Harbour Porpoise, Finbacks, Minke Whales, and Loons!

July 31: A pod of around 100 harbour porpoise were sighted feeding on krill just off Head Harbour (East Quoddy) Lightstation on Campobello Island, NB. There were two small finbacks and one huge finback, maybe 60-70 feet, along with one minke whale, plus many loons amongst them.

Dead Right Whale Found

July 24: A juvenile northern right whale was discovered by a whalewatching excursion near Grand Manan. The whale was towed to Campobello Island for a necropsy. The 1–2 year-old female had been struck by a ship, although, as of this writing, it isn't known if the whale had been struck while alive, or after it died. The necropsy report may divulge the cause of death.

Right whales are found in the summer months in the Grand Manan area of the Bay of Fundy, tending their calves and breeding. There are only 300–400 North Atlantic right whales left in existence, the most endangered whale species.

June 2006

Orca Whale off Grand Manan!

A Grand Manan fisherman spotted a breaching Orca whale (killer whale) off Grand Manan. A subsequent breaching was observed by other area fishermen.

Halie & Matthew Tall Ship Near Maiden Voyage

The newly-built 92-foot-long gaff-rigged two-masted schooner Halie & Matthew is now at berth at the Fishermen's Pier in downtown Eastport. She will be doing day trips this summer while her 10 staterooms are being finished this summer. She's the second windjammer to grace the Eastport breakwater, along with the 84-foot gaff-rigged, two-masted Sylvina W. Beal. built in 1911.

Eagles Aplenty!

November 2005

Late November — A full dozen American bald eagles — juvenile and adult — were spotted roosting and flying along the shore near Wilson's Beach on Campobello Island.

Even More Spectacular Auroras Borealis

November 2003

We're in the third year of an Auroral activity peak. Typically, Auroras go through an 11-year activity cycle, and 2001 was a peak year in that cycle. There are occasional "double-peak" cycles, where the 12th year is also unusually active; however, 2003 is the 13th year of the cycle, providing numerous opportunities to view the Aurora.

The first few days of November provided some spectacular Northern Lights sighthings! A massive solar eruption shot particles toward Earth at approximately 4-times average speed, resulting in exceptionally bright and colorful sky shows.

Large areas of red, along with bright "curtains" of moving light, pulsing light, and long spikes of light, have covered huge areas of the sky, sometimes visible even in well-lit municipal areas where auroral events are typically unseen. Many members of Quoddy Loop communities have been taking extra effort to watch for — and be awed by — Mother Nature's recent fireworks in the sky.

(See photographs from a spectacular 2001 Aurora Borealis sighting.)

Wired.com Visits Eastport & Old Sow Whirlpool Survivors' Association

October 2003

Michelle Delio and her husband-photographer Laszlo Pataki, near the onset of a 4-month quest of travelling US-1 from Fort Kent, Maine, to Key West, Florida, stopped in Eastport to do a story in their travel series on "geek history and culture" along United States' Number 1 highway. Their stories appear on Wired.com, the news arm of Wired Magazine.

October 26th presented Eastport with these nomads of news, who had breakfast with a handful of members of the Old Sow Whirlpool Survivors' Association. Heads were spinning from personal accounts of being caught in — and escaping — mighty Old Sow!

See Michelle Delio's story, with Laszlo Pataki's photographs (and one bodacious aerial image of Old Sow by yours truly) on the Wired.com website. Be sure to follow their periodic reports on their adventure all the way to the extreme opposite end of US-1.

On the days in which stories are newly posted, they're featured on the Wired.com home page. Look for the photographic image of a US-1 road sign. On other days, look for the "Subsets" category along the left side of the home page; look for "Culture"; and then "On the Road: Travels in Technology." On that page you'll find all of Michelle's stories on the trip thus far.

* They mean "geek" in a nice way. See Michelle Delio's first story in this series, "Finding Life on a New Road," for an operating definition of the word.

