August 1, 2019
In terms of the environment, it has been a difficult summer for our corner of central Maine. For example, many huge red oaks, some seventy feet tall, were defoliated by caterpillars in May, and in June began dropping a rain of tiny acorns they no longer had the energy to grow to maturity.
In such times, I have become hyper-alert to evidence of the tears and strains on the web of life: How will the chipmunks, their numbers already lowered by the toll of heavy icing last winter, fare without a solid crop of acorns? Are the freshwater mussel populations decreasing as the quality of the lake water changes?
By the same token, signs of environmental health make the heart sing. This morning when I went down to the lake, I accidentally surprised a painted turtle that had been sunning on a rock. Watching through the water as the turtle raced away, its short legs striding a half inch above the brown lake bottom, was a treat. The small fish in the area were less sensitive to my presence and continued peacefully feeding around the rocks near the shore. Later, in the same spot, I found male dragonflies, slaty skimmers, on the hunt, defending their shoreline territories. While slaty skimmers are hardy, any dragonfly is considered to be an “indicator species,” pointing to a level of health in the aquatic environments they depend on in their lifecycle.
Clear water, sunlit–
shy fish graze among the rocks
skimmers on patrol
