Hey Mainers,
I’ve had the good fortune of being a Mountain Birdwatch volunteer for the last several years and was recently advised by Jason Hill that one of their long-time Maine Mountain Birdwatch citizen scientists is stepping back in 2020. He's retired and an ambitious hiker, and has been tackling ~6 routes each year for the last decade in Maine. Wow - and thanks - whoever you are!
The good news is there are going to be several choice routes opening up this year and they’re looking for recruits. If you’re curious, a map of open routes, updated daily, can be found here: https://vtecostudies.org/projects/mountains/mountain-birdwatch/participate/
All of the routes need to be done in June. Many, although not all, involve strenuous hiking. MBW has all the routes, data sheets and methods worked out, and they provide excellent training, including video and audio exercises to prepare you for the field. I’ve found my MBW work to be a great motivator to get out hiking early in the season, encounter boreal, alpine and subalpine species I might otherwise miss, and stay sharp on our north woods bird songs. Feel free to drop me a note if you have questions, or you can contact MBW directly through the website to sign up.
As an added bonus, the MBW data easily dove-tails into the ongoing Maine Atlas project, often in remote and under-represented blocks, so you can be a block buster, too. And if you sign up now I’ll personally buy you a beer (haha, just kidding or… maybe not!).
Happy trails and good birding,
Dave Cowan
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