MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • October 20, 2024
The bird checklist for Maine currently stands at 475 species which includes resident birds who grace us with their presence all the year. Over 100 species are migratory breeding birds, moving from wintering areas to our south to nest here and then departing before winter sets in. Some species on the Maine list are irruptive species, northern species that move south to winter in Maine when their food at high latitudes is hard to find. The remainder are vagrants, birds that only occur rarely and unpredictably in Maine. There are also 107 species in Maine that have been sighted five or fewer times. The sighting of such a bird leads to an onrush of birders anxious to see one of these out-of-range birds. But how did they get here in the first place? ~ Herb Wilson