Bay of Fundy Whales in Head Harbour Passage

Hey Art and all the readers of I Love Quoddy WILD, we spent the day watching whales in and off Head Harbour Passage and what an amazing day it was!  This afternoon we had at least 10 finback whales, 3 humpbacks (ID'ed as Cork, Inlet and an unknown), minke whales and 3 right whales (the rights were about 1.5 miles off the light).  There were also large schools of tuna...it was awesome!

With this number of whales so close to the islands, especially the ones that raise their tails and with a long weekend coming up I am sure there is going to be a lot of boat traffic around.  All we can hope is that everyone is respectful of the wildlife and takes their time (no speeding) in areas where there are whales.  Please.

Cheers,
Danielle
Quoddy Link Marine

Owls no longer babies, Best photos yet.

Great Horned owls, Campobello, April 29th.

The owls are getting very large and very active. Really interesting to watch the interaction with the adult owl. They are very intelligent creatures. She is a very good mother.

See all new photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/headharbourlight/page1/

Joyce

More from Grand Manan

Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:16:25 -0300

From:    Roger Burrows NBNature Listserv
Subject: Grand Manan birds: more spring arrivals

April 28

Grand Harbour: Thoroughfare Road    10:20-10:40
singing Winter Wren, 6+ Yellow-rumped Warblers (including 2 females), 2 Palm
Warblers

Woodwards Cove: Shore Road    10:40-11:20
ad male & immature female Sharp-shinned Hawks, immature male COOPER'S HAWK,
male Belted Kingfisher, female Ruby-crowned Kinglet, male Yellow-rumped & 7
Palm Warblers, Swamp Sparrow, singing Purple Finch

also a MOURNING CLOAK butterfly

Date:    Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:09:47 -0300
Subject: Ingalls & Ox Head birds, inc. Killdeer

April 29

Ingalls Head    06:40-07:00
Great Blue Heron, Northern Flicker

Ox Head    07:00-07:40
4 Brants, pair of American Wigeons, female Mallard, male Blue-winged & 2
Green-winged Teal, immature Bald Eagle, first KILLDEER of spring, Northern
Flicker, 3 Savannah Sparrow

Roger Burrows
Ingalls Head
Grand Manan

See the pictures and subscribe at
http://www.ilovequoddywild.blogspot.com

Grand Manan Birds - April 27th

Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:10:42 -0300
From: Roger Burrows NBNature Listserv
Subject: Grand Manan birds, including Peregrine Falcon, Greater Yellowlegs & Eastern Meadowlark

April 27

Ingalls Head feeders 07:15-07:45 & 10:10-15:10
Northern Harrier, female Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Savannah,
Chipping & 5 White-throated Sparrows, EASTERN MEADOWLARK (identified by
large amount of white in the tail), 2 Brown-headed Cowbirds

Ingalls Head road 08:00-08:40 & 09:20-10:10
Great Blue Heron, 165 Brants, pair of American Wigeons, PEREGRINE FALCON (a
very dark adult), female Northern Harrier, Downy & Hairy Woodpeckers,
Northern Flicker, 6 Red-winged Blackbirds, 26+ American Goldfinches

Grand Harbour 08:40-09:20
Great Blue Heron, 2000 Brants, 4 male Mallards, adult Bald Eagle, first 2
spring GREATER YELLOWLEGS, 2 Chipping Sparrows

Roger Burrows
Ingalls Head
Grand Manan

See the pictures and subscribe at
http://www.ilovequoddywild.blogspot.com

The First Daffodil

This morning was thick with fog until before noon when the sun came out and it turned warm. Within a couple of hours daffodils were blooming all around our lot. Beautiful and welcome!

Art and Marg

See the pictures and subscribe at
http://www.ilovequoddywild.blogspot.com

Around Glen Severn lake, Campobello, April 28th

pair of kingfishers

1 black and white warbler

1 spotted sandpiper

1 hermit thrush

Joyce

See the pictures and subscribe at
http://www.ilovequoddywild.blogspot.com

Owl Family at Dusk, Campobello,April 27th

The great horned owl family comes alive at dusk. I can only take photos so long, but the colors change in an interesting way. The adult owl becomes a part of the twilight. Joyce

See the pictures and subscribe at
http://www.ilovequoddywild.blogspot.com

Where is the Picture? Can you see the life-saving station?

See the pictures and subscribe at:
http://www.ilovequoddywild.blogspot.com

For those that can't find the pictures in their daily announcements from the Quoddy Group, here's the idea. Google Groups don't support embedded pictures, so you won't see them unless you go to the blog at ilovequoddywild.blogspot.com. I've been working on fixing this and it looks like you have 2 choices.

1. Click through from the post in your email using the link I`ve added. Hopefully the link at the top of the post will now be present on all Quoddy Group posts from the blogs.

or

2. Go to the blog at ilovequoddywild.blogspot.com and subscribe. Way better and it`s really nice to have these beautiful pictures show up in your email.

