With spring comes melting snow, rainy days and nights, and amphibians making the journey to vernal pools that come alive with this spring weather. Vernal pools are ephemeral, meaning that they’re only temporarily filled with water in the spring and fall. The seasonal nature of these pools make them perfect breeding habitat and nurseries for […]
Maine's Naturalist
Become a Phenology Observer with Signs of the Season
Do you hear the Spring Peepers in your backyard? Are you watching for the first time you see a Monarch Butterfly or Ruby-throated Hummingbird this season? Do you notice when the leaves first start to turn in the fall? Your observations of seasonal changes (also known as phenology) could help scientists to better understand how […]
Small Wonders: Charismatic minifauna
Aquatic macroinvertebrates are not widely considered a “charismatic” group of animals. These are larva, nymphs, worms, and mollusks that happily blend in with the detritus of their watery habitats. The general morphology of most of them is “bug.” They’re large enough to see without a microscope, but they’re still pretty tiny—smaller than the scale of […]
Meet the Grassy Shrub Marsh Plant Community: Willows, Meadowsweet, and rushes!
The Grassy Shrub Marsh is a plant community that exists in wetlands all across Maine. It is often a transitional area that merges with other plant communities near lakes, ponds, or streams. After spring flooding, water levels go down but the soil stays saturated throughout the rest of the season. The soil is slightly acidic […]
Explore marshes and streams as a community scientist with us this spring!
The world of aquatic macroinvertebrates is a wild one. These creatures lack a backbone (think insects, snails, and crayfish), are “macro” because they’re big enough to see with the naked eye, and they are definitely worth a closer look! For starters, there’s the Water Scorpion, a predatory insect named for its long breathing tube that […]
Musings on Trees: Loss but also hope
I had never spent much time thinking about trees until recently. I’ve always been drawn to the less charismatic, mosses, ferns, grasses, and other flora under the canopy. Like any nature lover, I’ve always appreciated trees, but as a part of the larger forest rather than a community in and of themselves. I knew very […]
Small Wonders: How to Be a Spring Peeper
So you want to be a Spring Peeper, an amphibious, one-inch long, beloved herald of spring? I get it! Why wouldn’t you want to be a tiny tree-dwelling frog singing your heart out on a warm spring evening? In honor of Maine “Big Nights,” (warm, rainy spring nights during which frogs and salamanders migrate from […]
No fooling! Phenomenal Storytelling in Bangor on April 1
We’re taking the show on the road! Since we launched Phenomenal: Seasonal Stories from Your Wildlife Community, a biannual live storytelling event, back in 2024, it’s been a wonderful experience hosted at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth. People gather to listen to Maine scientists, writers, naturalists, activists, and community members share stories that connect […]
March Is Here: It’s Time to Get Excited for Spring Programs at Maine Audubon
It may not look or feel like spring outside this year yet, but March 1 always marks the beginning of our busy spring programs season at Maine Audubon. In 2026, we are thrilled to announce a robust slate of events and programs for people of all ages all around the state. Our offerings feature the […]