Maine
Maine snowbirds may want this new Florida bird identification book
I don’t usually review books, but this is a rare exception.
I was asked to review a recently published guidebook, Kristen Hine’s “Birds of Florida.” It’s part of the Helm Wildlife Guides series, offered by Bloomsbury Publishing.
Frankly, I’ve never heard of Hine, Helm or Bloomsbury.
But I’ve heard of Florida. And birds. This could be fun, I thought. Writing a bird guide is a uniquely difficult challenge. I should know. I wrote one.
Most books are species identification guides, covering a broad geographic area. Nearly everyone who enjoys birding has a comprehensive guide to the birds of North America on the bookshelf — or one each for eastern and western species.
In 2000, David Sibley published one of the most famous — “The Sibley Guide to Birds.” It’s a large, heavy reference book, too big to fit in a pocket, or even a backpack. Because of that, the book was republished as two books for portability: “Sibley Birds East” and “Sibley Birds West.”
Naturally, as a bird nerd, I own all three. I also bought the Sibley app for my smartphone.
Other books are location guides. These explain where to look for birds, rather than how to identify them. They are typically limited to small geographic areas. On a trip to Tucson last May, I relied on my “Birds of Southeastern Arizona” guidebook. It had been sitting on my bookshelf since I bought it in 2010.
There are several good location guidebooks for Maine. The newest book came out last year: “Field Guide to Birds of Maine,” written by Nick Lund. The second edition of “Birdwatching in Maine: The Complete Site Guide,” edited by Derek Lovitch, was published earlier this year.
My own book, “Maine Birding Trail: The Official Guide to More Than 260 Accessible Sites,” debuted in 2009.
Here’s my personal experience: is there anything worse than pouring your heart into writing a bird guide, then watching it go slowly out-of-date? Much has changed In just 15 years. Boreal chickadees could be found along the Maine coast as far south as Vinalhaven when my book came out. Since that time, they’ve vanished all the way to the Canadian border.
Bank swallows have nearly disappeared from Maine altogether. Cliff swallows are likely right behind them. Even barn swallows are declining precipitously.
Meanwhile, southern birds continue to push north as the climate warms. Red-bellied woodpeckers and Carolina wrens are routinely surprising birders north of Bangor. The tufted titmouse was a southern Maine bird when I wrote the book. Now it nests in my yard.
So, could this “Birds of Florida” guide pull off the difficult feat? In just 224 pages, could it help the reader both identify and locate Florida birds? I’ve been birding in most of Florida. I’ve seen all of Florida’s nesting species. I figure I’m qualified to judge.
I think the guide works, for a couple of easily overlooked reasons. Foremost, it emphasizes habitat. The best way to find birds is to know where to look. Birds are picky about habitat. Each species has a preference. Before the book mentions a single bird or site, it describes the 10 major habitat groups in the state. Next, it goes on to describe the top 17 birding sites aligned with those habitats.
When the book finally starts describing each species, it takes only one paragraph to describe where to look.
Secondly, the book is concise. It covers the basics of identifying each bird, while resisting the temptation to over-describe it. An identification-based guidebook points out all the basic field marks, as well as plumage variations that occur with age and season.
Such detailed complexity is beyond the scope of this book. It seeks to be a handy pocket guide to the birds most likely to be encountered in Florida.
Likewise, the book does not waste pages on rarities. It describes a few Caribbean birds that regularly stray into Florida, and that’s all that’s necessary. It also doesn’t squander pages on rare migrants passing through to the tropics.
In short, it’s the kind of guide that a Mainer might find useful during a Florida vacation this winter. Snowbirds might keep a copy in the RV.
Experienced birders may miss having identification details for immature offseason birds. They may want more specific information on where to find particularly difficult species or rare wanderers. But there are other resources for that.
When I seek a bird I’ve never seen before, I lean heavily on eBird. I confess that’s how I got my last Florida lifer — a bird I had seen and identified for the first time in my life.
Many Maine municipalities will open cooling centers this week with the National Weather Service issuing a variety of heat advisories covering the next few days.
The Maine DEP also issued an air quality alert for Wednesday with ground-level ozone expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
All of York County, interior Cumberland and Androscoggin counties, and the southern half of Oxford County will fall under an extreme heat warning from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Friday.
The warning calls for “dangerously hot conditions” that could feature heat index values of up to 110 degrees, with overnight lows only expected to fall into the 70s, according to the weather service’s office in Gray.
The rest of the state — save northern Aroostook, Piscataquis and Somerset counties — falls under a heat advisory from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. However, the weather service has also placed much of the state under an extreme heat watch for Thursday.
Heat index values, which measure how hot it feels to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature, are expected to reach up to 104 degrees during the heat advisory period, the weather service warns. They could reach 110 degrees Thursday, when the extreme heat watch is in effect.
Northern Oxford and Franklin counties, and central Somerset County, can expect a heat index value of up to 99 degrees Wednesday, according to the weather service.
The weather service advises people to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms when possible, avoid extended periods in the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors. It also warns not to leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles, as “car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes.”
Cooling Centers
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has also issued an air quality alert from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday along the coast from Kittery to Acadia National Park. The agency warns that ground-level ozone concentrations are expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Ozone levels may reach “moderate levels” further inland, according to the Maine DEP, including in all of Androscoggin and Kennebec counties, as well as parts of Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington and York counties.
Elevated ozone levels can pose a risk to children, older adults and people suffering from respiratory or heart diseases, according to the Maine DEP. Anyone exerting themselves outdoors may also experience health effects, which could include coughing, shortness of breath, throat irritation and mild chest pain.
Ozone levels were already climbing in southern New England on Tuesday, according to the Maine DEP, and winds are expected to bring those conditions to Maine on Wednesday.
The Maine DEP recommends that vulnerable populations avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep windows closed, and circulate indoor air with fans or air conditioners. Those with asthma are also advised to keep quick-relief medication handy.
Particle pollution levels are also expected to be moderate across the state on Wednesday due to wildfire smoke, the Maine DEP said in its announcement Tuesday. Wildfires in Colorado, which have claimed the lives of three firefighters, had burned nearly 90,000 acres as of Tuesday, according to the Denver Post.
Maine could face up to $50 million in penalties next year due to errors in its payments for federal food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Newly released data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that Maine’s error rate last year was nearly 11%, the bulk of which were overpayments. That’s in line with the U.S. average. But starting in October of next year, states with error rates above 6% must cover a portion of the SNAP benefits.
Anna Korsen, executive director of Full Plates, Full Potential, said the overpayments aren’t fraud — they’re human error. She said this new cost-shifting policy enacted last year under the Trump administration further complicates the SNAP application process.
“Instead, we could make this program more accessible and more efficient,” Korsen said. “And that would reduce the number of errors and also ensure that Mainers who are eligible for SNAP have access to it.”
She’s urging Congress to delay or reverse the policy under the farm bill that’s currently under consideration.
Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services said it’s taking steps to reduce the error rate, including modernizing its systems and hiring an additional 40 eligibility specialists.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
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