York County Audubon

08/24/2026

York County Audubon merch is here! 🐦👕

Want to show your love for birds while supporting York County Audubon? We now have our own merch store!

You’ll find T-shirts, sweatshirts, tote bags, and baseball hats, with sizes for men, women, and youth. Perfect for birding, everyday wear, or giving your favorite birder a gift.

A portion of every purchase comes back to York County Audubon, helping support our programs and our work to foster understanding, appreciation, and conservation of the natural world.

And we’re not done yet! We’ll be adding new items to the store, so check back often to see what’s new.

🛍️ Store link in the comments!

Have an idea for something you'd like to see in the store? Let us know!

08/05/2026

The new Maine Bird Atlas is coming!

08/05/2026

An inspiring graphic!

07/29/2026

This year, the YCA again doubled the capacity of its Purple Martin colony, and 22 of 24 nests were occupied in mid-July. Volunteers and students counted 89 chicks on a visit this month! Those numbers are a big deal in Maine, where purple martins are a species of special concern and experts say their numbers have plummeted by more than 90% in recent decades.

Citizen science and academic research both play a role in supporting this vulnerable species.

07/19/2026

THE PRESS HERALD ARTICLE THAT'S LINKED BELOW NOW HAS A TRANSCRIPT OF THE Q+A, in case you missed it!

Get answers to your questions on Maine birds this Wednesday! A live Q+A with Maine Audubon staff naturalist and YCA Board member Doug Hitchcox.

Join us Wednesday, July 22, over the lunch hour to chat with naturalist Doug Hitchcox in real-time.

07/09/2026

Thank you Suzanne!

07/03/2026

07/02/2026

As of Wednesday, Maine Audubon reported 185 nesting pairs of Piping Plovers statewide — surpassing the previous record of 174 pairs set in 2025! Reduced to just seven nesting pairs in Maine by 1981, Piping Plovers have steadily recovered since their endangered species designation in 1986.

Conservationists are working to protect vulnerable chicks during the busy beach season.

05/26/2026

🐦We are so close! With just 5 days left in the MYBC Giving Drive, we're within a few hundred dollars of our $3,500 goal. Every dollar goes directly toward keeping field trips, workshops, and scholarships free for young birders in Maine.

If you haven't donated yet, now is the time — and if you have, a quick share of this post could put us over the top.

👉 Link in comments to donate!

🐦 Big news from the Maine Young Birders Club!

For the first time since MYBC was founded in 2017, membership is completely FREE! We’re eliminating annual dues so that every young birder in southern Maine can participate, no matter what.

To keep our field trips, workshops, and scholarships going, we’re launching our first-ever MYBC Giving Drive. Our goal is to raise $3,500 by May 31. If you’d like to support the next generation of Maine birders, we’d love your help — whether that’s a donation, a share, or spreading the word to friends, family, or local businesses who might want to get involved.

👉 Link in comments to donate or learn more!

Please share this post — every share helps us reach our goal!

05/21/2026

A very nice woodpecker size comparison

‼️ADDED LEWIS’S & IVORY BILLED TO LINE UP‼️ADDED YELLOW BELLIED SAP SUCKER too 🥰🤗‼️ADDED AMERICAN THREE TOED‼️

Most people hear a pileated woodpecker long before they ever see one 🌲

The pounding sounds like someone swinging a bat against a dead tree deep in the woods.

Then suddenly she lands nearby — and everything changes.

She’s massive compared to the little downies and hairies most people know. Nearly crow-sized, with a bright red crest and powerful beak that can tear through dead wood like bark paper.

Those big rectangular holes in trees? That’s her signature. No other woodpecker makes them quite the same.

And when she’s done nesting, her abandoned cavities become prime real estate for owls, ducks, squirrels, and other wildlife that can’t carve homes of their own 🪵

That “dead” tree in your yard may actually be one of the most important parts of the forest ecosystem 🌿