Birding Lunch & Learn March 4th @ Schupf Center 11:30 am - 1:00 pm in downtown Waterville
Diane Weinstein
Diane include in next lunch & learn
Greetings Waterville Area Birding Enthusiasts and Friends
Our next Lunch & Learn is Wednesday March 4th from 11:30 am – 1:00 pm in the lobby of the Schupf Center in downtown Waterville.
This is the building with the large glass windows bordering Castonguay Square and also the location of the Maine Film Center. We meet weekly on the west side of the lobby where you can see Main Street on either the 1st or 2nd floor. After the meeting some folks may do a little birding nearby, so you may want to bring your binoculars, boots and hand warmers!
February 25th Discussion
With hawk migration right around the corner, we looked at some video quizzes to hone raptor identification skills . The following are some website locations for great birding videos and quizzes of various lengths:
Thursdays, March 12, 19, & 26 at 6:00 PM: KENNEBEC LAND TRUST 2026 Lyceum Lecture Series
The Maine Bird Atlas: New Information On Breeding And Wintering Birds In Maine
Hallowell City Hall Auditorium
1 Winthrop St., Hallowell, ME
(207) 377 - 2848 | in...@tklt.org | www.tklt.org
This is a three-part series exploring what the Maine Bird Atlas reveals about bird populations across the state and here in Kennebec County. Learn how breeding and wintering birds are changing over time and what the data mean for conservation in Maine. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in partnership with Maine Natural History Observatory, Maine Audubon, and Biodiversity Research Institute collaborated on this project. The data collection phase was from 2018-2022 with the help of hundreds of volunteers. The Maine Bird Atlas will be published this year and feature more than 1,600 maps and photographs, making it the most comprehensive book on Maine breeding and wintering birds ever produced. The cross-agency editorial team included Glen Mittelhauser and Logan Parker (MNHO), Adrienne Leppold and Amy Meehan McLaughlin (MDIFW), Evan Adams (BRI), and Doug Hitchcox (Maine Audubon), as well as 75 contributing authors and 69 contributing photographers.
All lectures will be held from 6:00–7:30 p.m. at the Hallowell City Hall Auditorium (1 Winthrop Street, Hallowell).
Light refreshments will be provided.
KLT’s March Lyceum and the associated field program are supported by The Helen and George Ladd Family and sponsored by the Augusta Birding Club, which promotes bird study, conservation, and education in central Maine.
Thursday, March 12 (6:00–7:30 p.m.) – Taking the Pulse: Maine’s Breeding and Wintering Birds
Adrienne J. Leppold, Ph.D., will present insights from the 2018–2022 Maine Bird Atlas, a five-year statewide effort documenting 332 species and nearly two million records.
Thursday, March 19 (6:00–7:30 p.m.) – Breeding Birds of Kennebec County: 1890s to the Present
Glenn Hodgkins of the Augusta Birding Club will examine how bird communities in Kennebec County have changed over the past 130 years, drawing on historic records and recent atlas data.
Thursday, March 26 (6:00–7:30 p.m.) – Moonlight Sonata: Maine’s Nightjars
Logan Parker of the Maine Natural History Observatory will explore the ecology and conservation of the Eastern Whip-poor-will and Common Nighthawk, two species that have experienced significant declines.
Tuesdays March 17, 2026 - March 31, 2026 from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Spring Birdwatching
Waterville Site - Mid-Maine Adult Education
Ian Lynch, Instructor
Wednesday March 25, 2026 at 11:30 am – 1:00 pm
Serena Sanborn: Bird Drawings and Explorations
Waterville Area Bird Enthusiasts Lunch & Learn
Serena Sanborn is a science communicator, artist and arts educator who designs experiences where creativity and ecology meet. As Manager of Outreach and Community Partnerships at Waterville Creates, she builds programs that invite people of all ages to explore big ideas through hands-on artmaking and close observation of the natural world. A certified Maine Master Naturalist, Serena leads trail walks, nature journaling sessions, and participatory projects that blend scientific inquiry with creative expression. Her work centers curiosity, connection, and wonder—helping communities see art and science not as separate disciplines, but as shared ways of paying attention.
Birding for a Better World Public Library Book Club
Ashton Wesner PhD, Assistant Professor in Science, Technology, & Society | Colby College, has shared another opportunity for local birders to interact with Colby College students!
