[Maine-birds] Maine Bird Atlas - Weekend Challenges, 6/1

Hi everyone:

June 1st gets us into the safe dates for all but a few species in Maine so (almost) all "possible" breeding activity can be included in your checklists! In other exciting news, we took a big jump from 98 confirmed breeding species to 122 this week. Here is another round of "challenges" for your atlasing effort and, as always, more information on the Maine Bird Atlas is available here: maine.gov/birdatlas

As usual, lets take a look at how we did with last week's challenges…

European Starlings - Great work! Confirmed blocks increased from 64 to 83 with confirmed nesting records in every county. See the updated map here: https://ebird.org/atlasme/map/eursta?neg=true&env.minX=-75.59785156250001&env.minY=42.90455407842311&env.maxX=-61.71113281250001&env.maxY=47.750788021232765&zh=true&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=1-12&bmo=1&emo=12&yr=EBIRD_ATL_ME_2018

House Finch - This species only increased by one, to 12 confirmed blocks state-wide. Keep working on these!

Warblers - A tough group to summarize but 14 species now have confirmed breeding records with Yellow and Pine Warblers leading the pack. After June 5th we will be in the safe dates for all warblers in Maine so keep those checklists coming!

NEW CHALLENGES:

1) Indigo Buntings - Now in the safe dates, let's see if we can get some breeding records submitted. There are currently 14 possible and 1 probable records. Submit those singing birds (possible) and check those locations a week later to bump them up to a S7 (probable) record. Listen along your local power line cuts this week for their distinct paired-note songs: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/527291

2) Eastern Phoebe in New Blocks - Phoebes continue to be the "species with most confirmed blocks", currently at 102 blocks. In this challenge I wanted to encourage everyone to find a block where this species has not yet been confirmed and see if you can fill in some gaps. Here is the current map: https://ebird.org/atlasme/map/easpho?neg=true&env.minX=-75.04441528320314&env.minY=42.79947352065223&env.maxX=-61.157696533203136&env.maxY=47.654326652923366&zh=true&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=1-12&bmo=1&emo=12&yr=EBIRD_ATL_ME_2018

3) Brown-headed Cowbirds - With so many phoebe nests, I know people must be observing some nests that have been parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds. Those nests can confirm both species with "NE - Nest with Eggs" used for both the host species and cowbird. We've only got one block with confirmed cowbirds right now so hopefully this tip helps with how to enter those records.

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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