My first step to becoming a naturalist was seeing a mushroom called Exsudoporus frostii, or Apple Bolete (pictured above). I was walking in the Middlesex Fells in Massachusetts and something blood red caught my eye. I thought it was trash. It turned out to be a deep red mushroom with a funky-looking webbed stem, as […]
News & Notes
The Coastal Birds Crew has Fledged!
The 2025 Coastal Birds Project season has officially reached its end. As of Friday, August 22, all of the Piping Plover chicks have fledged and many are already flying south to their wintering grounds—with some flying as far as the Caribbean! This year, Maine fledged 251 chicks, which is just one bird shy of the […]
See you later, summer campers!
Back-to-school sales seem to have started in July this year, so we’ll have to look for a few other signs that summer is winding down: goldenrod blooming everywhere, cooler mornings, and woodchucks munching on a few early windfall apples. At Maine Audubon, that of course means the end of our summer camp season. But before […]
Sprout Lewiston Takes Root
This summer marked our fourth year working with Lewiston-based nonprofit Maine Community Integration (MCI). With each passing year, the relationship between Maine Audubon and MCI deepens, and creates greater trust and understanding for the work and experiences that are possible. The mission of MCI is “creating opportunities for New Mainer girls and their families to […]
Gilsland Farm: Trail closed for Emerald Ash Borer study
If you’re walking the mowed paths of the West Meadow at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center, you may notice a few Trail Closure signs. These signs have been added because Maine Audubon is experiencing a change among the trees that many other places in the country are also seeing. As visitors and readers of our various […]
Small Wonders: Spittlebugs, Aphids, and Leafhoppers
I remember feeling a unique joy anytime I encountered spittlebugs as a kid. These are the teeny insects that leave surprise wet spots on your shins as you walk through tall grass. Sap-suckers like spittlebugs are everywhere, but most are much more inconspicuous. There are tens of thousands of species of insects all over the […]
State Releases Guidelines for Bird Safe Architecture
Compliance with Voluntary Guidelines Will Help Reduce Bird / Glass Collisions in Maine On Tuesday, August 5, the State of Maine’s Bureau of General Services (BGS) released final guidelines for incorporating bird-safe principles in publicly-funded buildings in Maine. The result of a law passed in 2023, the guidelines were developed in collaboration with Maine Audubon, […]
At the National Audubon Society’s “Soaring, Together!” Conference
Two Maine Audubon staffers were able to attend the National Audubon Society’s Audubon Leadership Conference in Montreal last month. The event was the first of its kind since 2016, and gathered over 400 staff, board members, and volunteers from Audubon chapters and partners across North, Central, and South America to make connections, share intel, and […]
Backyard Bird of the Month for August: Red-bellied Woodpecker
If you don’t know any better, you might mistake the Red-bellied Woodpecker’s call for that of a frog, or perhaps a clown lost in the woods. This isn’t a bird you would have heard often if you grew up in Maine, but now their loud, rolling “kwurr” can be heard commonly in the southern part […]