UMaine to Host Network Meeting on Bird Migration

The University of Maine will host on Thursday, April 12 the annual meeting of the Northeast Regional Migration Monitoring Network, a group of researchers including UMaine biologist Rebecca Holberton, who study the Gulf of Maine’s migrating birds, many of whom face threats from climate change, on- and off-shore wind energy projects and habitat loss.

The meeting will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Woolley Room in UMaine’s Doris Twitchell Allen Village (DTAV). It is not open to the public.

Holberton and other UMaine researchers will be joined by representatives of network members, which include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge; Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife; Acadia University in Nova Scotia; the Biodiversity Research Institute; North American consulting firm Stantec; the National Park Service; Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y.; University of Massachusetts; and the Maine Natural History Observatory.

About three dozen people are expected to attend with another dozen participating via conference call.

The meeting will be an update of the network partners’ ongoing and new research projects and information on funding. Network partners will also hear about new initiatives such as the Gulf of Maine Bird Observatory, a nonprofit organization being developed to lead on-campus educational programs and public outreach.

The Gulf of Maine Bird Observatory will hold bird banding demonstrations on Saturday, May 12, at the Orono Bog Walk and the Schoodic Education and Research Center (SERC) at Acadia National Park in Winter Harbor. May 12 is International Migratory Bird Day.

The Northeast Regional Migration Monitoring Network was established in 2010 in order to gain an accurate picture of migratory bird patterns and the birds’ relationships with the region’s habitats.

Contact: Rebecca Holberton, (207) 669-2842; Jessica Bloch, (207) 581-3777 or jessica.bloch@umit.maine.edu