[Maine-birds] Spruce budworm predicted for Maine soon.

Hello all, 

I just wanted to pass along a link to an interesting article discussing the probability of a spruce budworm infestation in Maine in the next few years.  This may seem off topic, but anybody that was birding in the 60's, 70's and 80's in Maine can remember how well a lot of our northern breeding birds responded to the outbreak and the seemingly unlimited food supply for insectivores.  

Those that I know were birding back then usually get misty-eyed when talking about it.  ...Back in the day, when Cape May, Bay-breasted and Tennessee Warblers were as abundant as Yellow-rumpeds and huge flocks of Evening Grosbeaks visited feeders across the state... and later as the tree's died, how the Black-backed Woodpecker was an "easy" species to find.  ...but they also remember the responses to the problem that included landscape-scale pesticide applications and township-sized clearcuts.

I toured some of the budworm-infested parts of north-central Quebec last summer and can report multiple Tennessee Warblers were singing at almost every stop in the orange and green woods.

check it out: 

 

http://www.forestsformainesfuture.org/fresh-from-the-woods-journal/spruce-budworm-coming-again-soon.html

Oh... and the Hawk Owl was seen in Houlton again this AM!

Cheers

--
Bill Sheehan
Woodland, Aroostook Co., Maine
http://northernmainebirds.blogspot.com/

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