*Tuesday April 7th, from 1:00-3:30pm. Waterville Public Library:
*Tuesday April 14th, from 6:00-7:00pm. Lithgow Public Library (Augusta)
*Wednesday April 15th, from 9:30am-11:00am. Winslow Public Library
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And for those of you still reading this email and delight in the antics of woodpeckers,, below is an article by Margaret Roach, a favorite columnist of mine in the New York Times
IN THE GARDEN By Margaret Roach New York Times Feb. 24, 2026
Hoping for a Lively Spring? Welcome the Woodpeckers
The males of the species prepare for mating season by excavating nests for the approval of the females — and even other birds and animals.
Snags, or wildlife trees, are favorite haunts of woodpeckers, including Northern red-shafted flickers, yet gardeners too often erase dead and dying trees from the landscape. “I think we need to change the concept of beauty,” Paul Bannick said.Credit...Paul Bannick
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Do you hear that? The avian orchestra is rehearsing in anticipation of another spring, with more notes sounded each day after winter’s relative silence.
In the percussion section, the male woodpeckers are starting to drum, “proving their vitality by making the loudest noise they can,” said Paul Bannick, a Seattle-based author and wildlife photographer whose latest book is “Woodpecker: A Year in the Life of North American Woodpeckers.”
The Spanish name for woodpeckers, pájaros carpinteros or carpenter birds, honors ecosystem engineers like the pileated woodpecker, who create cavities also used by other birds and animals. Credit...Paul Bannick
The emphatic drumming, meant to attract mates and drive off rival males, is by no means the only way woodpeckers are at the pulse of things.
Lately we’ve learned about the importance of making room in our gardens for keystone plants, native species that are disproportionately important to local ecosystems. Oaks are perhaps the most famous example. Were they to disappear, entire ecosystems could collapse — like how an arch would topple if its keystone were removed.
But what about keystone animals, like woodpeckers? Shouldn’t we intentionally try to make them at home, too?
“Woodpeckers are the heartbeat of our forests,” said Mr. Bannick, whose work focuses on North America’s natural history, in particular bird conservation. In “Woodpecker,” he introduces us to the 41 North American species — ranging from the Arctic to the Caribbean. That includes 22 who make their home in the continental United States (11 of them within an hour of his Seattle garden) — all while also helping make homes for other species.
Cavities excavated by woodpeckers become nests for other birds as diverse as owls (like a Western screech owl), wood ducks, bluebirds and tree swallows, chickadees, wrens and more.Credit...Paul Bannick
The Spanish name for woodpeckers, pájaros carpinteros or carpenter birds, honors their contribution: These are ecosystem engineers who apply their excavating skills to carve roosts for themselves and their offspring, many of which are subsequently repurposed as nests by birds as diverse as wood ducks, owls, bluebirds, tree swallows and more — and by other animals, including squirrels, martens, bats and raccoons.
“None of these would survive without woodpeckers,” he said, noting that many animals have evolved to capitalize on their work.
Part of the reason is the math: Male woodpeckers typically start work on several nests in anticipation of mating season, excavating each cavity pretty far along before showing the possibilities to the female, who takes her pick. Some of the extras represent those potential nests for other animals.
Plants (and therefore gardeners) are other beneficiaries, and Mr. Bannick calls woodpeckers “the cleanup crew” for their powerful organic pest-control efforts. They devour termites, carpenter ants, bark beetles, caterpillars, aphids, weevils and more.
The Northern red-shafted flicker often forages for ants on the ground. Credit...Paul Bannick
With their impressive beaks and ingeniously designed long, sticky tongues, “woodpeckers are unique in being able to access and eliminate threats beneath the bark,” Mr. Bannick said, where insect eggs and larvae usually lurk, “so they eliminate the pest before they become a problem.” All that excavating has another benefit: It accelerates the process of nutrient cycling, helping decompose and transition wood to organic matter that enhances the soil below.
“For gardens to come alive,” Mr. Bannick said, “that’s the best thing we can do: welcome the woodpecker.”
Strategic Tree Work, by Bird and Gardener
An internet search for “attract woodpeckers” suggests that the way to invite these charismatic, boldly colored birds is with a suet feeder, but Mr. Bannick thinks bigger. Though each species has particular dietary and site preferences, some general guidelines apply, and he has strived for almost 30 years in his garden to provide the resources and some habitat elements they require.
Noting that most species are nonmigratory, he stresses the importance of diverse plantings, which provide food for every season, and he makes sure to offer year-round access to water (in cold-winter zones, floating de-icers will keep the surface unfrozen).Most critically, he practices strategic, often hands-off management of declining and dead trees.
