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

Technology and Vigilance Help Protect Wildlife on Metinic

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

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

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

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

Paddling with the Puffins of Petit Manan

5/23/2012 - 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 while monitoring the weather on the VHF radio, as… 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

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