With our son’s school closed and our offices at the Natural Resources Council of Maine and National Audubon doing the responsible thing of instituting work-at-home policies out of concern about the coronavirus, we have found ourselves thinking about the implications of staying here at our house. We’ve all heard the stories of people being quarantined Read More
Birding with Jeff and Allison
Do you enjoy watching and learning about birds? In “Birding with Jeff and Allison Wells,” these two lifelong birders share their birding adventures, knowledge, stories, and enthusiasm for birds. Jeff, National Audubon Vice President of Boreal Conservation and a Fellow of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is one of the nation's leading bird experts and conservation biologists, and is author of Birder’s Conservation Handbook. Allison Childs Wells, formerly of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and now Senior Director of Public Affairs at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, is a widely published natural history writer and birder. Jeff and Allison are coauthors of the books, Maine’s Favorite Birds and Birds of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao: A Site and Field Guide from Cornell Press.
Eroding a Bedrock Law: the Migratory Bird Treaty Act
In 1918, the U.S. signed into law a piece of legislation that has shown incredible resilience over the past century. In the midst of the horrific tragedies of World War I and the Spanish Flu, a bright light shown through that resulted in the signing of the world’s first large-scale treaty among nations to protect Read More
Mindfulness Birding Big Year 2019 Wrap-up
You may recall that in early 2019, we announced our pursuit of a Maine Mindfulness Big Year. Since our blog is (mostly) monthly, and we enjoy writing about a wide variety of bird-related topics—including special birding events with members of the Natural Resources Council of Maine—we only occasionally posted updates here. So you likely have Read More
Christmas Birds: Count!
Did you know there is an activity that you can do with 79,000 other people, all with the same common goal? Pro sports game? Going for a world record? No, it’s participating in a Christmas Bird Count! There were more than 2,600 individual Christmas Bird Counts conducted last year, 1,974 from the United States, 460 Read More
Insider Secrets of Some of Maine’s Favorite Birds
Birds nonchalantly drop clues into the mysteries of their lives as they go about their business of flitting in the treetops, skulking in the underbrush, diving for fish and other water critters to eat, gorging at our bird feeders, migrating, breeding, feeding young, and so forth. The revelations they provide can give us reason to Read More
From Hawk Hunting to Hawk Watching: A Day Celebrating Hawks at “Mt. A” with NRCM Members
This fall, we spent an enjoyable afternoon on top of Mt. Agamenticus in York, leading a hawk-watching adventure for members of the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM). If you’ve visited “Mt. A,” as this place is often affectionately known, you know it’s a fascinating place. The mountaintop hosts a town-owned-and-operated nature center that was Read More
Missing: Three Billion Birds, Now It’s Time to Act
Those of you who have asked us why the number of birds you now see in your yards, feeders, or favorite birding spots, appear to be far fewer than you remembered decades ago may now have your answer. A study published in the rigorously academic journal Science found that there are nearly three billion fewer Read More
New Canadian National Park is Good for Maine’s Birds
What is the largest protected area you know? Is it Baxter State Park? Yellowstone? Are you sitting down? Thaidene Nene, a new Canadian national park reserve, is more than 25 times larger than Baxter and more than twice the size of Yellowstone. At more than six million acres, Thaidene Nene is one of the largest Read More
An Evening with the Puffins
On Thursday, July 18, we were transported to another world. The world of puffins. We, along with more than 100 members of the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM), boarded the Hardy Boat in New Harbor on a warm, calm summer evening along the coast of Maine. We were thrilled to be joined by Dr. Read More
