The first Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970, the brainchild of Gaylord Nelson, a senator from Wisconsin. He wanted to “get the nation to wake up and pay attention to the most important challenge the human species faces on the planet.” Designed as a day to sponsor “teach-ins” at college campuses across the […]
Make your own wildlife-friendly ornaments
Making ornaments is a great activity, but the best thing you can do is plant a native plant in your yard that will be a permanent natural food source. Winterberry is beautiful in the winter, and birds love the colorful red berries. Also, consider leaving leaf litter, seedheads, and plant stalks, which are crucial places […]
Tackling Lead, One Retailer at a Time: It Adds Up!
Earlier this fall, an ad playing on the radio caught Dana Jenkins’ attention. “Calling all fishing tackle stores in Maine,” the announcer’s voice said. “Maine Audubon wants to pay your store for its lead tackle. A new law makes it illegal to sell painted lead jigs weighing 1 ounce or less or measuring 2.5 inches […]
Visit the New “Birds of the Marsh” Nature Trail at Scarborough Marsh
Picture this: You take a short walk in a beautiful setting, view lovely artwork, and learn some interesting facts and natural history about marsh birds. That’s the experience you can have now along the Nature Trail at Scarborough Marsh. Last year, we installed sign holders and displayed pages from The Secret Bay, a picture book […]
What we did in July!
July went by in the blink of an eye, partly because we were so busy here at Maine Audubon. I wanted to give you all a small sampling of some of the many things that take place at Maine Audubon, so I asked colleagues to send me a snapshot of one fun thing they did […]
Meet Emerson Frost, illustration intern!
This spring semester, we were delighted to have an intern from Maine College of Art and Design working in our Communications department, creating illustrations for our conservation and education departments. Emerson Frost drew and painted loons (see above), macroinvertebrates, trees, plants, and other flora and fauna. We asked Emerson to answer some questions about the […]
Poets have power to connect us to Juneteenth, Borestone, and the land
This Juneteenth, we’re thinking about words. We know how much power even one small word has. No one understands that better than a poet. A few years ago, we hosted a wonderful event in which five poets read works they had written in response to paintings by artist David Driskell. One of those poets, Samaa […]
Join Maine Audubon’s 40th annual loon count on July 15
Early Saturday morning in mid July, on the shores of hundreds of Maine lakes, people are getting coffee and tea, studying maps, prepping their boats, dusting off binoculars, and meeting up with neighbors who they may only see this one time each year: They are getting ready for the Annual Loon Count. For four decades, […]
A Snapping Turtle Story: Good luck, Muddy!
In September 2022, a nest full of baby Snapping Turtles hatched here at Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth, Maine. We kept one of them, the biggest and the muddiest, to spend the winter in our Discovery Room, so it could teach us all about the early life of these ancient creatures. The […]