| Red-bellied Woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus)
are expanding their range north into New England, and can
be found on occasion in Maine. There are a few scattered
breeding records, and they probably now breed regularly in southern
York County. Each spring and especially fall, small numbers of Red-bellies
move into and through the state as migrants. However, in the fall
of 2004 through the winter of 2005, an unprecedented number of Red-bellied
Woodpeckers "irrupted" into
the state of Maine. A total of 243 individual Red-bellied Woodpeckers were reported in Maine, in every county except for Piscataquis. This map, produced by Mike Smith from data compiled by Derek Lovitch and Bill Sheehan chronicles the influx of this charismatic species between September 2004 and March of 2005. |