(Be sure to check out our sister Web site dedicated to Old Sow Whirlpool: www.oldsowwhirlpool.com)

Baby Gull Prepares for Flight

May 2003

For the second year in a row, a pair of gulls laid their eggs in an improbable place — on a vagrant pier in downtown (Moose Island) Eastport. Gulls typically lay their eggs on isolated islands. Two eggs were laid this year, and — as in 2002 — one hatched successfully. Although the nest was isolated from predator access by land, due to the delapidated condition of the wharf, such a location presents an unexpected hazard to a baby gull. As with 2002, when the chick began exercizing its as-of-yet unfeathered wings, it fell off the narrow beam of its nest, falling into the tidal water below. Fearful that the chick had been lost to the sea or to a local cat or eagle, this writer investigated the area on several succeeding days, learning that the parents were still tending the chick along the Moose Island shoreline. The baby gull eventually fledged, and is now a member of the local gull community.

A fuzzy gull chick, while tended by a parent on its precarious nest, exercises its wings in anticipation of greater things to come.

Photography Notes: Canon EOS-1 on tripod; Canon EF 300mm L lens with matched Canon EF 2x extender (600mm effective focal length); 1/1000 sec at f/5.6; Fuji 200 ISO negative film.

A Great Year for Auroras!

Although solar flare activity (the cause for the aurora borealis) typically occurs on an 11-year cycle, with occasional periods of two succeeding years of high activity, we have been experiencing a 3-year period of high solar flare activity, with resulting auroras.

2003 has had a satisfying number of auroras, some being spectacular. One recent Aurora Borealis was reported to have been observed as far south as southern California!

There are many locations in the Quoddy Loop that are perfect for aurora sightings, due to the absence of light pollution that is experienced in more urban areas. Such available darkness has also been great for viewing Mars during its once-every-60,000-year close proximity to earth.

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2002

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White Whale Sighted!

Shades of Moby Dick!

1 September 2002

The owner-operator of East Coast Ferries, Ltd., of Deer Island, NB, reported sighting a small white whale several times recently while running the ferries within the passages of Passamaquoddy Bay between Deer Island and Campobello Island, and between Deer Island and Eastport, Maine. It may be a beluga whale, which are white when adult, and which are known to be infrequent visitors to this area. Belugas generally reside year 'round in waters much farther north.

Whale Breaches Off Eastport Pier

People at the Eastport Municipal Pier reported watching a whale breach in the nearby Friar Roads passage on July 24. Once commonplace, and although whales are frequently seen off Head Harbour on Campobello Island, and in the open Bay of Fundy between Grand Manan and Lubec, whale sightings in Friar Roads occur but a few times each summer.

Tree Explodes from Internal Steam Pressure

During a mid-July thunderstorm, a tree along US-1 in Edmunds Township was struck by lightning. A passerby saw steam rising out of the tree, which -- although having just been lightning struck -- was still intact. He got out of his car and walked around the tree, observing the unusual sight. Sometime after leaving, the internal steam pressure burst the tree asunder, with the results shown in the photographs. The next day, owners of the property reported that they placed their hands within part of the tree's enormous wound, and could smell ozone on their hands as a result of the lightning. View larger version of image on the left or image on the right.

Hooded Seal in Cutler Harbor

A young hooded seal, about 125 pounds and three feet long, was spotted on Sandy Beach in Cutler on April 11th, as reported in the 12 April edition of The Quoddy Tides newspaper. Hooded seals are not common in Maine, and typically are found on the ice pack in the North Atlantic.

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Whale Ashore at Cutler

A deceased whale washed ashore at Cutler in August.

Willem Dafoe Visits Quoddy Area

Actor Willem Dafoe was seen in Eastport and touring Roosevelt International Park on Campobello Island in August. Dafoe received Oscar nominations as best supporting actor in "Platoon" (1986) and "Shadow of the Vampire" (2000).

