Maine
Unusual geese are showing up in Maine. Here’s where to look.
It’s a great time for a wild goose chase. Insect-eaters are typically the first birds to skip town, migrating south. Seed-eaters linger a little longer. Waterfowl take their own sweet time.
As long as there is food in an ice-free pond, ducks and geese are happy to stay right here. Cold doesn’t bother them much, as anyone who has cooked a duck knows. They’ve got a fat layer of insulation that just won’t quit.
Goose-watching is like panning for gold. You’ve got to sift through a lot of sand to find a nugget. Canada geese are abundant. But there are sometimes strangers hiding among them. Many less common geese seem to be turning up this autumn, hiding in plain sight.
Snow geese appear regularly in Maine in autumn. They are abundant and extremely social, traveling and foraging in big flocks. They nest along the Arctic tundra edge clear across North America. In mid to late October, they migrate straight south, so most eastern Canadian breeders end up along the eastern seaboard. Central Canadian breeders winter along the Gulf coast. Western birds wait out the cold months along the Pacific.
Snow geese migrate at their leisure, stopping for long periods to feed on the sedges and tubers they love. There is so much of this food supply along the Saint Lawrence River above Quebec that the province started a Snow Goose Festival, appropriately named in French “Festival de l’Oie des Neiges.” Hundreds of thousands of snow geese pass through, most stopping off at Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Refuge.
These snow geese typically bypass Maine, choosing instead a route over Vermont, where they know their favorite food is waiting for them. Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area in Vermont is the core area to see hundreds of thousands at this time of year.
Next stop: Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Pennsylvania; then on to the coast, from Delaware to North Carolina.
Not surprising for an abundant species, some snow geese wander into Maine on their way south. They’ve been entertaining birders across the state. If encountered, take a second look. You might find a Ross’s goose. It strongly resembles a snow goose, though smaller and with a shorter bill.
Ross’s goose summers and winters in the central regions of North America. Vagrants in Maine are rare, but one popped up in Ellsworth a couple weeks ago. Another attracted a lot of attention in Bangor’s Maple Grove Cemetery three years ago.
A widespread species like the Canada goose typically has regional variation. In 2004, there were 11 recognized subspecies. That year, ornithologists decided the smallest subspecies was sufficiently different to declare the cackling goose as an official new species.
Cackling geese breed on the far northern edges of Canada and Alaska. In winter, they head south, mostly west of the Great Lakes. However, some wander. One turned up in Mars Hill Pond in Aroostook County a few weeks ago. Last Sunday, on a Maine Audubon-led field trip, seven birders enjoyed viewing a cackling goose at Arnold Brook Lake Recreation Area in Presque Isle.
That same field trip turned up a greater white-fronted goose at Lake Josephine in Easton. Greater white-fronted geese also breed in the far north, almost exclusively west of Hudson Bay. They winter west of the Mississippi all the way down to Louisiana. But a few visit Maine every autumn, so it’s not a surprise when one appears.
Pink-footed geese are a surprise. They breed on the far side of Greenland and winter in Northern Europe. In recent years, more have been visiting the eastern coast of North America. Those lucky Aroostook County birders turned one up at Lake Josephine. Besides Maine, there are currently pink-footed geese attracting attention in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Nova Scotia.
Perhaps the Holy Grail of goose-chasing is the barnacle goose. Its nesting range extends from Eastern Greenland to Siberia. However, any bird that can both fly and swim is not so shy about crossing water, and barnacle geese occasionally show up here. I enjoyed my first (and only) sighting in Houlton a few years ago. And, yes, I learned the pair was there, and scheduled a wild-goose chase to see them.
Barnacle geese are currently present in Québec and Nova Scotia. One was in New York in early October.
Birding in late autumn need not be dull. Songbirds may have headed for the tropics, but other birds have secretly taken their place. There are big flocks of Canada geese everywhere. Take a second look.
The Maine Marine Patrol has launched the newest and largest patrol vessel in its fleet, the 57-foot P/V Allegiance, which will support safer and more effective offshore patrols, according to the Maine Marine Patrol, in a news release. The vessel was officially put into service on Thursday, June 11, during a christening event at Perry’s Lobster in Surry.
“Maine Marine Patrol routinely patrols commercial fishing activity offshore and hauls and inspects tens of thousands of lobster traps annually,” said Marine Patrol Colonel Matt Talbot, in the news release.
“While still capable of supporting Marine Patrol’s mission near shore, the new vessel will better position Marine Patrol to conduct offshore commercial fisheries enforcement, including the ability to safely haul and inspect large lobster trawls in federal waters,” said Colonel Talbot.
