devonhelmer's Favourites

(2024-03-14)
1:50pm
Surprisingly, this is the actual location.

This is by far the craziest sighting of a seal I have ever made in my life! Just take a look at the location, it is 100% accurate. Crazy Right!?!?! This harbour seal was found by myself and my mom as we were walking by the pond, just checking to see if the turtles were out yet because we had a very sunny day and what do you know there’s a seal sitting in this COMPLETELY FRESH WATER POND!!!!!!!!!! Sorry for my excitement but this is a first for me.

The water levels have been extremely high recently with a bit of flooding through the forests low to the water and all of the wetlands, and the river was extremely high which must’ve been how the seal got in to the pond. The river connects to the ocean through an estuary that is about a kilometre up the river from this point,

In summary, this seal somehow swam about a kilometre of fully freshwater river against the current and into a pond which has an entry point about 10-20m wide and only like 0.5-2m deep at the entrance. The pond does get deeper but it is no place for a seal.

I viewed this seal yesterday and have no clue if it’s still there, if you see this seal again and post about it please tag me because I’d like to know how it’s doing and if it’s still there!!

TLDR: seal found in freshwater, swam approx. 1km from ocean against river current.

• Devon Helmer

Drama. These guys all normally get along pretty well, but here a squirrel decided to start something and nearly got kicked in the head as reward. Moments later they were back to munching sunflower seeds side-by-side again.

Back when I was say, 9 or 10, me and my sister were playing the backyard on the swing set. Our Mother watched us as we swung. Suddenly, my Mother shouted out to us to get into the house. We were confused and scared, why the yelling? We quickly ran into the house and looked back to see a giant raccoon emerging from the shed. It was massive! It could totally take down boy me!

The raccoon walked up to the swing set, and was confronted by my Mom with a broom. She swiped at it. Me and my sister watched behind the bug screen, probably not the best idea. After a short while, the raccoon returned to the shed, and forever after that, we feared the shed.

The raccoon's presents was marked by one the shed's doors, which the raccoon had bent out of shape.

Flash forward to the summer of 2020, and we finally decide that we wanted our shed back. We hadn’t used if for years! On June 8, my Father came with a pool net and prepared to face the raccoon. The whole family waited with anticipation, what would we find? After some time, I heard a shout, I quickly turned my attention to the shed, it was the raccoon, but not how we expected. In the pool net lied the skeletal remains of the raccoon, was it all over?

My Father brought the skull and some other bones to our outdoor table. The years of fear finally at an end. The following week would see the further discovery of other body parts. A nest was also found, stained by bodily fluids and decomposition. I also found a dead rat, it still had fur but you could see its bones.

The raccoon skeleton remains in the backyard, and the shed is ours once again.

This week marks the second anniversary of this event.

This male mountain lion - a migrant from South Dakota - was infamously struck 41-miles east of Greenwich, CT. This was the first verifiable documentation of a cougar in Connecticut since the 1890s. The attributed location and time is from where it was struck by a car. There is no breeding population of cougars in New England, though they historically occupied every continental US state.

Photos supplied with permission from the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (CT DEEP), Wildlife Division, courtesy of Cyndy Chanaca.
Individual photo credentials: Paul J. Fusco/ CT DEEP-Wildlife

Further reading:

• Mountain Lions in Massachusetts: Distinguishing Fiction from the Facts by Tom French
• Confirmed Reports of Mountain Lions in Massachusetts by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife (archived from the original)
• Genetic Testing Reveals Mountain Lion Killed in Milford Originated in South Dakota by CT DEEP (archived from the original)

BIDENS ANDICOLA H.B.K., Nov. Gen. et Sp. 4:237 (186). 1820; B. andicola H.B.K. vars. normalis and heterophylla O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 3^II^: I36. 1898; B. fruticulosa Mey. and Walp., Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. 19 Supplem. I. 271. 1843.

Descript. amplific.- Herba perennis, semi-procumbens vel etiam erecta, valde hispido-pubescens vel fere glabra, ramosa, 2-8 dm. alta, caulibus parce angulatis. Folia 1-7 cm. longa, valde polymorpha; nunc indivisa, ovata, serrata, sessilia vel alato-petiolata, ad apicem obtusa vel subacuta; nunc tripartite vel 1-3-pinnata foliolis ovatis vel lanceolatis vel linearibus et ad apicem sensim vel abrupte apiculatis. Capitula ramos terminantia, longe pedunculata, radiata; pansa ad anthesin 2-4 vel rarius etiam usque ad 5.5 cm. lata, 0.7-1.4 cm. alta. Involucrum perspicue hispidum, bracteis ex-terioribus 8-10, lanceolatis vel lineari-oblongis, ciliatis, supra saepe glabratis, apice plerumque obtusis, quam interioribus lanceolatis dense hispidis plerumque multo brevioribus. Flores ligulati saepius 8, lutei, ligula elliptico-oblanceolati, apice plerumque minute 3-denticulati, 1.2-2.5 cm. longi. Achaenia tenuiter linearia, inferne sensim attenuate, obcompresso-quadrangularia, sulcata, supra plus minusve erecto-hispida, fusco-nigra, corpore 0.7-1.4 cm. longa et 0.4-1 mm. lata et paleas demum superantia, apice bi- (vel pauca tri-) aristata, aristis tenuibus, brunneo-stramineis vel rubescentibus, re-trorsum hamosis, 1.7-3 mm. longis.

