Dragonflies

Female Twelve-spot Skimmer Dragon Fly

Dragonflies and Damselflies General Description Dragonflies and damselflies are scientifically classified under the order Odonata. These medium to large insects have body lengths ranging from just over half an inch to just under five inches. They are often seen flying rapidly over streams and lakes, or through gardens at dusk, often following regular flight paths…

Insects, Leaf-footed

Western Conifer Seed Bug (2017)

The Western Conifer Seed Bug is a type of leaf-footed bug, about 3/4 inch from head to tail, that feeds on seeds of trees, especially pine. It is not a destructive pest in the home, but is a nuisance. It finds its way into homes during the end of summer and early fall looking for a place…

Insects, Browntail Moth

Browntail Moth Larva (2017)

According to the Maine Forest Service the browntail moth was accidentally introduced into Somerville, Massachusetts from Europe in 1897.  By 1913, the insect had spread to all New England states, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.  Populations of this pest slowly decreased due to natural controls until the 1960s, when browntail moth was limited to Cape…

Glossy Ibis

This bird’s year round home is along the southeast coast of the United States and islands in the Caribbean.  But the Glossy Ibis is an occasional visitor during the summer mating season. These two, on the right, were observed at the Scarborough Marsh in 2010, along with apparent summer vacation friends in the feather of…

Invasive Species

sign: "Boaters Watch Out For Hitchhiking Plants!" at Washington Pond in Washington (2003)

Maine, as most places on Earth, is home to native and non-native species of plants and animals. The State of Maine has extensive resources on this subject so there is no need to restate them here. An invasive plant is defined as a plant that is not native to a particular ecosystem, whose introduction does…

Indian Reservation, Penobscots

Indian Island in the Penobscot River (2005)

The Reservation in Penobscot County, is the home of the Penobscot Tribe of Maine’s Native American population, and is located on Indian Island in the Penobscot River and within the boundaries of the community of Old Town. See photos. The Penobscot Nation Council, headquartered on the Island, is composed of elected members, lead by a Chief and a Vice Chief. It is the birthplace in 1871 of Cleveland Indians baseball player Louis Sockalexis. Dancer and entertainer Molly Spotted Elk was born here in 1903.

Industry

Settled in 1783, Industry’s main villages are Allens Mills, at the southern end of Clearwater Pond, and West Mills. The mills produced wood and leather products, tools and flour. See photos. Goodridge Corner school, the “little red schoolhouse,” is the home of the town’s historical society.

Island Falls

William Sewall became a wildlife guide and companion to Theodore Roosevelt in the 1870′s. The town has frontage on almost half of Pleasant Lake. See photos. The nearby Walker Settlement hosts a golf course and residential development near the lake. Several large homes recall the heady days when potato was king in the County. One of those was that of Governor Carl E. Milliken. Island Falls has had industry in the form of lumber mills, grist mills and a starch factory.

Isaacson, Judith

Judith Magyar Isaacson (1925-2015), a Holocaust survivor and former Bates College dean, was born in Kaposvar, Hungary, in 1925. When she was 19, her family was deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. From there, Judith, her mother, Rozsa, and her aunt, Magda Rosenberger, were sent to a slave labor camp in Hessisch Lichtenau, a satellite…

Ipcar, Dahlov

The Art of Dahlov Ipcar (book cover)

Dahlov Zorach Ipcar (1917- 2017) was a resident of Robinhood, a village in the town of Georgetown. An author, artist, and illustrator of children’s books, she was born November 12, 1917 in Windsor, Vermont. She spent her early years in New York’s Greenwich Village. Her parents were the artists Marguerite and William Zorach. They encouraged…

Insects, Biting

Female Deer Tick

Also see: Browntail Moth. Deer ticks are small, about 1/8 of an inch. They may reach 1/2 inch if swelled with blood. Lyme Disease Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium transmitted to a person through the bite of an infected deer tick. (Actually not an insect but, with eight legs, an arachnid.) Symptoms include the…

Indian Township

Peter Dana Point, in the southwest corner, is the village center for the Passamaquoddy people in the township. U.S. Route 1 hosts another cluster of facilities and population. The tribe’s governing body is the policy maker for the Passamaquoddy People of Indian Township with each member elected for a four year term. Municipal offices, public safety building, housing authority and Boys & Girls Club Fitness Center are in the southeast corner near the town line with Princeton and near the shore of Lewy Lake.

Personal Income

Personal Income Per Capita

Maine’s personal income per person (per capita) has lagged the national average by varying amounts since 1929.   The state’s percent of the national average (green line on the chart) has not strayed far from the long-term average of 86% durng the period. In the early 1930’s it exceeded 90% probably because the agricultural sector…

Median Family Income

Median Family Income

The median income for families is that amount above which half the families have more and below which half the families have less income. It is “in the middle.” According to the U.S. Census: Family. A family is a group of two people or more (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage,…

Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act 1979

INDIAN TERRITORIES CHAPTER 601 MAINE INDIAN CLAIMS SETTLEMENT (To Indian Lands Claims article.) 30 § 6201. Short title INDIAN TERRITORIES CHAPTER 601 MAINE INDIAN CLAIMS SETTLEMENT 30 § 6201. Short title This Act shall be known and may be cited as “AN ACT to Implement the Maine Indian Claims Settlement.” [1979, c. 732, §§ 1,…

Islesboro

Islesboro Ferry Terminal (2014)

is the marker for dividing East Penobscot Bay from West Penobscot Bay. It includes North and South Islesboro connected by a narrow segment of land, See chart and photo. Seven Hundred Acre Island, Job Island. The 129 acres of forested Warren Island hosts a state park with a dock and moorings. Grindel Point Light Station in Gilkey Harbor on Islesboro was established in 1850.

Isle au Haut

Location Map of Isle-au-Haut

Samuel de Champlain apparently named it in 1604 from the French for “high island.” About half the island is incorporated into Acadia National Park. Isle au Haut is both a lobstering community and a retreat for seasonal cottage owners. It has also been home to author-fisherman Linda Greenlaw.