#56 Kick Back with Nature

Maine hosts an incredible variety of flora and fauna. With its Lakes, Trees, Coast, Ocean, Rivers, it hosts an unimaginable amount of creatures and plants. Below is a sampling of a few, but if you want to learn more, check out the Maine Audobon, Maine Department of Conservation, Maine Land Trust, or The Nature Conservancy. Boothbay has a great Botanical Garden, and who knows, while driving in you might even see a Moose.

The fauna of Maine include several diverse land and aquatic animal species, especially those common to the North Atlantic Ocean and deciduous forests of North America. Some of these creature’s habitats has been reduced or fully removed.

Large Carnivores

These include the red and gray foxes, coyote, bobcat, Canadian lynx, and the black bear.

Moose, White-tailed deer, moose, red squirrel, Eastern gray squirrel, Eastern chipmunk, woodchuck, Northern racoon, Virginia opossum, striped skunk, North American porcupine, common muskrat, eastern cottontail, New England Cottontail, and the American Beaver.

Birds

Of the many birds in Maine, a small fraction of them are the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, great horned owl, barn owl, barred owl, long-eared owl, Great Gray Owl, Northern saw-whet owl, common nighthawk, whip-poor-will, chimney swift, common loon, pied-billed grebe, horned grebe, red-necked grebe, Northern fulmar, Greater Shearwater, sooty shearwater, manx shearwater, Wilson’s storm-petrel, Leach’s storm-petrel, piping plover, American pipit, Arctic tern, Atlantic puffin, black tern, Harlequin duck, razorbill, black-capped chickadee, indigo bunting, scarlet tanager, mallard, wood duck, American black duck, Canada goose, American goldfinch, tufted titmouse, mourning dove, Northern goshawk, golden eagle, sharp-shinned hawk, cooper’s hawk, northern harrier, and red-tailed hawk.

Other vertebrates

Others include the leatherback turtle, Atlantic salmon, and the eponymous Maine lobster.

Cougar

Some species that have been extirpated from Maine are the cougar, caribou, and grey wolf.

Molluscs

There is 92 species terrestrial gastropods in Maine.

Bats

The bats of Maine include the following: Eastern pipistrelle, big brown bat, little brown myotis, Eastern small-footed myotis, Northern myotis, Eastern red bat, hoary bat, and the silver-haired bat.

Vermin

The vermin of Maine include the following: North American deermouse, white-footed deermouse, meadow jumping mouse,woodland jumping mouse, meadow vole, Southern red-backed vole, rock vole, woodland vole, Southern bog lemming, Northern bog lemming, hairy-tailed mole, star-nosed mole, water shrew, smoky shrew, long-tailed shrew, pygmy shrew, cinereus shrew, and the Northern short-tailed shrew.

Weasels

The various species of weasels include: Northern river otter, American mink, long-tailed weasel, Ermine or short-tailed weasel, fisher (in New England is known as a fisher cat), and the American marten (Known as Pine marten in some areas of New England even though the Pine marten is a separate species.).