It�s officially spring so that means it�s time to check on your local streams, explore water quality, and find bugs! We�re kicking off a new Stream Explorer season and recruiting community scientists who can help survey large aquatic insects (macroinvertebrates) in Maine streams. If that sounds interesting to you, there are two ways you can […]
Insects
Raising Awareness About Neonics In Maine
Maine Audubon is working with experts and activists to find avenues to pesticide policy reform. Neonicotinoids, or neonics for short, are some of the most widely used and promoted pesticides on the planet. They kill insects, all of them, and are sprayed from planes, coated on seeds, and otherwise broadcast throughout virtually every cultivated (i.e., […]
Guest blog post: Stream Explorers Opens Doors
�The door will be opened to those who are bold enough to knock.� (Tony Gaskins) My name is Aroha Walsh, and the Stream Explorers has done many things in the past few months that inspire me to be a better person. The Stream Explorers program aims to test the pollution in streams by looking at […]
Tracking an Invasion at Gilsland Farm
All the basic information about the Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis) is right there in its name: “emerald” refers to the hue of its iridescent body; “ash” for the family of trees that these jewel beetles feed and lay their eggs on; and “borer” for the tunnels young beetles dig through the bark, eventually leading […]
Nanotagging Monarch Butterflies — Very, Very Carefully — at Fields Pond
Once inside the front door of the Nature Center, summer visitors to the Fields Pond Audubon Center have been greeted by a display of Monarch Butterflies.� Beginning as either eggs or small caterpillars, we collected these from the plethora of milkweed plants that grow all around the Nature Center.� To date we�ve raised and fledged […]
Let plants thrive in July
Happy summer! It’s late July, but don’t believe the hype about summer being mostly over. Ecologically, there are still three important months left of the growing and blooming season before we get to fall. Each of those months is special and important is its own way. July’s focus should be letting plants thrive while birds […]
What is an Insect BioBlitz?
What’s one of the best ways to spend a beautiful Saturday in July?� Catching �bugs� at Fields Pond!� And that’s exactly what more than two dozen of us did on Saturday July 13th at the Fields Pond Insect BioBlitz.� Armed with nets, magnifying lenses, and clear jars, we documented everything from beetles to butterflies, mosquitoes […]
Maine’s Naturalist: The Monarchs are Back!
Maine Audubon regularly features posts by guest writers, including graudates of the Maine Master Naturalist Program � in our Maine’s Naturalist series. If you’d like to explore contributing a post, send an email to outreach@maineaudubon.org. Today’s blog post is by Maine Master Naturalist Karen Lessard Bruder. They’re back! The recolonization of Maine has begun. Monarch […]
Following Monarchs to Mexico: Part 2
This is Part 2 of the Lambert family sojourn to Mexico in pursuit of Monarch butterflies. Read Part 1 here. An Intergenerational Quest In the fall, monarchs across the eastern United State and Canada migrate to a plot of fir trees in the mountains of Mexico last visited by their great great grandparents. How do […]