Biodiversity Research Institute

08/10/2026

From tagging gull chicks and combing for fishes out of water to running whitewater canoes, field ecology takes us places! 🐟🌊

Join BRI staff scientist Katrina Zarrella Smith and fellow panelists for conversations on their first field experiences, the paths they’ve taken, and how working outside shapes science and the way we see the world! 🌎

🪶 College of the Atlantic’s Field Ecology Colloquium is Saturday, August 15th from 8:45 - 5:00 EDT in Bar Harbor, Maine!

08/03/2026

The Maine Bird Atlas was a collaborative effort directed and funded by Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, with coordination, editing, and publication led by Maine Natural History Observatory in partnership with Maine Audubon and Biodiversity Research Institute. The Atlas is not only a bird book, it represents the largest natural history collaboration and statewide resource assessment ever undertaken in Maine.

These findings will be explored in greater detail in the upcoming Maine Bird Atlas, with preorders opening following the final Atlas presentation on September 16. Look for the link for this virtual presentation, coming soon!

Before the book comes out, we wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look at how all that data got collected!

At the beginning of the Maine Bird Atlas (in 2018) we covered as much of the state as possible to reach any and all potential volunteers. Birding Festivals and Maine Audubon chapters were great for reaching birders, but the project also benefited from presenting and tabling at events with gardening clubs, hunters, and anglers, to reach any groups we could find that connected us to people who spend time outdoors.

Unfortunately, we started year three of the atlas faced with COVID-19 lockdowns and essentially needing to tell volunteers to avoid each other! Like the rest of the world, we quickly adapted to online training sessions and realized the benefits of extending our reach to people everywhere all at once. This was an ultimate advantage, because going into year four and five, we had much more efficient and effective routes of communication with our volunteers to get them spending effort in the most important areas.

By the completion of the Maine Bird Atlas, a total of 6,400 volunteers contributed 2.6 million records to the project, across both the breeding and wintering efforts. This makes the atlas the largest community science project ever in the state, with the results orders of magnitude larger than seen with other projects (note the logarithmic scale on the comparison chart). The Maine Bird Atlas would not be as comprehensive and complete without all the volunteers who contributed, and we are incredibly appreciative of the time and effort they invested in helping create this unprecedented dataset.

07/29/2026

Healthy rangelands are essential for supporting biodiversity, sustaining local communities and storing carbon. But measuring ecosystem health across these landscapes requires a standardized, repeatable approach. 🌍

BRI’s newest publication presents an integrated field protocol for monitoring biodiversity across multiple taxonomic groups! 🦒🦜🌱 Designed for African rangelands, these methods provide a framework for tracking ecological change over time and evaluating the outcomes of conservation and carbon projects!

🔗 Jenkins et al, 2026 Current Protocols (link in bio!)

07/28/2026

07/28/2026

Success!

Loon nest monitoring efforts on FSM easement lands in Franklin County resulted in observation of a successful fledgling in 2024, the first confirmed for this lake in many years. Photos courtesy of our partners at Biodiversity Research Institute.

07/21/2026

The Maine Bird Atlas was a massive collaborative effort among thousands of volunteers across the state, led by Maine Natural History Observatory and Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, in partnership with Maine Audubon and BRI!🌲

The second edition goes a step beyond showing distribution data and incorporates abundance estimates, moving from “where are the birds?” to “how many birds are there?” Nearly 10,000 point-count surveys were conducted to add information on occupancy and density. This creates a fuller picture of birdlife in Maine! 🦉

Dr. Evan Adams, co-director of QWERL (qwerl.org), created dozens of maps for the Atlas to visualize changes in species abundance and distribution across the state. Monitoring over time helps us understand how birds respond to changing habitat and land use – and creates baseline estimates to compare against. 📊🌎

Abundance data is useful for documenting habitat associations and can document range expansions, such as the Indigo Bunting’s northward creep farther into the boreal forest. Their range has expanded significantly over the past 40 years!

As they move northward, abundance estimates are useful to guide management efforts like timber harvest that can create suitable breeding habitat. Indigo Buntings are typically associated with shrubs and forest edges but also respond positively to regenerating forests, habitat associated with the industrial forest landscape of Maine’s North Woods. 🪵

07/20/2026

Creating this book was a true collaborative effort – thanks to all who made it possible! 🦅🦜 Swipe to see what they all have to say after seeing the final product! 📖

It’s now available for purchase on Amazon – all proceeds help bird conservation in Amboseli! 🌍🪶