PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 18, 2023
Maine officials want to add a rare bird and bee to the state’s endangered species list: the Saltmarsh sparrow, a secretive little songbird under dire threat from rising seas, and the Ashton’s cuckoo, the hive-stealing bumblebee once thought to be locally extinct but which may be mounting a comeback. Ornithology professor Brian Olsen said the work should start with the protection and restoration of Maine’s saltmarsh habitat. What helps the sparrow will also help other birds, amphibians and fish that nest and forage in the marsh. Maine officials are proposing to add four birds, a bat and a beetle to the state’s list of threatened species, a step below endangered. And they are seeking approval to remove from the endangered list a turtle and a dragonfly species, one of which is now thought to only roam the state as released pets and the other believed to have never been here at all.