[Maine-birds] Maine Bird Atlas - Weekly Challenges, 6/12

Hi everyone:

I'm writing this week's challenges from an island with very slow internet so I'll have to share last weeks results later. I can report that over 1400 checklists were submitted to the Maine Bird Atlas portal over the past week! From the checklists, 174 species were coded, and 100 of those had confirmed records. Great effort everyone!

Here are the challenges for this week:

1) Downy/Hairy Woodpecker - keep your ears peeled for noisy nestling. I'm hearing chicks begging from cavities all over the the place and even seeing photos online of recently fledged birds following their parents to feeders. Here is a recording from Scarborough of what to listen for: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/134180871

2) Bobolink - I've unfortunately seen a lot of mowing of fields starting already, so take time this week to watch any large fields or meadows around you and look for breeding activity. Confirmed records can be tough but look for adults diving into the long grass with either nesting material (especially if you're further north) or maybe even carrying food already (for southern parts of the state).

3) Lincoln's Sparrow - a tougher challenge but I'm sure there are some adventurous atlasers looking for something to do this weekend. Lincoln's Sparrows have only been confirmed in 7 blocks so far, and only probable in 7 others. They favor subalpine clearings and bogs closer to the coast, refer to eBird's Jun-Jul sightings map for ideas of where to look: https://ebird.org/map/linspa?neg=true&env.minX=129.98875256980716&env.minY=-18.977729496563164&env.maxX=35.30125972236454&env.maxY=78.83633089529782&zh=true&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=6-7&bmo=6&emo=7&yr=all&byr=1900&eyr=2020 Finding them now while they're still singing will help you know where to look for confirmations in another week or two (if needed).

Good birding and happy atlasing!


Doug Hitchcox
Maine Bird Atlas - Outreach Coordinator
Maine Audubon - Staff Naturalist
207-781-2330 x237
dhitchcox@maineaudubon.org

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