Raccoon sniffing tracks

Tips for Tracks

Tracking wildlife in winter is like reading a compelling new novel. As animals travel across blank pages of fresh white snow their tracks become words, authoring new chapters every day in the memoir of their elusive lives.

Two coyotes walking side by side through the woods at night.

Not to Fear, Predators are Here

What’s in a Name?

Predator. It’s a disconcerting word associated with antagonists of dark true crime documentaries, shady corporate deals, and killer creatures from science fiction that “go bump in the night”. As though branded as the bad guy in nature’s story, wildlife’s top predators often carry the weight of this negative connotation on their shoulders despite their irreplaceable and necessary role in regulating healthy and resilient wildlife populations.

Big brown bat

Summertime Bat Observations

Bat observations peak in the summer months. Learn why, and how to handle different types of bat encounters.

Two birds of prey in a large tangled nest of sticks on top of a telephone pole with a power line stretching out from under the nest.

Finding Solutions for Ospreys and People

Maine’s healthy osprey population able to thrive in almost any location with accessibility to shallow water fishing and an elevated nest site. They are highly adaptable, and often nest on utility poles and transmission towers. These nests can be problematic both for the birds and for people.

A close up of a fly angler's vest

There are more early season fishing opportunities than you think…

There is no longer a need to pass emergency rules to open the fishing season with an early onset of spring in Maine. Here's why...

A biologist measuring moose antlers

Celebrating Women's History Month

MDIFW is remembering and honoring two remarkable biologists who helped pave the way for women working in Maine’s wildlife and fisheries professions.

zebra mussel

First Year of New Program Shows No Sign of Invasive Zebra Mussels

The use of eDNA sampling allows for detection of organisms without the need to trap, locate, or otherwise physically observe or handle them which can make it possible to detect new populations of invasive species, like zebra mussels, early on.

A salamander with yellow spots sitting on a snowy log

Herps in Hiding

How do Maine’s Reptiles and Amphibians Survive Winter?

Two turkeys size each other up at the forest's edge in autumn.

The Great Tick Debate

Have Turkeys Been Wrongly Accused for the Uptick? The best way to address this dispute is to look to science for the answers.

saltmarsh sparrow

Maine Adds Eight New Species To State's Endangered and Threatened Species List

Eight new species were added to Maine's Endangered and Threatened Species list, including five birds, one bat, one bee, and a beetle. Two of these species, the saltmarsh sparrow and Ashtons cuckoo bumble bee, are listed as Endangered, and the other six as Threatened.