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A red-breasted sapsucker in a fruiting kousa dogwood tree (Cornus kousa). Woodpeckers are mostly insectivorous, but in summer many include fruit in their diets.Credit...Paul Bannick
In breeding season, fatty grubs, such as beetle or ant larvae, may headline the menu, but in summer many switch to fruit.
Native dogwoods (Cornus), sumac (Rhus), mountain ash (Sorbus), manzanita (Arctostaphylos), black cherry (Prunus serotina), elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), various wild grapes (Vitis), and hollies (Ilex), are just a few possibilities. Some woodpeckers also eat fruit we grow to eat ourselves, Mr. Bannick said, like apples, pears, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries.
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Groups of the clown-faced, highly social acorn woodpecker drill holes in dead trees to create granary trees — their own giant acorn pantries.Credit...Paul Bannick
As the season progresses, the birds will transition to eating more nuts and seeds including acorns, for which the clown-faced, highly social acorn woodpecker is named. Groups of them drill holes in dead trees to create granary trees — their own giant acorn pantries.
Nests in Trees, or Perhaps in Bird Boxes
Woodpeckers have an impressive physiology that allows them to withstand the strong impact of their own hammering. Various anatomical features combine to protect them, including a spongy, vibration-absorbing skull. They also have very little cerebrospinal fluid in their cranial cavity so their brains don’t slosh around. In some species, the long tongue wraps around the brain, which may give extra padding. Their ribs are reinforced, and their extra-strong, specialized feet and extra-stiff tail feathers anchor them while they work.
Woodpecker physiology has inspired safer motorcycle and football helmets and has even influenced medical research on Shaken Baby Syndrome.
Even with such built-in protection, woodpeckers are strategic about tree work and know a good tree when they see (and hear) one. They watch and listen for insect activity to identify trees that will yield maximum results with the least effort — whether they are aiming to fashion a cavity or simply extract a meal.
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Excavating by woodpeckers, like these pileateds, accelerates the decomposition of wood to organic matter to enhance the soil below. “For gardens to come alive,” Paul Bannick said, “that’s the best thing we can do: welcome the woodpecker.”Credit...Paul Bannick
Seeing signs of excavation, gardeners may worry that the birds are harming healthy trees, but — with one exception — “every woodpecker in North America that nests in a tree, prefers to nest in a rotted tree,” said Mr. Bannick. The exception is the red-cockaded woodpecker in the Southeast, which nests only in live trees, specifically pines, but even it typically selects trees with some softening. Despite the decline underway in trees woodpeckers typically target, excavating is a serious commitment. It takes on average about two to four weeks for most species to create a roost. The red-cockaded’s efforts may span several years.
Too often, the gardener’s instinct with a dying or dead tree is to cut it down. Mr. Bannick takes quite the opposite approach, celebrating and even creating wildlife trees, or snags, from dead or dying trees. “I think we need to change the concept of beauty,” he said. “We have to think about not only the retention of snags, but the recruitment of snags in some cases.”
He once intentionally topped an old hemlock that had died, and he has already identified which tree will evolve into the next snag.
Some woodpecker species, including the Northern red-shafted flicker, are grateful for properly sized nest boxes to call their own.Credit...Paul Bannick
Not every garden has an ample supply of such candidates, and though making room for a bluebird box is probably more familiar, some woodpecker species will be grateful for a properly sized nest box, too. Designs suiting the pileated woodpecker and Northern flicker can be accessed in All About Birdhouses from Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s NestWatch, and ready-made flicker and wood duck boxes can host larger woodpecker species. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife offers downy and hairy nest box plans.
Mr. Bannick has three boxes at his garden and a trick for gaining the birds’ buy-in: Ahead of woodpecker breeding season, he stuffs the cleaned boxes with wood chips. The male “can show his vitality by pulling chips out of the box,” Mr. Bannick said, if not actually doing the heavy lifting of excavating.
The bird lets the chips fly, hoping the female notices and joins in. Together, they may start something bigger than just the two of them — something positively transformational.
Diane Weinstein
Heads up for those of you going to this Wednesday March 3rd's Lunch & Learn. Pat Bolduc, who will be chairing WedMarch 3rd's Lunch & Learn, will check in with folks and see if there is interest walking along the Oxbow Trail, particularly if the weather is actually in the 50• and no rain. It is in Waterville off of Cool Street, about 1 mile from the Schupf Center. On Tuesday March 2nd, she saw about 100 ducks near the start of the trail where there is a dam with open water. When walking in crunchy snow on the edges of the trail she felt safe but noted the middle of the trail is icy. Pat is thinking maybe with poles & grippers it could be safe.