Drama worthy of March Madness took place on March 16, 2023, when a panel of five judges gathered at Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm Audubon Center to view and evaluate hundreds of depictions of ducks, all created by Maine students as part of the Maine Junior Duck Stamp program. As the entries were judged first in […]
Birds
Bird Conservation comes to Maine’s Maple Sugarbushes
March is arguably the sweetest month of the year. All throughout Maine, sugarmakers are busy boiling maple sap into syrup. The same forests that make Maine one of the top three maple producing states also support some of the highest diversity of nesting birds in the country. In an effort to bring together Maine’s maple […]
Backyard Bird of the Month for March: Carolina Wren
If there are Carolina Wrens in your backyard, you�ve probably already heard them. Many sing throughout the winter, they are usually one of the first to utter alarm calls in response to potential threats like hawks or cats, and male Carolina Wrens sing their loud tea-kettle songs up to eight times per minute in the […]
RARE BIRD ALERT: STELLER’S SEA-EAGLE IS BACK (2023)
We’ve waited, we’ve debated, and now we know: The Steller’s Sea-Eagle is back! You’re probably well aware of the Amazing Saga of the Steller’s Sea-Eagle (video link) but if not, this is an incredibly rare eagle from Eastern Siberia that after moving across North America in 2021, spent the winter from 30 Dec 2021 – […]
RARE BIRD ALERT: COMMON RINGED PLOVER
This winter has been incredible for rare birds in Maine. From a Harris’s Sparrow in Turner, to the Sage Thrasher at Gilsland Farm, and sprinkle in Northern Lapwings (5 in Hodgdon, and one each in Thomaston�and Kennebunkport, a couple Townsend’s Solitaires, and the first New England record of Broad-tailed Hummingbird, there seems to be something […]
Come mingle with wildlife this winter!
We are thrilled to announce another installment of our popular Winter Wildlife Mingle with our friends at Center For Wildlife, a wildlife rehabilitation and environmental education organization located in Cape Neddick, Maine. We started what has become an annual event as a way to provide adults some up-close time, not just with the center�s live […]
Backyard Bird of the Month for February: American Tree Sparrow
Is that a Chipping Sparrow hopping around under your feeder in the middle of winter? Not quite! It is most likely an American Tree Sparrow. These lookalikes were in the same genus until recently (Spizella), along with several other small, rufous-capped sparrows. American Tree Sparrows are the hardiest of the bunch, only showing up in […]
RARE BIRD ALERT: SAGE THRASHER
We tend to save most ‘rare bird alerts’ on this blog to national rarities like the Redwing in Portland or the famous Steller’s Sea-Eagle, but last week a bird considered rare anywhere along the east coast was found at Gilsland Farm, a Sage Thrasher! This Sage Thrasher was found during our weekly bird walk (held […]
�Seeing� the Forest Through the Birds
We�ve probably all heard someone say �You can�t see the forest for the trees!� to let someone know they are too caught up in the weeds to see the bigger picture.� I�m happy to say that I�m seeing the forest through the trees AND the birds now after coordinating Maine Audubon�s Song Meter Project over […]