overheating, and the young may starve if the adults are kept from feeding 

 them. The presence of sheep, pets, and pests associated with human habitation 

 results in disturbance to, and even destruction of, colonies. Cats and dogs 

 have had particularly harmful effects on several former storm-petrel colonies 

 (Gross 1935). Least terns, common loons, and piping plovers are especially 

 vulnerable because they nest on the mainland, where human disturbance is 

 greater. Nesting success of least terns is lower on Popham Beach than on 

 nearby Sprague River Beach, perhaps because the former is much used while the 

 latter is less so, being privately owned. Breeding success of common loons is 

 low in southwestern Maine compared to other parts of the State, primarily 

 because of unnatural fluctuations in water levels, harrassment by motor boats, 

 numerous shoreline cottages and predation by raccoons attracted by cottages 

 and camps. 



Birds are more sensitive to disturbance by people early in the nesting cycle 

 (prelaying and laying stages) and will abandon their nests more readily then 

 than after the young have hatched. However, many species can renest if nests 

 are lost or abandoned early, whereas renesting is seldom attempted if young 

 are lost. 



MANAGEMENT 



The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Maine Department of Inland 

 Fisheries and Wildlife are jointly responsible for managing waterbirds along 

 the Maine coast. This primarily involves protection. Problems concerning 

 management should be directed to those agencies. 



The continued existence of healthy populations of waterbirds along the Maine 

 coast depends on maintaining adequate amounts of breeding, feeding, and 

 roosting habitats. Development of shorelines and coastal islands, or high 

 levels of human activity could cause birds to abandon important habitats. 

 Owners of these areas, or those who control access, developers, planners, and 

 the general public, need to be made aware of the necessity of protecting 

 nesting, feeding, and roosting habitats. 



RESEARCH NEEDS 



More information is available on waterbirds than on most other groups of 

 vertebrates found along the Maine coast. Nonetheless, there are areas in 

 which further information is needed. 



Basic inventories of nonbreeding, migrating, and wintering seabirds, migrating 

 and wintering shorebirds, and nonbreeding wading birds need to be made on a 

 regional basis to determine the abundance of various groups throughout the 

 coastal zone and the periods during which they are present. The locations and 

 seasonal uses of various types of habitats, such as feeding and roosting 

 habitats for shorebirds, tidal upwellings, mudflats, brood-rearing areas for 

 terns, and post-breeding molting areas for eiders, need to be documented. 



Breeding populations of solitary nesting waterbirds, such as spotted 

 sandpipers, common loons, and American bitterns, need to be assessed in 

 coastal Maine, and breeding colonies of colonial nesting species need to be 

 monitored. 



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10-80 



