This spring, MDIFW tagged five adult great blue herons with GPS transmitters as part of an ongoing effort to better understand the state’s great blue heron population. After a significant decline in the number of nesting pairs on Maine’s coastal islands from the 1980s to 2007, MDIFW listed the great blue heron as a Species of Special Concern and began a citizen science adopt-a-colony program called the Heron Observation Network.

By Scott McLellan, Regional Wildlife Biologist Waterfowl brood surveys have long been a traditional part of the work program for regional wildlife biologists and serve as a method to monitor annual nesting success and survival of hens and their young. In region E out of the Moosehead Lake area, 9 of these surveys are conducted in the month of June and then repeated one month later.  This schedule occurs annually on the same bodies of water in hopes to develop and understand trends in waterfowl production and populations.  Surveys occur either during the early morning or earl

[caption id="attachment_1758" align="alignright" width="329"] IFW Fisheries Biologist Derrick Cote is down in one of the chambers of the Churchill Dam fishway, scooping out fish to weigh and measure[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1766" align="alignleft" width="227"]

[caption id="attachment_1745" align="alignright" width="568"] IFW's Tom Barrows holds a hefty 35-inch wild togue from Echo Lake in Fayette. The togue was measured, weighed and released.[/caption] The bios in Region B have been busy on central Maine lakes recently, keeping an eye on salmon and lake trout growth in Echo Lake.

During the weekend of June 24-26, Maine Game Wardens along with other marine law enforcement participated in Operation Dry Water, a national outreach and enforcement campaign with the goal of raising awareness of the dangers of boating under the influence and removing impaired operations from our nation’s waterways. During that weekend of heightened enfor

Each summer, biologists and volunteers capture and band approximately 500 Canada geese in Maine as part of a region-wide effort to monitor and manage populations throughout the eastern United States. This week, I joined our staff in western Maine as we located, rounded -up, captured, banded and released two good sized flocks of Canada geese.

By Sarah Spencer, Region C Wildlife Biologist If you’ve spent any time in the Downeast Region lately you may have noticed new signs installed at several Wildlife Management Areas.  After years of exposure to the sun, precipitation, and occasional vandalism, many of the wooden signs had fallen into disrepair.