The vessel will also be used to respond to search and rescue incidents, monitor fisheries in addition to Lobster including scallop, Atlantic Herring, Menhaden, and Groundfish, and others.
The P/V Allegiance will be based in Boothbay Harbor and assigned to Marine Patrol Specialist Evan Whidden. It replaces the 29-year-old, 35-foot P/V Vigilant.
The P/V Allegiance was constructed and finished by Wesmac Custom Boats in Surry.
“This is the fifth patrol vessel built or refitted by Wesmac and we are once again very pleased with the quality of work and attention to detail by the Wesmac team,” said Colonel Talbot.
The P/V Allegiance is powered by a low-emission Tier 4 Man Diesel V-12 1450hp engine which can cruise in excess of 20 knots. It is equipped with state-of-the-art Furuno navigation electronics, and a heavy duty 17-inch hauler. It has significant deck space and an open stern which will allow Officers to safely handle and set back the larger offshore lobster trawls Marine Patrol Officers will be inspecting. The vessel is also equipped to carry a 15-foot Ribcraft Rigid Hull Inflatable boat on deck, which can be used for at-sea boardings to check vessels for compliance with marine resources laws.
PORTLAND (WGME) — Maine Governor Janet Mills has not yet decided whether the state will opt into a new federal tax credit program that would help fund private school tuition, tutoring and other educational services.
The program, called the Educational Choice for Children Act, would start next year. In states that opt in, individuals can receive up to $1,700 in tax credits for donations they make to scholarship-granting organizations, also known as SGOs. Those SGOs would then award grants to students to cover private school tuition, tutoring and other educational services.
Families earning up to 300 percent of the area median income can qualify for the scholarships in states that opt in.
Under the current framework, donors contribute to SGOs and receive federal tax credits, and SGOs use the funds to award scholarships for qualifying educational expenses, including tuition, fees, tutoring, curriculum materials and educational therapy for K-12 students. SGOs can also use donated money to award scholarships for educational expenses, including everything from private school tuition to special needs services and educational therapy.
Each state’s governor must opt in by filing IRS Form 15714. Once opted in, the state designates SGOs to operate within its borders and distribute EFTC scholarships to eligible families.
Republican State Senator James Libby of Cumberland, a member of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, says he is interested in bringing the program to Maine.
“What it really does is it takes dollars that would normally go to pay for taxes and put them directly into education,” Libby said. “The program itself allows for expenditures for other things besides school choice, so the states can set it up the nonprofit to have goals for whatever they want. There’s a lot of good parts to this legislation and I truly hope Maine will get involved.”
Democratic Rep. Kelly Murphy, who chairs the state’s education committee, says she believes the program would hurt Maine students.
“The Education Freedom Tax Credit favors families that already have the ability to pay for private schools at the expense of families with students enrolled in public schools,” Murphy said. “A decline in public school enrollment would result in a loss of state funding for local SAUs, as the costs for running schools continue to increase, putting additional pressure on property taxpayers to make up the gap. This program and others like it would hurt the majority of Maine students, especially those in small, rural schools across our state.”
The U.S. Department of the Treasury is in the process of finalizing rulemaking for the program. Currently, 30 states have opted into the program, and four states have opted out. In New England, New Hampshire is the only state that has opted in so far.
It is unclear if there is a hard deadline for states to opt in, but Mills is facing pressure to sign off this year so the Department of the Treasury can approve scholarship organizations before scholarships become available in January.
A 51-year-old man was fatally struck by an Amtrak train in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, on Thursday afternoon, and police believe alcohol was a factor.
Old Orchard Beach Police say they responded around 2:18 p.m. to the area of the railroad tracks located off from the roadway near 133 Temple Avenue. The victim, who had been struck by a train traveling northbound, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Information obtained from witnesses suggests the man was traveling alone and walking nearby the railroad tracks moments before being struck by the train, according to police, who didn’t say why they believe alcohol was a factor in the incident.
The victim’s name is being withheld pending further investigation and notification, with police saying only that he was from Old Orchard Beach.
Amtrak said in a statement obtained by NBC10 Boston affiliate News Center Maine that the individual was trespassing when he came into contact with the train.
Amtrak urged the public in its statement to stay off railroad property and use caution around railroad tracks and grade crossings, writing, “These incidents can affect everyone involved—those who are injured or die and their families, our train crews, and our passengers.”
There were no reported injuries among the 135 passengers and crew members abord the No. 683 train that was traveling from Boston to Brunswick until the incident happened on Thursday.
The added that preventing railroad incidents and fatalities is a priority for them. Amtrak is working with local authorities investigating this latest incident.
An investigation remains ongoing by the Old Orchard Beach Police Department, Amtrak Police and Saco Police Department, which responded to assist.
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