For Every Season, Tern, Tern, Tern

It’s May in Maine and the trees are singing to me. Well actually, this morning, they’re taunting me. Somewhere in the canopy above the Farley Trail here at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm, a blackpoll warbler is beaming out its zing-zing-zings. My Merlin app reveals that this “relatively large” warbler can, on its return migration south in the fall, “travel from the East Coast of the U.S. to South America in one nonstop flight!” [Emphasis Merlin’s.] Incredible. I lift my binoculars and scan the exact spot where the sound is coming from. Invisible.

Ah, the fleeting high of migration season: winged beauties arrive in waves, are briefly findable before the leaves obscure all. After a long winter, these small travelers thrill birders with flashes of yellow, orange, blue, and black. When we spot them, that is. Paying attention is both a science and a form of devotion.

Easier to find this season are some of our more down-to-earth colleagues. This summer’s Watermark is full of sightings. We are especially delighted to welcome Dr. Jennifer Seavey as the new executive director of the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve. Like the best birds on anyone’s Life List, Jennifer brings range, resilience, and a keen understanding of landscapes ecological and cultural. Her arrival marks an exciting new season for this protected place dedicated to science, education, and conservation.

We also bid a fond and grateful farewell to Karen Stathoplos, who is retiring after 37 years of managing membership and bookkeeping for Laudholm Trust. For nearly four decades, Karen has helped keep our nonprofit organization’s wings steady. She has been meticulous, loyal, largely out of sight but always vibrant with song and color. At this continually changing place, her constancy has made a difference. Karen is, and will remain, a rare bird indeed.

Nik Charov
President, Laudholm Trust
Chairman, Wells Reserve Management Authority

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