Bird bodies are amazing. That can be assumed by watching them zip around in the air at twice the speed of a human on foot. Challenges like temperature regulation, migration, and diving push birds’ bodies to the limit, and high mortality rates are a fact of life in the bird world. It’s estimated that a […]
Maine's Naturalist
Join us for community science power hours this fall
With the leaves changing and temperatures dropping, it’s a great time of year to get out and explore nature! As we move through fall, we can watch many seasonal changes unfold. Earlier in the season, you can still find many flowers blooming and attracting pollinators. But as the weeks go by, many of these birds […]
Native Plant Communities: Salt Marshes
Along the coast of Maine, saltmarsh plant communities are abundant and important. Studies show that saltmarshes can sequester carbon up to 10 times faster than forests! The broad umbrella of saltmarshes contain a gradient of plant communities that feature different characteristics based on salinity, easily distinguished by distance from the coast. Salt-hay Saltmarshes form in […]
Plover Nesting Season Sets New High
Maine Piping Plovers have done it again by shattering past record numbers, reaching 191 breeding pairs that fledged 352 chicks. The prior record of breeding pairs—174—was in 2025. The most chicks ever fledged—252—was recorded in 2022. Yes, that’s 100 more! This year, plover productivity was 1.84 chicks fledged per pair, which is higher than the […]
Small Wonders: In praise of flies
There was a week last month when I was very into collecting dead horse flies. This is not a hobby that I had pictured for myself, but here we are. It happened like this: I was working outside, sitting on the Visitor Center patio at Gilsland Farm, when I heard a tiny ‘smack’ on the […]
Natural Plant Community Feature: Sandplain Grasslands
Sandplain Grassland Plant Community The Sandplain Grassland is a rare plant community that occurs near the coast in southern Maine. They emerge on flat sandy plains, especially in places where ancient glaciers melted and the runoff deposited sand and gravel. The soil is very well-drained and acidic. Historically, these communities were more frequent, maintained by […]
Small Wonders: Alarm Calls
About a year ago, on the way to work, I stopped to admire a Black-capped Chickadee that had landed in a small tree only a few feet away. It watched me while making its “chickadee-dee-dee” call, and I gazed back, feeling grateful that a wild animal had chosen to share space and interact with me. […]
Unplug at Borestone Mountain this September
After Maine Audubon took over Borestone Mountain from National Audubon in 2000, it took a lot of hard work to get the lodges back into the condition that visitors appreciate now. Two volunteers who played a big part in that were George Libby and Gary Roberts, and they started leading weekend trips called the “Borestone […]
Stories from the 2026 Loon Count
The 43rd Annual Loon Count is a wrap! More than a thousand volunteers headed out on the water and surveyed more than 400 lakes across the state from 7 to 7:30 am on Saturday July 18. Despite some wind, it was a beautiful morning for the Loon Count. We want to give a huge shout […]