Dafoe's film, television, and narration experience, as of this writing:

Heaven's Gate (uncredited) The Loveless (aka Breakdown) The Hunger Streets of Fire Roadhouse 66 New York Nights To Live and Die in L.A. The Communists Are Comfortable Platoon* Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam Off Limits Mississippi Burning The Last Temptation of Christ Triumph of the Spirit Born on the Fourth of July Wild at Heart

Flight of the Intruder Cry-Baby Light Sleeper Fishing with John White Sands Far Away, So Close Body of Evidence In weiter Ferne, so nah! (aka, Faraway, So Close!) Tom & Viv The Night and the Moment Clear and Present Danger Victory Foolish Heart The English Patient Basquiat Speed 2: Cruise Control

New Rose Hotel What is Yoga? Lulu on the Bridge The Boondock Saints Affliction eXistenZ American Psycho Bullfighter Animal Factory Shadow of the Vampire* Pavilion of Women Morality Play Did You Know? Edges of the Lord Spider-Man Once Upon a Time in Mexico

* Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.

(Source: www.washingtonpost.com and IMDb.com)

Basking Shark at Grand Manan

A basking shark was caught in, and released from, a herring weir on Grand Manan this summer.

Smithsonian Magazine Mentions Old Sow

Smithsonian Magazine's August issue has a writeup about famous whirlpools in the world, including the Old Sow Whirlpool, written by best-selling author ("The Professor and the Madman"), Simon Winchester. Smithsonian Magazine's website also carries some ancillary information.

© 2001 Old Sow Publishing

Fox TV's "Murder in Small Town X" Eastport was transformed into "Sunrise, Maine," and was all abuzz during the late winter/early spring as Final Stretch Productions filmed several episodes of their "reality-tv" murder mystery series. The production erected a statue of a fisherman holding a pollock (left), and left it as a testament to their project.

Aurora Borealis Numerous sightings of the Northern Lights have been made during this apex of the 11-year Solar flare activity cycle. A particularly spectacular sighting [see our 11 April 2001 photographs] demonstrates the advantages of clear skies, broad horizons, and northern latitudes for viewing this mysterious phenomenon.

© 2001 OSP

 

Nesting American Bald Eagles Return to Moosehorn

Once again, a pair of bald eagles returned in April 2001 to nest in one of the man-made osprey roosts at the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge along US Route 1 in Baring, Maine. An observation deck along the highway makes viewing convenient. [Note: At least 14 pairs of bald eagles winter around Cobscook Bay, a branch of Passamaquoddy Bay.]

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Great White Shark Attack Off the Wolf Islands

In the Spring of 2000, the Canadian Coast Guard reported sighting a great white shark attacking a minke whale off the Wolf Islands, south of Blacks Harbour. If you've seen Jaws, you can imagine this observation!

Killer Whales Sighted Off Grand Manan & Campobello

Pods of 5 - 25 Orca whales were spotted during the summer of 2000 off of Grand Manan and the southern end of Campobello Island. It may be the many seals found in the area that attracted the Orcas. Swim at your own risk!

Basking Sharks at Deer Island & Campobello Island

Several bus-size plankton-feeding basking sharks were seen in 1999 and 2000 around Deer Island and Campobello Island, and in a Deer Island herring weir.

Ocean Sunfish Washed Ashore on Carlow Island

Seldom seen in this area, a large ocean sunfish (deceased) washed ashore at Carlow Island, Eastport, Maine, during the summer 2000.

Humpback Whale Flotsam in Lubec

In 1995 a dead humpback whale, flukes missing from an apparent collision with a ship's propeller, washed up on shore on the beach at the south end of Lubec village. The whale's odor was so powerful -- and the whale being uncooperative at floating away with the tide -- that after an autopsy performed by the College of the Atlantic, the town employed a backhoe at low water to bury the behemoth beneath the beach.