How do we explain the disappearance of Bobolink, Eastern Meadowlark, and other birds of our farmlands? Dr. Noah Perlut will explore the life histories of resident grassland species and discuss how their ecology is affected by agricultural management. He will also describe diverse management options that can benefit both land managers and birds.
For the Sake of the Birds
Linda Eastman and Marian Zimmerman
As indicated by others, the health and vitality of York County Audubon depends upon the commitment of officers and board members as well as the membership at large. We need everyone if we are to achieve our mission of fostering understanding, appreciation, and conservation of the natural world through education. No one person, or even a few, can address all the opportunities for resource conservation and respond to the environmental challenges present in today’s fast paced world, much less do them justice.
Fortunately, new board members have come forward to assume leadership roles. We welcome Linda Eastman as our new treasurer who brings experience, expertise, and energy. Linda has computerized our financial records and tracked Birding Challenge contributions, assisting in their distribution. We also welcome three new board members, Bill and Monica Grabin and Scott Richardson, who bring rich experience in the fields of resource conservation, education, and collaboration among partnering organizations. We are excited about having them with us. They join the other board members who have agreed to continue serving to keep YCAS an on-going success. Thank you all.
In addition to the board members, I want to invite each and every member of YCAS to consider how you can make a contribution. How can you help to preserve and enhance the birds and the habitat they depend upon right here in this beautiful part of Maine that we call home? We are making a difference but there are many more opportunities and needs than we can respond to at our current levels of engagement. Just think of all the things that we could undertake if each and everyone of us would actively commit his or her time, talent, and treasure. I hope that you will share your ideas and visions for YCAS and I urge you to respond as generously as you can to our requests.
So thank you for entrusting me to lead us these next two years. I count on your support. I need you. We need you! Together we can make a difference for the environment and the birds we love.
Birding Challenge 2010
York County Audubon would like to thank all those who pledged toward the 2010 Birding Challenge. Due to their generosity, YCAS is pleased to make these disbursements:
- $1500 Stratton Island Internship
- $750 The Center for Wildlife
- $750 The Nature Conservancy — to help support the repair to the boardwalk at the Saco Heath
- $500 The Kennebunkport Conservation Trust — to supply the bird feeders
York County Audubon thanks the businesses who helped make the 2010 Birding Challenge a success:
- Alfredo’s Italian Pizzeria, Wells
- B & B Burner Service, Biddeford
- Bluethroat Birdtours LLC, Sierra Vista, Arizona
- Bob & Mike’s Mini Mart, Saco
- Body in Balance Physical Therapy, Inc., Springvale
- Buffleheads, Inc., Biddeford
- The Center for Wildlife, Cape Neddick
- Chiropractic Family Wellness Center, Scarborough
- Cote-Dow Accounting Services, Bar Mills
- Don Guay’s Service Center, Kennebunk
- Dupuis Hardware, Biddeford
- Esty Optical Company, Saco
- Karen E. Hall, DMD, PA, Kennebunk
- Kennebunk Hardware, Kennebunk
- Lo Ink Specialties, Kennebunkport
- Port Lobster Co., Inc., Kennebunkport
- Ray’s Auto Tech, Biddeford
- Resurgence Engineering, Portland
- Saco & Biddeford Savings Institution, Saco
- Saco Valley Autocare, LLC, Saco
- Shady Brook Farm, Biddeford
Meet Our New Board Members
Scott Richardson and Bill & Monica Grabin with David Shackelford (speaker at the 2010 annual meeting)
Monica Grabin is a musician and educator. She is the creator of historical programs called “Singing History,” which she has presented for thousands of students and many libraries, museums and other organizations throughout New England since 1986. These programs use authentic songs and stories to teach about many aspects of American history. She is a featured artist with the Maine Arts Commission’s Touring Artists and Arts in Education Programs, and the New England Foundation for the Arts. She is also an avid birder and amateur naturalist. She and her husband, Bill, have spent countless hours in the Maine woods and across America hiking, birding, and appreciating the wonders of our natural world.
Bill Grabin graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970 with a degree in natural science, and has maintained a great appreciation for the outdoors since hiking and camping in many of the national parks during his college years. He is proud to have been a co-founder of Renaissance Greeting Cards, the first major greeting card publisher to produce its complete line on recycled paper. He served as a Director of the Kennebunk Land Trust for ten years, including three years as President. He moved to Maine in 1981 with his wife Monica and their two children, Gabe and Brenna.
Scott Richardson’s childhood fascination in birds grew stronger over the years thanks to patient mentors and a supportive family. By the time he moved to Maine, at 20, birding had become a serious hobby. A few years later, he began formally studying natural history with a focus in ornithology. During the 1990s, he surveyed birds in Washington, Alaska, Hawai`i, and Maine; wrote recovery plans and status reports as a state endangered species biologist; and became enthusiastic about citizen science. For the past 10 years, he has had a key role in spreading the word about York County’s incredible Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve and its vital nonprofit partner, Laudholm Trust.
Birds Galore: Stratton Island 2010
Common Tern with fish. Photo by Marie Jordan.
Stratton Island is special! It is York County’s most northerly island and is the only island managed by Project Puffin in York County for tern survival. YCAS visited the island July 31 and six participants enjoyed spectacular looks at Common, Roseate, Least and Arctic Terns. The magic of being on an island dominated by tern sounds versus the busy sounds of summer cannot be given enough press. What a respite from the mainland!
Arctic and Roseate Terns. Photo by Marie Jordan.
