BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 13, 2020
It was a dark and stormy night. And that was the best part of the day. May 9 was International Migratory Bird Day. It was also the date of Maine Audubon’s entry into the World Series of Birding. And it was the date of a major polar vortex that dumped springtime snow all over Maine’s daffodils — something I could not have foreseen when I agreed to be part of a team that would compete in the most intense birding competition in America. Most importantly, the team wanted to prove to the world that Maine has incredible birding. We found 139 birds, under the worst possible conditions, before many species had even returned to the state. ~ Bob Duchesne