Picture this: You take a short walk in a beautiful setting, view lovely artwork, and learn some interesting facts and natural history about marsh birds. That’s the experience you can have now along the Nature Trail at Scarborough Marsh.
Last year, we installed sign holders and displayed pages from The Secret Bay, a picture book by Kim Ridley with illustrations by Rebekah Raye. Now, we’re delighted to unveil the newest panels in our sign holders along the Nature Trail at Scarborough Marsh: “Birds of the Marsh.”
Just across Pine Point Road from the Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center, the Nature Trail is a short path (partly on grass and dirt, with occasional boardwalks over muddy sections) that skirts the edge of the marsh. Along this trail, there are sign holders that hold rotating content.
“Birds of the Marsh” showcases seven paintings by Emerson Frost, an illustration major at Maine College of Art and Design (Class of 2025). Frost works mainly in acrylic paintings and digital art, and has always loved birds. These paintings were created in part as a component of an internship with Maine Audubon.
Learn about American Black Duck, Eastern Willet, Red-winged Blackbirds, Least Terns, Saltmarsh Sparrows, Glossy Ibis, and, of course, Great and Snowy Egrets.
More than 260 species of birds have been seen in Scarborough Marsh. The marsh is officially recognized as an Important Bird Area (IBA). IBAs are part of a global effort to identify areas that are most critical for long-term bird conservation and must meet a set of criteria which are focused primarily on large concentrations of birds, species of conservation concern, and species diversity. Scarborough Marsh was Maine’s first recognized IBA. Scarborough Marsh, like all salt marshes, has great ecological value. The marsh offers a quiet resting and feeding area for migrating birds, and provides a nursery and shelter for animals. Marshes also buffer stormy seas, slow shoreline erosion, filter sediments and pollutants from water, and absorb excess nutrients before they reach the ocean.
Thanks to Scarborough Rotary Club and Prouts Neck Association for these wonderful sign holders, and for our volunteer extraordinaire Bill Dunn for help in mounting and installing the signs again this year.
