As we’ve had to spend more time at home due to COVID-19, we have taken to doing more of most things we already do around the house—yard birding, yard work, reading, housework (OK, maybe not more housework!), jigsaw puzzles…and a bit more TV. Since we tend to gravitate toward natural history-based shows, perhaps it was Read More
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6 Apps to Help You Explore Maine, Wherever You Are
Last year we introduced you to eBird, iNaturalist, Discover Katahdin, and six other nature-based apps. Read about them at www.nrcm.org/blog/apps-explore-maine. We hope you enjoy this year’s picks! Penobscot Mountain by Pete Didisheim 1. Acadia National Park by Chimani Maine-based Chimani designed this premier app for one of our state’s crown jewels: Acadia National Park. This Read More
Sharing the Mystery of “Suddenly Appearing Birds”
Have you looked out at your bird feeder lately and seen birds you hadn’t seen the previous day—perhaps not since the previous year? With most of us staying home these days and exploring nature around our yards, many people are seeing Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and Indigo Buntings that suddenly appear at their bird feeders Read More
My Maine This Week: David Small
We hope you are all finding time to get outside and explore and photograph Maine’s environment — especially since warm weather and sunshine have arrived in the last week. We want to thank this week’s My Maine photographer, NRCM member David Small of Old Town, Maine, for continuing to share his gorgeous wildlife photos with Read More
Our Backyard Discovery Diary: Mockers, Rattles, Ruby-crowns, and Twitters
During Earth Week, staff at the Natural Resources Council of Maine sent “digital care packages” to our members and supporters, as a way to help folks stay connected to nature. Jeff’s organization, National Audubon, has also upped their online engagement opportunities, as have a number of other groups. But many of us—perhaps you?—are creating our Read More
Attracting Bluebirds Without Boxes
I’m delighted to report that we might finally have Eastern Bluebirds nesting in our home habitat. We’ve lived here in Poland Spring for over a decade, and have never put up a nest box. However, I am kind of a fanatic about retaining and promoting dead and dying trees on our landscape because “dead and Read More
My Maine This Week: Beth Comeau
“As I have been trying to get outside while also practicing social distancing, my usual places along the Maine coast are closed or were originally too crowded for me to feel comfortable. So, one recent afternoon, my husband and I took a ride down to Georgetown and passed a spot that we drive by quite Read More
Old Orchard Beach Piping Plover Project
The Natural Resources Council of Maine awarded grants to six Maine middle schools through our “Engaging Maine Middle School Students in Protecting the Nature of Maine” program, which we started in 2015. Each of the schools began their projects in early 2020, though due to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools, of course, have gone to online learning, Read More
Quarantining with Birds & Nature
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
