Birds from South America return to Maine

HOLDEN – Birds from South America are arriving! I love the words of the late Inez Boyd, an avid birder: “It’s not enough just to know the birds are out there. You want to be right there in the welcoming committee.” Many people have been out there on Audubon bird walks, hence on the “welcoming committee.”

Maine’s most beautiful birds delighted those taking bird walks – the flaming orange Baltimore oriole, the well-named rose-breasted grosbeak and the shiny black bobolink with its rollicking song.

Orioles arrive from Cuba, Central America and Colombia – a long flight. In the rain forests they eat fruit, and will eat from sliced oranges in Maine when they first arrive; afterward they find plenty of insects to eat, and it’s harder to attract them.

Orioles weave their long hanging sack of a nest high in a tree and way out on a slim twig, where a squirrel is less likely to go. (Squirrels eat bird eggs and young in spring.)

Listen for the orioles’ whistled songs from high in the trees until about July 4; after that, singing tapers off until next May.

Rose-breasted grosbeaks also arrive from Cuba, Central America and Colombia. With their large, thick bills, they easily process sunflower seeds. That’s why many birders keep feeding the birds through May. It’s quite a sight to have one of these large, plump and colorful birds nearby and returning reliably.

Bobolinks, birds of large open fields, arrive from even farther away: the pampas (extensive rolling grasslands) of Argentina. The black and white males sing their banjo-like songs and chase the yellow-brown females around Maine hay fields, sedge meadows and blueberry barrens. The females make a nest on the ground and access it through a tunnel in the grass. A bobolink nest is almost impossible to find.

These species are declining due to hazards in Maine, during migration and on winter grounds: development, towers, cars, windows, outdoor house cats, pesticides, deforestation and more. Do what you can to alleviate these problems affecting birds. However, this is the season to take joy in their colors, their beauty, their vitality, their songs. They are the essence of life itself.

There are free May Audubon Bird Walks available. Call Fields Pond Audubon Center 989-2591 for a schedule.