as they are called, grow into pupae. Within three weeks, these mature into adult June bugs.

Grubs, when full grown, live in the soil and feed on plant roots, especially those of grasses and cereals, and are occasional pests in pastures, nurseries, gardens and golf courses. An obvious indication of infestation is the presence of birds, especially crows, peeling back the grass to get to the grubs. A way to test for the presence of these beetles is drenching an area of lawn with water, that will cause larvae to emerge at the surface.

Some small mammals, including skunks and moles, feed on the grubs.

The grubs have been known to attack vegetables and other garden plants, such as lettuce, raspberries, strawberries, potatoes and young ornamental trees. Maintaining a healthy lawn is a good step in deterring the grubs from establishing themselves.

Injury to the roots and rootstock causes small saplings and tender tap-rooted plants like lettuce to wilt suddenly or to show stunted growth and a tendency to shed leaves prematurely. Plants growing in rows are usually attacked in succession as the grubs move along from one plant to the next. Chafer grubs feed below ground for three – four years before changing into adult beetles.

June bugs are harmless. They do not bite, sting or spread disease. However, I did see one of my friends move faster than I have ever seen her move before, while sitting around a camp fire last weekend, when one landed on her. To be honest, it’s the natural reaction by most people, including yours truly.

Again, they are harmless, but because they are attracted to light they can make an evening sitting on your porch or deck a little unpleasant. Even if there is no light outdoors, they can be attracted to lights inside your home. I know at camp, when we’re spending time indoors after dark, they come “knocking” on our windows. The sound of June bugs buzzing and bumping against window screens in early summer is a very common occurrence over many parts of the U.S. Adult June bugs are extremely clumsy, especially in the air.

Scientists are still undecided on the precise explanation for this behavior. Several thoughts have been advanced, but no single theory has come about that can account for why so many different nocturnal insect species gravitate to sources of light. June bugs usually are a half-inch to an inch and a quarter in length. They can fly and you will find them swarming around street lights at night.

Now, let’s do some “did you know.”

• Exposure to light for longer intervals will kill June bugs. That is why you will find them dead in the morning under porch lights and windows.
• Don’t leave a window open during May-June period. They will enter your house and die, leaving you with a mess to clean up. If they do enter, remember, they don’t bite and are harmless, just annoying.
• There are over 200 different species of June bugs in the United States.
• A natural enemy of the June bug is the pyrgota fly larva, which feeds on the beetles, eventually killing them.
• The June bug larvae, called white grubs, are considered excellent fish bait, and are staples in the diets of native people in South America, Australia, and Asia.
• Have a pet lizard or toad? The beetles make excellent, tasty food for them.

There is another popular June beetle that’s active during the day. It is the Green June Beetle, and are found in our region of the Northeast, extending from Maine to Georgia and as far west as Kansas. These are not very good for the garden either. The head, legs and under-body is shiny green, while its wings are dull metallic green, with slight gold contrast to its sides.

Numerous songs have been written about June bugs, to include: “Junebug”, by The B-52s; “Junebug”, from the album Good Morning Spider by Sparklehorse; “Junebug”, by Robert Francis; “June Bug”, by Melvins; “Junebug”, by Stan Van Samang; and “Junebug”, by Kate Ryan.

So day and night, during early summer, these beetles can be destructive to vegetation, and just plain annoying to humans.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Prior to 2011, when was the last time the Boston Bruins won a Stanley Cup?

Answer can be found here.

Article updated June 12, 2024.