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Looking across the valley during a noontime dog walk around our neighborhood a few weeks ago, there among the drab, gray trunks and limbs of yet-to-leaf-out maples and oaks was a burst of yellow. A singlel tree, towering on the opposite hill, just...
Mistakes happen. Even in the bird world. Take for example the osprey that recently tried repeatedly to place sticks atop a tall light pole, high above the Bates College athletic field in Lewiston. The sticks kept falling off and landing in the field...
The sound was as clear as could be, a distinctive “kidick, kidick.” That’s one of the sounds made by the Virginia rail. Rails are generally very secretive birds that inhabit wetlands with significant cover. Here in Maine, that’s usually a cattail...
For much of last week, we were fortunate that our backyard was blessed with the presence of one of our largest and brightest colored sparrows, the fox sparrow. While there are a number of different forms in western North America, we here in the...
Called the “snowbird” by many people, the species officially known as the dark-eyed junco is a common and widespread winter visitor to much of the U.S. Here in Maine, flocks of juncos from Canada’s Boreal Forest descend into our state each fall...