Birders flocking to Bangor meeting

Hundreds of binocular-toting nature lovers will be converging on Bangor during the next week for a national conference on all things bird-related.

Bangor is the host city for the American Birding Association’s annual convention, which runs from Monday through Sunday, June 19-25, at the Civic Center.

That means residents can also expect to see many of the convention’s 500 attendees in the fields and forests or out on the water hoping to catch a glimpse of a piping plover, golden eagle or other rarely seen bird species that call Maine home.

“We do have quite a few people who are coming here to get lifers for their life list,” said the ABA’s Tamie Bulow, referring to the tally of species that many birders keep.

Bulow, who handles conventions and tours for the 20,000-member American Birding Association, said the group chose Maine for its annual convention because of the variety of birds that live in or migrate through the state.

The group tries to hit different locations around the country to feed birders’ appetite for new species. Last year’s convention was held in Tuscon, Ariz. Next year, the group will convene in Lafayette, La.

“If the birds are there, we will have a convention or a conference there,” Bulow said. “If the birds aren’t there, we’re not going.”

Conference attendees will alternate between days of workshops or lectures and field trip days.

For instance, groups will be leaving on a boat from Bar Harbor to look for Atlantic puffins, arctic terns and other coastal birds. Another will be eyeing bald eagles and peregrine falcons in Acadia National Park.

Still more groups will head into Maine’s western mountains, Washington County’s northern boreal forests, and the bogs of Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge on birding expeditions.

Members of the Maine Audubon staff will help with many of the workshops and tours. As part of the convention, the ABA also will make a donation of at least $10,000 to the Puffin Project, a National Audubon Society program dedicated to restoring seabird diversity.

The public also is invited to attend a free trade show and an artists’ display at the Bangor Civic Center between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday and Friday.