Wildlife biologists spend plenty of time at their computers, crunching numbers that will tell them more about a wide variety of species.
That part of the job, many of them will tell you, is sometimes tedious, but necessary.
Getting their hands on those numbers, however, can be a bit more interesting … and tiring.
Just ask Kelsey Sullivan.
Sullivan, a game bird biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, joined state and federal colleagues and a few volunteers Wednesday for a day of field work on Flagg Island near Harpswell.
The objective of the 13-member team: Capture a bunch of eiders and put metal tags around their legs.
Sounds simple, right?
The large sea ducks, as you might imagine, had other ideas.
“At first, they hear the disturbance and they’re pouring off their nests,” Sullivan said Friday, back in his Bangor office. “A lot of the time they’re in raspberry bushes or under cover, around dead trunks and things. That’s usually 30, 40, 50 feet in the woods.”
Thirty or 40 or 50 feet into the woods. In the middle of a raspberry bush … or worse.
“Don’t forget poison ivy,” Sullivan said, showing off a patch of irritated skin he received Wednesday … all in the name of science.
Sullivan said Wednesday’s effort was a major one in an ongoing eider study, as the large corps of workers allowed a large sample of eiders.
“I think [we tagged] 166 that day because [we had] so many people,” Sullivan said. “We’ll go out to other islands and do 20, 30 birds with a smaller crew.”
Armed only with dip nets, the biologists scooped up fleeing birds.
“You have time to anticipate them and where they’re coming off of,” Sullivan explained. “They’re pretty much trying to get away from you, right away.”
Sullivan said the biologists tag birds during the spring, and head out for more field work in August, when the ducks molt.
“If there’s a good molt year, when all the birds are dropping their wing feathers and are flightless, and they’re in the right areas, we could catch between 500 and 1,000 in one run,” he said.
Most states have some kind of waterfowl tagging efforts, according to Sullivan. Maine is one of the states that has the opportunity to do eider work because those ducks live in the northeast.
Some of the ducks that are captured have been caught and tagged before. Those eiders, Sullivan said, provide special information.
“Those are the hot birds, the value birds, the ones that are already marked, because you get a recapture rate,” Sullivan said.
That’s one of two major ways biologists are able to account for birds that they tag. The other is when hunters shoot the ducks and call to report the tag information to federal wildlife officials.
Sullivan said biologists really don’t mind the raspberry bushes, poison ivy and stampeding ducks.
“It’s a fun thing to do,” he said. “All that stuff doesn’t matter.”
He did say, however, that some people have an edge when it comes to netting eiders.
“Basically, if you played lacrosse, you’ve got an up for experience,” Sullivan said.
Unfortunately for him, Sullivan didn’t play lacrosse.
[I’ve] just caught a lot of birds with dip nets,” he said with a laugh.
Veazie trap gets upgrade
For years fisheries biologists have trapped Atlantic salmon at the Veazie Dam, as the migrating fish make their way up the Penobscot River.
This year’s trapping effort is under way, and as of Friday 52 salmon had been captured. That’s just three fish less than had been caught by the same date a year ago.
This year, however, the trap-tenders have a bit more work to take care of when they empty the trap.
The Department of Marine Resources’ Bureau of Sea-Run Fisheries and Habitat has made some changes in the trap itself, and other, smaller species of fish are now being intentionally trapped.
“We put some lobster wire around the trap so now, essentially, fish can’t swim through,” biologist Norm Dube said. “For instance, this morning [the crew] caught something like 115 sea lampreys [and] around 140 or so alewives.”
Before, the grid of the trap was large enough that smaller fish, including alewives, lamprey, blueback herring and small smallmouth bass could pass through.
Not any more.
“The basis of it was to give us an idea of the population of alewives in the river, in anticipation of the Penobscot River Restoration Project removing dams on the river,” Dube said.
Since the trap was opened on May 4, about 700 alewives have been caught, Dube said.
Sea lampreys and most of the alewives are being released into the head pond above the Veazie Dam immediately, Dube said. A few of the alewives are fitted with an electronic tracking tag before they’re released.
There’s a tag-counter at the Milford Dam, and alewives that make it that far can be counted again.
“We’ll see if they make it up through the Great Works fishway and up to Milford,” Dube said. “Once we released them in Veazie [before the tagging began] we really had no good idea where they’re going to spawn.”
Grand Lake Stream heating up
On Internet fishing message boards, there are always a few chat threads where interested anglers can talk about one of the state’s most famous fishing destinations, Grand Lake Stream.
The stream itself is a fly-fishing gem, and West Grand Lake enjoys a fine reputation for its landlocked salmon and togue. Add in all the smallmouth bass waters in the area, and you can see why some anglers make plans to visit the small town each year.
On Thursday I swapped e-mails with Jeff McEvoy, a Registered Maine Guide who owns Weatherby’s Resort in Grand Lake Stream.
McEvoy told me about a recent Project Healing Waters trip to GLS that gave six Maine veterans the chance to enjoy area fishing opportunities (more on that in an upcoming column), and passed along an update on fishing conditions at one of my favorite Maine places.
“The stream has been fishing very well with more fish in this May than we have seen in several seasons,” McEvoy reported. “Currently fish from the Dam Pool to Big Lake in the Stream. Jared Koenigsfeld reported catching 35 fish on his first day of fishing Grand Lake Stream, here from Iowa to work at Weatherby’s for the season.
“Best tactics include large streamers, and nymphs. Hendricksons are hatching each day and if you are lucky enough to hit them just right you will experience a day of fishing like never before. Caddis are starting to pop, but will be a week or so before the big hatches start,” he wrote.
Still, fishing Grand Lake Stream itself is only a piece of the angling equation in those parts. Many prefer to target warm-water species, and McEvoy said bass anglers have also begun having good luck.
“The warmer lakes are beginning to fish really well for smallmouth with spawning beds showing on the southern shores first,” McEvoy wrote. “Feeding fish are in tight to shore and are willing to take top water or subsurface on flies or casting plugs. Spring fishing is in full swing and it is only going to get better.”
That’s good news indeed. And after the holiday crowds disperse, it sounds like it’ll be time for another fact-finding trip to Grand Lake Stream.
