Page 13 - Bird Column News Today

Jeff and Allison Wells Wed, 03/10/2021 - 11:00am Birds, like scoters, that winter along our Maine coast may see polar bears during their migratory journey north through Hudson and James Bay. Photo courtesy of Traveling Otter from Wikimedia Commons. Black scoters are a common wintering bird along the Atlantic Coast of North America including along the Maine coast, but they stop over during migration along the Hudson-James Bay coast. From The Crossley ID Guide Eastern Birds by Richard C...

Wed, 03/03/2021 - 11:00am Horned Larks winter in open agricultural fields, grasslands, coastal dunes, and lake shores across much of the United States. Photo courtesy of Caleb G. Putnam from Wikimedia Commons. Rough-legged hawks occur in winter in Maine, most commonly along the coast, but a few occasionally are seen inland in farm fields. Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS courtesy of WIkimedia Commons. There is a large area of farm fields not too far from where we live that is a favorite spo...

Jeff and Allison Wells Wed, 02/24/2021 - 11:00am Horned grebes that spend the winter here are studies in gray and white. Photo by Dick Daniels (http://carolinabirds.org/ Believe it or not, horned grebes, like this one seen off Maine’s midcoast, are closely related to flamingos. Photo courtesy of Diane R. Horned grebes transform into dazzling, golden-tufted creatures on the summer breeding grounds in the Boreal Forest region of Canada and Alaska. Photo by Ken Conger/National Park Ser...

Tue, 02/09/2021 - 1:00pm Northern saw-whet owls are rarely seen, but once you know their distinctive tooting song, you may find that they occur in your backyard or nearby forest preserve. Photo by Kameron Perensovich through WikiCommons (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License) A friend of ours has become seriously consumed with learning and studying bird sounds. He began recording them regularly with his iPhone this past fall and then learned how to make sonagram...

Jeff and Allison Wells Wed, 01/20/2021 - 10:00am With the return of fish come the return of other wildlife, including bald eagles - a good indication that the watershed is on the rebound. Courtesy of Allison Wells. One of the greatest stories of ecological rebirth happened (and is happening) right here in Maine. It’s a story of people and communities and organizations and businesses finding ways to cooperate and find paths to positive changes that benefit all. A richly illustrated n...

Wed, 01/13/2021 - 10:00am Short-eared owls are creatures of open habitats including, in winter, marshlands, farm fields, natural grasslands, and other areas. Photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren via Wikimedia Commons All owls are inherently mysterious to us humans for any number of reasons. We don’t see even the most common species very often, and sometimes our only experience with them is hearing their calls far away in the dark woods. Barred owls are actually relatively common ...