County Birders explore Christina reservoir
On a recent sunny Saturday morning, a dozen bird watchers took to the shores of Christina Lake for a rare chance to explore a unique water habitat and the many birds it attracts.
It was a warm, late summer day, and the birds were many at the artificial reservoir that supplies water for McCain Foods’ potato factory and is normally closed to the public. With permission from the company, the Aroostook Birders held their September outing at the lake in search of shorebirds.
Despite a bald eagle that scared off some other birds as the club gathered shortly after 8 a.m., on and around the shallow lake and its shoreline were cormorants, ducks, greater yellowlegs, seagulls, geese and more.
With binoculars, at least one cormorant was seen perched on a tree stump in the water and stretching its wings out to dry. A fish-eating shorebird, cormorants have less preen oil in their feathers than other birds, so their wings can soak up water and need to be dried before flying, said Judy Roe, a biology professor at the University of Maine Presque Isle and vice president of the volunteer-run Aroostook Birders.
Birding is a great activity for all ages and abilities, said Roe. “It ends up being a reason to go outside and see everything that’s outside. You never know what you’re going to see.”
“This habitat is pretty easy, but they’re far away. You keep challenging yourself with a new habitat and new types of birds. Warblers might be hiding in the trees, so you learn to hear them.”
Roe is also working on the Birds Moving North project, a collaboration with fellow UMPI biology professor Jason Johnston that’s analyzing the DNA of bird droppings to find out which species are increasing or decreasing in Aroostook County at different times of the year.
The descendents of dinosaurs, birds are among the lifeforms responding relatively fast to climate change, with many of them being migratory and following changes in insects, plants and other food sources.
Aroostook County is a transitional ecosystem, where the deciduous forest meets the start of the north woods, and also just a “good place” for bird watching, said David Putnam, an Aroostook Birders member who teaches environmental science at UMPI. The region is a stopping point and seasonal destination for many different kinds of birds, including one of Putnam’s favorites, the snow buntings, which summer in the North Pole and migrate here for the winter.
Putnam likes the accessibility of birding and their connections with the seasons, like when chickadees change their calls from winter to spring. “You can do it anywhere — your backyard, outside your office window, or you can go out here,” Putnam said. “There’s a lot of diversity. Birds fly and can come from anywhere on earth.”