Let me know if this solves the problem. It's been a real hassle trying to figure this one out.

By the way, the picture is one of my paintings. It is the old Life-saving Station on Outer Wood Island, Grand Manan way back in the 60's. Anyone remember it and the Petrels that nest nearby.

New Owl Family Photos, Campobello, April 27th

http://www.flickr.com/photos/headharbourlight/sets/72157617131701254/

Joyce

Visitor's Center Pond, Campobello, April 26

A dozen yellow rumped warblers (an arriving flock)

1 ruby crowned kinglet

2 palm warblers

1 kingfisher

Joyce

Visitor's Centre Pond, Campobello, April 26th

Four green winged teal, Eastern phoebe, Palm warbler pair

Joyce

Photo credit: Wikipedia.com

Mama shows up, Campobello owl family, April 25th

She showed up before I was ready and I could not even breathe or she would have left. She had a big piece of something, maybe a rabbit. This adult owl is quite bold and calmer than the other one. Joyce

Raptors on Nests

I did a quick tour of some local osprey nests this morning and found three active nests; two along the new Highway 1 from Oak Bay to St. Stephen where one pole-top home had a pair and another on a dead tree had only one present. A longtime site on a power pole at Bartlett's Mill had a pair actively building a new nest.

How many active nests occur in your area? Let us know and share this information.

Art

Visit from parent, Campobello owl family, April 24th.09

The owls have grown a lot when you see them in comparison with the full grown adult. Joyce

First Bumble Bee of Season

First bumble bee of the year at Roosevelt Campobello was seen on April 21. Wood frogs were croaking in North Lubec on April 14.

HLB at RCIP

Photo Credit: wikipedia.com

Great Horned Owl Young, April 23, Campobello

Two chilly owlets huddle together after two days of being wet in the rain. They are gnawing on a rabbit leg like dogs with a bone.

More at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/headharbourlight/

Joyce

Wood Frogs at Campobello

Wood frogs heard at the pond by the visitor's center, Campbello. April 16th. They sound like ducks and we looked and looked for the ducks before we realized what they were. Joyce

Photo Credit: wikipedia.com

Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:23:52 -0300

From:    Todd Watts NBNature Listserv
Subject: Spring hawks at Greenlaw Mt

Abundant sunshine with light to moderate SE winds drew me to Greenlaw Mt today for a quick hike and some hawk watching. Between 3:20 and 4:20 I saw the following.

5 Broad Winged Hawks
1 Rough-Legged Hawk
2 American Kestrels
1 Peregrine Falcon
1 Osprey
1 Northern Harrier
1 Sharp-Shinned Hawk
1 unidentified accipiter

This was the first time that I can remember seeing a Rough-Legged Hawk and Broad-Winged Hawks in the same day. It seemed a bit odd, but I watched the Rough-Leg for quite awhile and ruled out every other bird. All in all it wasn't a bad hour of birding. Unfortunately, most of these birds were pretty high and/or distant.

Wednesday looks like it might have some potential for hawk flights. I will try to get up Greenlaw again for a look.

Todd Watts

Are Your Peepers Peeping?

We're getting reports of Spring Peepers starting their annual spring courtship along our Quoddy shores. How about helping us with this survey and letting us know when and where you first hear yours. Also Wood Frogs. We will be trying to map their occurrence and timing as part of our ILQW monitoring program.

Send your photos and info to artmackay.ilovequoddywild at blogger.com.

Thanks, Art

Link to Peeper peeping: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Exquisite-kmixdocked_mute.png
Photo Credit: Wikipedia.com

Earth Day on Simpson Hill

Trooper and Inukshuks

Hello everyone.

The rain let up enough this evening for a dozen or so intrepid hikers to
find their way to Table Top on Simpson Hill, and then commune together
as friends of Mother Earth at Karen's Cache. (last pic) It was foggy as
the pictures will attest, and everything but our spirits were damp by
the time we got down. A shower at the end of our hike was hardly even
noticed.

Only six of us started off together at 8 pm, but we met a couple from
Maine on the trail, and another family who arrived late beat us to the
top via a more direct route.

Our detour through the Hidden Valley was, as always, a "fantastic"
experience. Fog may obscure the alpine vistas, but in their place the
lichens like reindeer moss and the Lycopodiums like club moss and ground
pines are, in the dampness, even more special and attractive.

John Gardner from the Courier may report on our outing and doubtless
provide better photographs, but suffice to say everyone, even the young
ones who so astutely avoided our cameras, had a good time.

We are all looking forward to experiencing quite a different world, in
morning sunshine, on Simpson Hill this Saturday at 10 am to begin Arbor
Day celebrations on the St Andrews Peninsula.

It is gratifying to meet, on almost every hike, kindred spirits who
exclaim how wonderful this community treasure is, and how carefully it
was hidden from them for so many years. There is obviously growing
interest now not only in using this mountain throughout the year, but
caring for it and its environment. Join us if you can.
See www.Simpsonhill.ca

Tim Foulkes