Our Birding Challenge contributions to Project Puffin made this field trip possible. Thanks to all who contributed as well as the island researchers who made difficult logistics work. Thanks also to the masses of migrating shorebirds and the grunts of the Harbor Seals — all part of the specialness of Stratton Island.
A Piping Plover Experience
Helping kids find plovers through binoculars. Photo by Pat Moynahan.
Fifteen campers, ages 7-10, of the Northern Maine YMCA’s Camp Sokosis in Biddeford enjoyed Piping Plover experiences July 14 and 16, 2010. Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Eric Hynes and Seasonal Piping Plover Biologist Kathryn Friens joined YCAS members Monica Grabin and Pat Moynahan in presenting a two hour program that included experiential learning of bird basics with a focus on Piping Plovers. Games and an art project were used to teach the lesson. The program aims to increase awareness of the Piping Plover’s plight in Southern Maine and discovery of what we can do about it.
At the scope. Photo by Pat Moynahan.
The indoor camp on the 14th was filled with laughter, action, beans, cottonballs, and spaghetti legs and of course questions. A field experience at Goose Rocks Beach on Friday July 16th gave the campers a chance to see first-hand what had been taught. The Least Terns and Great Blue Herons were big hits, but the birds of the day were the recently hatched Piping Plover Chicks sitting in the exclosure next to their mom/dad. All the children as well as Counselors Patrick Harrison, Andrea Chambers and our Meme bus driver Heather Gendron saw these special birds through the spotting scope. Quiet shouts of “Oh! My God!,” “I see the chicks!,” “How Cute!” and of course “WOW!” filled the air. Maine Audubon Wildlife Ecologist, Jody Jones, glowed as all present felt the wonder of this endangered species.
Please consider coordinating such a program in your community. Call your local recreational departments or your schools and let either Monica or me coordinate your event. The plight of the plover must be made known.
Piping Plover craft
Downeast Weekend
Just a few highlights from a two day downeast field trip of the York County Audubon Society that tallied roughly 90 species: We hit Machias at high tide on Saturday morning, August 7. Bonaparte’s Gulls were as far upriver as I’ve ever seen them — all the way to the Bad Little Falls. A roosting flock of Lesser Yellowlegs and a distantly foraging flock of Common Terns slowed our rush to Lubec.
Downeast weekend group at Quoddy Head
Although we hit the South Lubec Sand Flats at the ideal time and tide, it was relatively lackluster. A strong northwest breeze the previous evening seems to have sent many southward. We had scores of Least Sandpipers instead of hundreds. We had roughly the same number of Semi-palmated Sandpipers, a smattering of Semi-palmated Plovers, at least one White-rumped Sandpiper, a flyby of 20 Black-bellied Plovers, and little else. We had distant views of several Surf Scoters and at least one White-winged Scoter. We heard many Nelson’s Sparrows and got a quick but good view of one.
At Quoddy Head, a single Razorbill was within a short distance of shore. As usual for this time of year, Sail Rock was covered in Black-legged Kittiwakes and a few Bonaparte’s Gulls. These were flushed by a Bald Eagle that crossed the rock on the way to a feeding frenzy offshore. We could clearly see some porpoises rising, and they were surrounded by kittiwakes, gulls, and Northern Gannets looking to pick the fish off the surface. We watched the eagle do likewise, frequently hovering and grasping at the water. Eventually, he returned to Sail Rock with a meal of at least two fish clasped in his talons.
Spruce Grouse. Photo by Becky Marvil.
We headed off to Boot Head Preserve for our expected rendezvous with Spruce Grouse and instead hit the brakes for a Ruffed Grouse that stepped into the road. He and we froze in place, watching each other at length for several minutes. Continuing on, our grouse luck held and, as we pulled into the Boot Head parking lot, we noted a family of five Spruce Grouse at the trail entrance. (Within a span of just a few minutes, we had scored both grouse without leaving the car.) We got close-up looks at a hen and four adolescents as they lingered near the trail. A couple of Boreal Chickadees sounded off, but we let them be and set off for downtown Lubec. Along the way, we checked another beach and notched a foraging Peregrine Falcon. Another, larger Peregrine was noted later at Mowry Beach.
Water levels in the pond opposite Eastland Motel are low and clogged with lily pads. Thus, we had only Wood Ducks and American Black Ducks for waterfowl, but thrilled at TWO American Bitterns that were in plain view along the shoreline. They both gave us great views and delayed our rush to Calais where dinner awaited. (A good meal at Bernadini’s.)
Olive-sided Flycatcher. Photo by Bob Duchesne.
We were out the motel door by 6:00am Sunday morning and spent a half hour adding waterfowl to our trip list at Moosehorn NWR in Baring before streaking for the Burn Road in Topsfield. By now, the Black-backed Woodpeckers have dispersed from their nesting sites and are becoming much harder to locate. We had a nibble but no bites. At Mile 3, a family of three Gray Jays checked us out. Four more at Mile 5.5 made the trip list seven. The weather was really terrific, with lots of sunshine and moderate breezes — enough to make us comfortable and the birds silent. We consoled ourselves with a day total of eight Olive-sided Flycatchers, an adult male Spruce Grouse at Mile 8, a family of four more at Mile 7, and another male back at Mile 3 on the way out. That’s a total of eleven Spruce Grouse for the weekend, all of them within easy view. By 4:00pm, winds and sun had diminished and the woods came alive: too many Palm Warblers to count, along with a smattering of other birds.
Opinions differ on the best bird of the weekend, but I choose the Common Nighthawk roosting on a tree limb. Kudos to Pat Moynahan for first noticing it. It spent all afternoon in the same spot, within easy view. Thanks for letting me guide!