Like creepy-crawly critters? Did you love looking for turtles, snakes, or salamanders as a kid? If so, rekindle that curious kid to help the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW) search for amphibians and reptiles across Maine this spring, summer, and fall. This is the last year …
Amphibians
Make Your BIG NIGHT Last a Week!
Things are starting to spring, and even sing! Our minds often start thinking of spring as birds return to Maine. However, the arrival of Red-winged Blackbirds and Woodcocks are also phenological indicators of something completely different – BIG NIGHT!!! Maine’s incredible reptiles and amphibians, …
Seven Months in the Life of a Snapping Turtle
Seven months ago, a nest of Snapping Turtle eggs hatched at the edge of the parking lot at Gilsland Farm. You can read about that eventful day and the decision to overwinter one of the hatchlings in a previous blog post, Introducing Our New Roommate: A Baby Snapping Turtle. After consulting …
Elementary Connections: Spring Amphibians
What amphibians can be seen and heard this time of year? Where can they be found? How does their life cycle begin? This fun video by Nat Wheelwright introduces us to the timeline of frogs calling and breeding in Maine, starting with the Wood Frogs and Spring Peepers that are currently out and …
BIG NIGHT: Amphibians are on the move!
Greetings! I hope everyone is staying safe and well in these crazy times. I wanted to reach out, because we may finally be coming into amphibian movement time! Looking out the window as well as at the forecast for both the Falmouth area and the Holden area, we have a stretch of “warm” rain today …
Renewed Urgency for Protection of Maine Wildlife
The most challenging aspect of human impact on the environment is that we get used to it. It's easy to see colorful birds at your feeders this spring and forget that there are billions fewer songbirds than there used to be, or enjoy a day at the beach in Maine without realizing that the Gulf of …
NECEC AND FOREST FRAGMENTATION PART 4: THE WOOD TURTLE
This is the fourth post in our series on the wildlife impacts of Central Maine Power's proposed New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission line project. As we wrote in our introductory post, Maine Audubon feels strongly that NECEC and its mitigation plan offer unsatisfactory protections …
Nature Moments: Parade of Frogs
How can so many frog species co-exist in the same pond without competing for food or accidentally mating with the wrong species? One solution is to reproduce at different times of year. From mud season until the first autumn frosts, you can witness a parade of different …
Nature Moments: Wood Frog Thumbs
Charles Darwin's theory of evolution explains not only how creatures became good at securing food sources and surviving in the wilderness, but also how they produce the next generation. A good example of this, explains Bowdoin professor and Maine Audubon trustee Nat Wheelwright, is the male Wood …