About the Bay

Merrymeeting Bay

Sightings and Observations

HELP! We need your input.
Please send your sightings and observations of wildlife
around Merrymeeting Bay to
Betsy Steen

 

 

FISH

Atlantic Sturgeon, 8/21/01, seen breaching in the Androscoggin along Route 1 in Topsham/Brunwick

Alewife? Blueback herring? 8/22/01--Gulls feeding on bait fish run below Brunswick dam. Likely juvenile alewife or herring dropping out of the river.

Striped Bass 8/22/01 Chasing juvenile herring/alewife below Brunswick Dam.

 

 

Sightings from 'A Merry Meeting At the Bay'
May 20, 1999
Chops Point, Woolwich, Maine

Animals
Plants
Plants

 

BIRDS

Double Crested Cormorant
Osprey
Mourning Dove
Eastern Phoebe
Tree Swallow
Blue Jay
Black & White Warbler
Black-throated Green warbler
Baltimore Oriole
Chipping Sparrow

MAMMALS

Fox

 

MOSSES & FERNS

Ground Pine
Interrupted Fern
Cinnamon Fern
Bracken Fern
Sensitive Fern
Rock Polypody

HERBACEOUS FLOWERING PLANTS

Jack-in-the-Pulpit
Canada Mayflower
Pink Lady's Slipper
Buttercup
Wood Anemone
Goldthread
Wood Sorrel
Common Blue Violet
Fringed Polygala
Wild Sarsparilla
Wild Strawberry
Evening Primrose
Bunchberry
Trailing Arbutus (Mayflower)
Wintergreen
Starflower
Bluets
Partridgeberry
Hawkweed

Rushes
Sedges
Grasses

SHRUBBY SPECIES

Sweet Fern
Winterberry (Ilex)
Speckled Alder
Hawthorn
Staghorn Sumac
Blueberry
Witch hazel
Witherod

ARBORAL SPECIES

White Pine
Common Juniper
Balsam Fir
Hemlock
Red Spruce
Northern White Cedar

Red Oak
White Oak
Gray Birch
Paper Birch
Beech
Red Maple
White ash
Apple
Cherry

 

GENERAL SIGHTINGS

Freeze Up - Merrymeeting Bay

1990...12/15; reop; 1/1/91

1993...total, 12/28

1996...1/9 pt open; tot, 1/27

1991...ptly, 12/8

1994...12/8; reop; 1/28 pt open

1997...12/13.12/28..pt op 1/12

1992...total, 12/27, rough

1995...12/14

1998-1999...12/29/98

1999-2000...12/29 to BI; across 1/14/2000

Ice Out - Merrymeeting Bay

1990...3/18 to BI

1993...4/9 to BI; 4/13 to Cath

1996...3/1to BI ; 3/21to Cath

1991...3/8 some; 3/14 to Cath

1994...3/26 to BI; 4/5 to Cath

1997...2/28 to BI; 3/21 to Cath

1992...3/7 to BI; 3/21 to Cath

1995...3/18 to Cath

1998... 2/21 to BI; 3/1 to Cath

1999....2/7 to Brick Island; 3/16 to Cathance

2000...3/8 to Brick Island; 3/15 to Cathance

2001... 3/24 to Brick Island; 4/7 to Cathance

2002...; 3/1 to Cathance

2003...3/25 to Brick Island; 3/31 to Cathance

2004...3/18 to Brick Island; 3/28 to Cathance

Killdeer in Bay View Cemetery Bowdoinham

1990...4/20

1993...3/28

1996...4/16

1991...4/5

1994...3/24

1997...3/30

1992...4/12

1995...3/20

1998...3/27

1999...3/28

2000...3/29

2001...4/15

2002...4/15

2003...3/23

2004...

Peepers near Bay View Cemetery Bowdoinham

1990...4/21

1991...4/6

1992...5/3

1993...4/24

1994...4/14

1995...4/15

1996...4/18

1997...4/23

1998...4/6

1999

2000...3/29

2001...4/22

2002...

2003...4/12

2004...

Birds and Beasts: A General Sighting List

  • Redwing Blackbirds in large flock at feeder Bay Rd. B'ham- 3/1/98,...3/29/99,...3/1/2000,...3/11/2001,...3/17/2003,...3/3/2004
  • Phoebe Bay Road, Bowdoinham- 4/3/97...3/29/98...4/8/2000
  • Cornell's BirdSource Great Backyard Sighting Count
    February 20, 21, 22, 1998
    (Maximun number / species sighted at once over 3 days: Bowdoinham)
    • Bay Road - 7 mourning doves, 2 downy wookpeckers, 1 hairy woodpecker, 4 bluejays, 1 crow, 7 blackcapped chickadees, 1 tufted titmouse, 1 white breasted nuthatch, 1 red breasted nuthatch, 41 robins, 2 starlings, 1 cardinal, 3 American goldfinches
    • School Street - 10 pigeons, 5 mourning doves, 3 bluejays, 5 crows, 4 blackcapped chickadees, 33 cedar waxwings, 5 starlings, 5 American goldfinches, 17 pine grosbeaks
  • Mrs. Melander & and Mrs. Hinds/Mrs. Giggey's First Grades
    (Bowdoinham Community School)
    • Wildes Point, Merrymeeting Bay
    • June 5, 1997 AM
      • Great Blue Heron
      • Red-winged Black Bird
      • Bobolink
  • Off Route 24 (Bay Road) Bowdoinham, next to Bay View Cemetery
    • Summer 1997
      • Red fox
      • Raccoon
    • November 1997
      • possible sighting of small Mountain Lion
    • September 1998
      • Red Fox-trotting up the drive, around the house, over the stone wall,to the pear tree, where he ate two large pears
    • May 2000
      • Goldfinches, Northern Orioles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks, House Finches, White Crowned Sparrows, White Throated Sparrows, Indigo Bunting, Red Bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers, Ruby Throated Hummingbird, Bobolink, Killdeer,
Updated 4/7/04

To report a sighting or event, contact Betsy Steen


Watercolors by
Sarah Stapler