MORNING SENTINEL • April 13, 2022
This winter, I spotted a flock of feisty little white-feathered birds angling in, out and sideways over a hayfield in Dixmont, and after a moment of wonder realized they were snow buntings. Central Maine is in about the middle part of their southern nonbreeding range. This led the researchers to speculate that a warming Arctic could spell trouble for birds specially adapted to cold weather. Recent estimates indicate snow bunting populations declined by 38% between 1970 and 2014. But many other bird populations were harder hit in that span, often as a result of habitat disruptions and advancing changes in climate, and overall snow buntings are a species of low conservation concern. ~ Dana Wilde