Birds of Maine

This remarkable book could literally change the way state bird publications are prepared. It is a mammoth undertaking and a publication that can be held up as the best of all states’ bird guides! Birds of Maine is the first comprehensive overview of Maine’s incredibly rich birdlife in more than seven decades, providing a detailed account of all 464 species recorded in the state. It is also a thoroughly researched, accessible portrait of a region undergoing rapid changes, with southern birds pushing north and northern birds expanding south.

Written by the late Peter Vickery in cooperation with a team of leading ornithologists, this very large volume offers a detailed look at the state’s dynamic avifauna from Wild Turkeys to Bicknell’s Thrushes to Arctic Terns, with information about nesting ranges, migration patterns and timing, current status and changes in bird abundance and distribution, and how Maine’s geography and shifting climate mold its birdlife and birding opportunities.

Sparsely illustrated with gorgeous watercolor paintings by Lars Jonsson and scores of line drawings by Barry Van Dusen. Colorful habitat and location photos help readers appreciate Maine’s varied landscapes, and excellent maps are generously provided. Birds of Maine is a remarkable guide that birders will turn to and rely on for decades to come.

It delves into the conservation status for Maine’s birds, as well as the state’s unusually textured ornithological history, involving such famous names as John James Audubon and Theodore Roosevelt, and home-grown experts like Cordelia Stanwood and Ralph Palmer. Sidebars explore diverse topics, including the Old Sow whirlpool that draws multitudes of seabirds, and the famed Monhegan Island, a mecca for migrating birds.

For more information about the soon to be famous Birds of Maine, please refer to the publisher, Princeton University Press at https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691193199/birds-of-maine