As the season spins us closer to the holidays, we find ourselves creating lists and checking off items once they’re done. Purchase such-and-such (preferably locally made) gifts for our loved ones (check). Finalize who’s coming to the holiday dinner (check) and what we’ll have on the menu (check). Count birds for this year’s Christmas Bird Read More
birds
Tundra Swan Makes Rare Visit to Maine
For the last two weeks, Maine has been graced by one of the most graceful birds: a swan—in this case, a Tundra Swan. Tundra Swans nest in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Canada across to Alaska (there is also a Eurasian subspecies often referred to as Bewick’s swan). Birds nesting from the northern crown Read More
Quietly Working to Save the World
Saving the world would seem like something to announce from the rooftops. Doesn’t always work that way. Nestled in the green valley between two mountain chains in southern Colombia lies the city of Cali, an incredibly busy place this week. Cali is hosting a meeting of many of the world’s nations that are collectively making Read More
Good Shorebirding Luck Continues
A few weeks ago, while in the area, we took the opportunity to check out the birding at Wharton Point in Brunswick. We pulled into the little parking area that overlooks Maquoit Bay and quickly noticed the tide was just off high tide—perfect for shorebirding, as they would all be feeding in the constrained area Read More
Long Goodbyes, Short Hellos
With the gradual shift to cooler early evenings these August days, we’ve been enjoying sitting out on our porch, our dog happily sprawled out beside us, sniffing the air. We’ve been listening and scanning the powder-blue skies and the patchwork green of the lilac bushes, crabapple trees, maples, ashes, and other vegetation. Almost every night, Read More
Weird Bugs and Vagrant Birds
We’d been hearing about a pretty cool bird lately that appeared in the unlikely town of Dayton, Maine. The bird, a Tropical Kingbird, which has very few records for Maine, is both beautiful and intriguing, and so we wrote about it in our weekly column in the Boothbay Register (you can read that particular column Read More
Great Reads by NRCM Members: New & Newly Discovered Books
Looking for some fantastic books to add to your summer reading list? NRCM members can help! Featured here are books published by our members covering a range of genres, from essays to art, mysteries, children’s literature, hiking guides, and more. If you’re an author of a book about Maine or related to environmental issues, you Read More
Drawn to the Marshes by a Force Unknown
Was it an unconscious reaction to the excessive heat? Were we mesmerized by the memory of the “tick-it, tick-it” calls of rails we’ve heard in years past? Whatever it was drew us recently to two marshy lakes to look for particularly interesting birds. These two areas happen to be local birding hotspots for us and Read More
A Great New Place to Bird
If you’re like us, you like to combine your birding with discovering a new, spectacular place. A few weekends ago, we achieved that goal when we led a birding outing for members of the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) to the Perham Stream Birding Trail, located in Madrid, Maine. Madrid, in case you’re a Read More
