National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 204 | Birding Changes At Acadia

By Jess Repanshek - January 8th, 2023

National parks offer some of the best birding in the country. From Acadia National Park in Maine to Big Bend National Park in Texas and over to Haleakalā National Park in Hawaii, you could spend days looking overhead for a species to add to your life list.

But as rich as national parks are in bird life, that’s not to say it’s business as usual in the birding world. At Acadia National Park for example, dramatic changes have been noted in the wintering bird populations. American Tree Sparrows, once fairly abundant, have been on the decline, while Northern Cardinals and Wild Turkeys, two species that normally aren’t linked to the park, have been on the rise lately.

To get a better understanding of what’s going on at Acadia, we’ve reached out to Kyle Lima, a Schoodic Institute data analyst who analyzed bird observations collected as part of the National Audubon Society’s Christmas bird count.

Bird recordings provided by Schoodic Institute.

:02 National Parks Traveler introduction
:12 Episode Intro with Kurt Repanshek
:48 Beyond the Reef - Tim Heintz & Grant Geissman - Seascapes: A Musical Journey
1:14 Potrero Group
1:41 Great Smoky Mountains Association
2:02 Washington’s National Park Fund
2:39 Changes in Acadia birding with Kyle Lima from the Schoodic Institute
11:54 Black Woods - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
12:16 Traveler Promo
12:29 Grand Teton National Park Foundation
12:57 The Everglades Foundation
13:08 Interior Federal Credit Union
13:43 Acadia birding with Kyle Lima continues
22:30 Sieur de Monts - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
22:45 Friends of Acadia
23:10 Yosemite Conservancy
23:33 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
23:56 Acadia birding with Kyle Lima continues
37:33 Bass Harbor - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
38:02 Episode Closing
38:30 Orange Tree Productions
39:02 Splitbeard Productions
39:13 National Parks Traveler footer

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