In September 2022, a nest full of baby Snapping Turtles hatched here at Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth, Maine. We kept one of them, the biggest and the muddiest, to spend the winter in our Discovery Room, so it could teach us all about the early life of these ancient …
Amphibians
Help us keep track of creepy-crawly critters!
Like creepy-crawly critters? Did you love looking for turtles, snakes, or salamanders as a kid? If so, rekindle that curious kid to help the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW) search for amphibians and reptiles across Maine this spring, summer, and fall. This is the last year …
Make Your BIG NIGHT Last a Week!
Things are starting to spring, and even sing! Our minds often start thinking of spring as birds return to Maine. However, the arrival of Red-winged Blackbirds and Woodcocks are also phenological indicators of something completely different – BIG NIGHT!!! Maine’s incredible reptiles and amphibians, …
Seven Months in the Life of a Snapping Turtle
Seven months ago, a nest of Snapping Turtle eggs hatched at the edge of the parking lot at Gilsland Farm. You can read about that eventful day and the decision to overwinter one of the hatchlings in a previous blog post, Introducing Our New Roommate: A Baby Snapping Turtle. After consulting …
Elementary Connections: Spring Amphibians
What amphibians can be seen and heard this time of year? Where can they be found? How does their life cycle begin? This fun video by Nat Wheelwright introduces us to the timeline of frogs calling and breeding in Maine, starting with the Wood Frogs and Spring Peepers that are currently out and …
BIG NIGHT: Amphibians are on the move!
Greetings! I hope everyone is staying safe and well in these crazy times. I wanted to reach out, because we may finally be coming into amphibian movement time! Looking out the window as well as at the forecast for both the Falmouth area and the Holden area, we have a stretch of “warm” rain today …
Renewed Urgency for Protection of Maine Wildlife
The most challenging aspect of human impact on the environment is that we get used to it. It's easy to see colorful birds at your feeders this spring and forget that there are billions fewer songbirds than there used to be, or enjoy a day at the beach in Maine without realizing that the Gulf of …
NECEC AND FOREST FRAGMENTATION PART 4: THE WOOD TURTLE
This is the fourth post in our series on the wildlife impacts of Central Maine Power's proposed New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission line project. As we wrote in our introductory post, Maine Audubon feels strongly that NECEC and its mitigation plan offer unsatisfactory protections …
Nature Moments: Parade of Frogs
How can so many frog species co-exist in the same pond without competing for food or accidentally mating with the wrong species? One solution is to reproduce at different times of year. From mud season until the first autumn frosts, you can witness a parade of different …