UMaine to Host Network Meeting on Bird Migration

The University of Maine will host on Thursday, April 12 the annual meeting of the Northeast Regional Migration Monitoring Network, a group of researchers including SBE professor Rebecca Holberton, who study the Gulf of Maine’s migrating birds, many of whom face threats from climate change, on- and off-shore wind energy projects and habitat loss.

Holberton and other UMaine researchers will be joined by representatives of network members, which include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge; Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife; Acadia University in Nova Scotia; the Biodiversity Research Institute; North American consulting firm Stantec; the National Park Service; Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y.; University of Massachusetts; and the Maine Natural History Observatory.

The meeting will be an update of the network partners’ ongoing and new research projects and information on funding. Network partners will also hear about new initiatives such as the Gulf of Maine Bird Observatory, a nonprofit organization being developed to lead on-campus educational programs and public outreach.

The Northeast Regional Migration Monitoring Network was established in 2010 in order to gain an accurate picture of migratory bird patterns and the birds’ relationships with the region’s habitats.
The meeting is not open to the public.
Contact: Rebecca Holberton, (207) 669-2842, or Jessica Bloch, (207) 581-3777 or jessica.bloch@umit.maine.edu