Category: Environment

A look through the night vision binoculars on a cold island night.

Technology and Vigilance Help Protect Wildlife on Metinic

Environment

6/3/2012 - Sometimes it’s a hard life being a tern: there’s bad weather, trying to find food, and trying to avoid becoming food. Our research is not always done when the sun sets. Some predators will use the cover of night to their advantage. Because of this we use night vision binoculars… SEE MORE

Home sweet home on Eastern and Western Brother's Islands, the northernmost islands in the refuges.

Preparing Maine’s Seabird Islands for Summer

Environment

5/31/2012 - Now that our summer intern program has begun, crews are busy preparing the islands of the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuges for the seabirds that call them home each summer. Here are two reports, from Metinic and from Eastern and Western Brother's Islands. From Metinic, the crew of Chelsea… SEE MORE

View looking south on Outer Green Island from the northern bird blind

For the Birds: A Weekend on Outer Green Island

5/31/2012 - We arrived on Outer Green Island by small boat out of Falmouth, and then even smaller boat onto the protected seabird nesting island in Casco Bay. It was quickly apparent that the best method of landing ashore was via wing power; perhaps second choice might have been via boogie board… SEE MORE

Inside the blind on Metinic Island, using a scope to read bands.

Signs of Spring: First Seabird Eggs on Maine Islands

Environment

5/27/2012 - Good news! The first tern eggs of the season have arrived on Metinic Island. Soon all of the eggs will be laid and the incubation period will start. Terns usually lay from 2-4 eggs one at a time until they are all laid. Because the terns are colonial breeders it… SEE MORE

A beautiful Magnolia Warbler sitting on top of a washed-up lobster trap.

Migrant Birds Spotted on Petit Manan Island

Environment

5/24/2012 - Starting the day we arrived on the island, we have been keeping track of all the bird species that we’ve seen. In just over two weeks, our list has exceeded fifty different bird species! The majority of them are migrants — birds that are passing through on their way to… SEE MORE

Atlantic puffins. Image by Ray Wirth at TouringKayaks.com

Paddling with the Puffins of Petit Manan

5/23/2012 - By Ray Wirth at TouringKayaks.com Water Walker Sea Kayak, LLC We rose at dawn and drove to a rocky beach south of Steuben. We donned the thick black wetsuits needed to paddle safely in 50 degree waters, launched from the rocky beach, and paddled south along Petit Manan Point, all the… SEE MORE

A dogfish shark, part of the new touch-tank shark and skate exhibit at the Save the Bay aquarium in Newport.

Sharks, Touch-Tank to Greet Aquarium Visitors

5/22/2012 - Four dogfish sharks have just arrived at our aquarium in Newport! They are part of a new touch-tank shark and skate exhibit that will be open to the public on Saturday, May 26, when the aquarium reopens for the summer season. The center will remain open daily through Labor Day… SEE MORE

Lobstering on the Downeast coast of Maine.

Finding Springtime and Serenity on Swans Island

5/20/2012 - Simply put, Swans Island is one of the most beautiful pieces of earth that you will ever step foot on. Rolling hills lead to large and well-protected Burnt Coat Harbor. The sturdy lighthouse at Hockamock Head stands tall above the rocky shores below. Fields of green grass seem to extend… SEE MORE

Homes

Signs of Spring: Alewifes Return to Maine Rivers

5/17/2012 - There are fish in these rivers. In the Kennebec, the Penobscot, the rivers in between and either side, the alewives are running. I wrote a story about alewives for the May issue of Fishermen’s Voice, well before alewife season began. Now I want to see the fish. Yesterday I stopped… SEE MORE

View from the top of the Petit Manan lighthouse of the boathouse and Green Island in the distance.

Research Season Begins on Maine’s Islands

Environment

5/17/2012 - On Petit Manan Island, the savannah sparrows are singing, the violets are flowering, the seabirds are arriving… and we are fully adorned in layers of long johns, fleece, wool, and winter hats. The temperatures are significantly cooler out here than on the main land, but that hasn’t deterred the birds!… SEE MORE