Mid-Coast Audubon Society

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New Bat Booklet Available

Maine's Bats, a 12 page primer, compiled by chapter Conservation Chair Joe Gray, provides nearly everything a person might need or want to know about bats. Included are myths and facts, species description, what bats eat, housing shortage, box location, placement, maintenance and how to contact the chapter. Printing cost for the new booklet was funded, in part, by Camden National Bank, Oliver’s Print Shop, and this chapter.

Maine's Bats is available ($5 pp) at chapter events, programs, or by writing to:

   Mid-Coast Audubon Society
   P.O. Box 862
   Rockland ME 04842-0862

North American Bluebirds
Photo by Cindy McIntire

Bluebirds!
Erect a Mid-Coast Audubon nest box and they will come!

Here in mid-coast Maine we have been observing more Eastern Bluebirds each season and 2007 is no exception.

Inland, along many back roads through farming areas, we frequently see bluebirds on fences and power lines. For example, along the 8-mile long Route 213, Bunker Hill Road in Lincoln County, described by Down East magazine as "one of the prettiest roads in Maine," one may see no less than six bluebird families this year.

With 10 years' experience, Cornell's Birdhouse Network reports 60,000 nest attempts for 40 species that use nest boxes. Using more than 20,000 records, researchers found birds initiating later season nesting tended to lay fewer eggs and birds in northern latitudes laid more eggs than in southern areas, with both areas experiencing the same productivity.

Tree swallows were laying their eggs about 9 days earlier, possibly due to climate warming.

Bluebirds had the highest rate of hatching failure in warmer conditions. The Network also suggest other birds are laying their eggs earlier than in recent decades.

Even with pesticide use, nest box success on golf courses is higher than other habitats.

— Birdscope, Spring 2007

The Importance of Bats in Maine

Bats are Maine's greatest resource in controlling insects. Maine is fortunate to have eight bat species. They protect crops, gardens and backyards by consuming as many as 2,500 insects in a single night.

Many bats are year-round residents in Maine homes, spending cold months huddled next to warm chimneys, their summer activities are well worth their presence, but there is a housing shortage for bats.

The former haunts of bats in old barns and homes has almost disappeared as homeowner's tighten up their residences. Mid-Coast Audubon comes to the rescue by offering bat boxes constructed for this latitude and weather.

Bat boxes are summer residences. They may be erected on buildings, poles and even trees in woded areas, providing they are facing the south or west, at least ten feet above ground and free of limbs and wires below the box. Boxes placed near fresh water and open fields and gardens are good locations.

Mid-Coast Audubon craftsmen build the boxes—It is up to you to erect them! Bat boxes are $15 and a phone call will help arrange for your pick up. Call TODAY!

Call John Weinrich at (207) 563-2930 or for more information call Joe Gray (207) 563-3578 and ask for Mid-Coast Audubon's newest publication Maine's Bats ($5.00 pp).

Suet Log Feeders Bring Birds

Suet feeder
Photo by John Weinrich

Extra energy is found in suet and woodpeckers, chickadee and nuthatches know this and supplement their seed diet with suet.

Mid-Coast Audubon Log Suet feeders are easy to fill with suet and bring birds.

Call John Weinrich at (2087) 563-2093 and arrange to pick up your log suet feeder ($15) today.

Mid-Coast Audubon is now an affiliate member of the North American Bluebird Society (NABS) and membership for Chapter members is $15 when you specify "Special A+ Offer Applies." Membership brings the quarterly Bluebird magazine, the journal of NABS, filled with information about conservation, research, education and promotes the recovery of bluebirds and other cavity nesting birds. Write: NABS, P.O. Box 45, Miamiville, OH 45147.

Revised 01 August 2007