BIDENS ANDICOLA var. DECOMPOSITA O. Kuntze, I.c.; B. macrantha Griseb., Abhandl. Goett. I9:I38 I874; B. grandiflora Balb. var. breviloba 0. Kuntze, I.c.-Folia 2-3-pinnatisecta, usque ad I dm. longa, achaeniis superne valde attenuato-elongata.

For many years the identity of the South American Bidens andicola has been obscured for herbarium workers by the great multiplicity of foliage forms encountered. WEDDELL, as early as 1856 (Chloris And. 1870) described it as a polymorphous plant ("Plante polymorphe et très repande dans la chaine, mais presque exclusivement alpestre"). Later, OTTO KUNTZE, who like WEDDELL had collected in South America, commented upon the variability of the leaves ("Eine robuste Art mit einfach oder mehrfach ternatisecten Blättern, mittelgrossen gelben Strahlblüthen, ziemlich grossen Blüthenköpfen, äusseren zottig behaarten Involucralbracteen etc., aber in Bezug auf Blatttheilung wie manche andere Bidens-Art sehr variabel"; Rev. Gen. Pl. 3^II^: 136. 1898). In herbaria the numerous foliage forms are seen to simulate corresponding forms of B. triplinervia H.B.K. (B. humilis H.B.K., B. crithmifoliac H.B.K., etc.), and this has led often to confusion between the two species. Recently I was enabled, through the courtesy of OTTO BUCHTIEN (cf. SHEREFF, BOT. GAZ. 76: 151. 1923), to study a great number of specimens collected by him and displaying a wide range of variation. From these (all in Herb. Field. Mus.) and many others, totalling more than two hundred specimens, the preceding descriptions are drawn. It was found that sometimes, in poorly developed material, distinction from B. triplinervia is apparently impossible. In well developed material, however, the distinctions are usually very definite, B. andicola being coarser, its thicker heads having commonly about eight instead of commonly about five rays[4], etc. B. andicola has the paleae shorter than the mature achenes and this character separates it from the surprisingly similar aggregation of Mexican forms (Purpus 1547, 1548, 2637, 4135, 5089, 5620; Rose and Painter 6666, 7949; Pringle 4915; E. W. Nelson 3220, etc.) that in late years have passed erroneously under the name B. daucifolia DC. In the latter[5] the paleae are usually very blackish above and commonly surpass the mature achenes.

Occasionally a form of B. andicola is found with the leaves highly compound and the achenes strongly narrowed above, somewhat like those of Cosmos. If it were not for various connecting forms this would seem to be specifically distinct. KUNTZE, who himself collected specimens of it, referred at least one of them, a plant from Cochabamba, Bolivia (Herb. N.Y. Bot. Gard.) to B. andicola, naming it var. decomposita. In a careless moment he named a precisely identical form from between Cochabamba and Rio Juntas, Bolivia (Herb. N.Y. Bot. Gard.) B. grandiflora Balb. var. breviloba, although B. grandifjora is a Mexican species and is not known to occur in South America.

[4] Unfortunately, B. triplinervia produces at times an 8-rayed form. Discussion of this form must be deferred until a later date.

Sherff, E. E. (1926). Studies in the Genus Bidens. VII. Botanical Gazette, 81(1), 25-54.>>

Seal caught in net at the East Bay Sandbar. Department of Natural Resources and Marine Animal Response Society called and notified, but animal freed one fore flipper and returned to the water shortly after.

65 harbour seals on the ice along with 3 or 4 more popping up through holes in the ice. This was my first observation of the annual gathering of harbour seals in Baddeck Bay. It was a very amazing experience!

Many other people have seen this gathering including @maureen_c-m : https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/150505492 , https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/71800360 . @marianwhit : https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/116909024 .
and @dbmcc09 : https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/108840327 .

I can provide more zoomed in pictures of individuals if specified but they will not be great quality photos.

This is one of the 16 Atlantic white-sided dolphins that were beached in The Joggins in Digby,NS. They were subsequently rescued by members of the community, the volunteer fire department and Department of Fisheries and Oceans officers. This photo was taken after the blanket keeping the dolphin wet and protected was removed and rescuers were moving to shore as the tide approached. A few people stayed with the dolphins to help them get moving once they were floating again.

Sperm whale beaching at Wangerooge Eastern End on Jan. 8th 2016 / female whale 2 / background island "Minsener Oog"

see Flickr documentation of discovery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/143115576@N02/albums/72157669456806047

Mature orca known to us as the d-male was sighted near the coast at Tors Cove, Newfoundland - just south of St. John's. Our first record of this animal is from Twillingate, Newfoundland in 1996 and it is one of region's most photographed and recognized animal. It is usually seen in the company of a female with a deep gash in her dorsal - possibly his mother.