- Coming up next on "Borealis."

(exciting music) Spring is here, and when temperatures begin to rise and rain begins to fall, something remarkable happens at night all over Maine.

Amphibians are on the move.

We join the citizen scientists who help protect one of Maine's quietest and most vital migrations.

- To play even a tiny little role in helping even just a couple hundred of them cross safely feels like one of those one small acts you can do.

- [Aislinn] Then we head into the woods in search of a spring delicacy.

But fiddlehead foraging is about more than just what's for dinner.

It's about respect for the land, for tradition, and for tomorrow.

- Because I know if I pick some of these and the next guy behind me comes in and picks a couple, and the deer eats some, it really is hard on the plant.

And we wanna try to make sure that we have something to harvest next year.

- [Aislinn] We take flight into the world of birding here in Maine.

From unique festivals and migration research to backyard bird watching, join us as we meet the people who affectionately call themselves bird nerds.

And this week's hike features the South Turner Mountain Trail, one of my favorite hikes in Baxter State Park.

Stay with us.

- [Announcer] Production support for "Borealis" is provided by.

- [Announcer] The Nature Conservancy in Maine, joining science, action, and innovative partners to help connect communities and address the global climate crisis.

From our forests to our rivers to the Gulf of Maine, learn more at nature.org/joinmaine.

- [Announcer] Maine Office of Outdoor Recreation, reminding you to be a good guest on trails, in towns, and everywhere in between, by participating in the Look Out for Me campaign.

Learn more at visitmaine.com.

- [Sophie] My dad taught us that protecting Maine's water starts on land.

As a hydrogeologist for Poland Spring, his job is to monitor the springs year round to check the water levels and help keep the springs healthy.

Poland Spring for 180 years.

- [Announcer] And by viewers like you.

Thank you!

- You guys ready to hike?

(light rock music) ♪ I wanna get lost in the wilderness of you darling ♪ ♪ I wanna get lost in the rivers and the roads ♪ ♪ Get you up on the mountainside ♪ ♪ And we can just climb ♪ - Welcome to "Borealis."

I'm Aislinn Sarnacki and here in the Western Maine Mountains, the Rangeley Birding Festival is about to kick off.

More on that later in the episode.

This area has long been a hot spot for outdoor enthusiasts with big lakes and forest teeming with wildlife.

But some wild creatures are a little more difficult to spot than others.

Some creatures only move under the cloak of darkness and only during certain weather conditions.

I'm talking about the animals of Maine's Big Night.

(bright music) (peaceful music) (insects chirping) On rainy nights in early spring, amphibians throughout Maine stir from their winter slumber to march across the landscape.

Moving en mass, these frogs and salamanders are on a mission.

Their goal?

To gather in wetlands, find mates, and lay eggs.

But there's one problem.

(vehicles swooshing) A manmade problem.

Roads.

What are people actually out here doing tonight?

- Well, we're out here looking for frogs and salamanders on roadways, and we're hopefully gonna try to move as many across the road as we can before they get hit by cars.

- [Aislinn] Greg Leclair is the founder of Maine Big Night, a nonprofit organization that monitors amphibian migration across the state and attempts to save as many of these vulnerable creatures as possible.

- This road in particular is one of the most impacted sites we have in this state.

We're up to 80%, so 8 out of 10 amphibians are being hit by cars.

- Wow.

Tonight, on busy Forest Avenue in Orono, more than a dozen volunteers have shown up to help.

And when monitoring roads at night, safety is key.

- All right, let's get you a vest.

- Thanks.

- Does anybody else need a vest?

- [Aislinn] This is a citizen science project, which means it relies on everyday people to participate and collect data, which scientists can then use.

Leclair officially launched the project in 2018, but he's long been interested in amphibians.

- When I started my Big Night stuff, it was probably when I was about seven years old.

I found a spotted salamander in my family's driveway, and really since that moment, I've been looking for frogs and salamanders in roadways.

And it really kicked off in college where I was taking friends out, and we're like, "You know what?

Maybe we can make this a bigger thing."

So here we are today.

We have almost a thousand volunteers out there tonight across about 400 sites in the state, so it's really important to me.

These guys are some of the most important animals in our ecosystems, so hopefully we have an actual lasting impact for them.

- [Aislinn] Spotted salamanders spend most of their lives underground.

So the Big Night migration is a rare opportunity to see them.

- So we are really lucky to see some big salamanders out here.

- [Aislinn] Maine is home to nine species of frogs and toads and nine species of salamanders.

These ID cards help volunteers identify what they find.

- So some of our most common salamanders on nights like tonight would be spotted salamanders, which are just a crowd favorite.

Blue spotted salamanders are also quite common out here.

We might see some four-toed salamanders, which are the smallest vertebrate here in Maine.

- [Aislinn] On the same night in Bridgton, volunteers prepared to monitor another amphibian hotspot.

(hammer whacking) (gentle music) - All right.

So, guys, nice for coming out and- - [Aislinn] They're led by Dawn Wood, a Maine master naturalist working with Loon Echo Land Trust.

- I think anybody who comes and tries this for the first time is hooked.

I mean, I have people contacting me, like, "When is Big Night happening?"

year after year.

It's like, "When is it happening?

Please make sure you let me know when it's happening."

And the great thing for us is, in Maine, we have so many land trusts that want to get involved in various things, and this is something we brought to them.

It's like, "Let's go do this."

- [Aislinn] In some places, so many amphibians cross the road, it's hard to keep count.

In this spot, it's not uncommon for them to count hundreds of spring peepers and wood frogs in just an hour or so.

- If you can get those two mating, that one, and those two mating, we have five.

It's fun when you get people who haven't done this before to, like, just watch them be blown away by the sheer numbers and how cute these guys are.

- [Participant] Look how gorgeous.

- 15 dead wood frogs.

That's sad.

But we have a lot of lives.

- [Aislinn] Maine Big Night is an especially great opportunity to involve kids in science.

10-year-old Aurora has been participating with their parents for a few years now.

- Oh, there's one, there's another one, and there's another one, and there's another one.

Which way are you going, buddy?

I think he's going that way.

Okay, so that's one wood frog.

Do you look forward to this every year?

- Yes.

- Yes.

- I wish it was every day.

- [Dawn] Is that a wood frog you got there?

- [Aurora's Mom] Yep.

- [Dawn] He's a feisty wood frog.

- [Aislinn] Many of these amphibians are headed to special habitats called vernal pools.

- So vernal pools, they develop by rain and melting snow, and they dry up in the summer, and they come like in the spring or late winter, and they have a ton of living things in them like fairy shrimp and they have predaceous diving beetles and a bunch of other little aquatic things.

(gentle music) - All right, good luck.

Have fun.

I find it absolutely miraculous to get to watch this like small glimpse of this amazing phenomenon that happens that you would normally never even notice.

And it's just such a cool peek into an animal's lifestyle and their cycle.

Because of where we put our roads and our houses and our buildings, it's so easy to forget that we've put ourselves in their habitat, and so we are really disrupting natural cycles.

And so to play even a tiny little role in helping even just a couple hundred of them cross safely to continue that life cycle feels like one of those one small acts you can do.

- Car.

And I don't really understand if people see all this, why they would not slow down, but... - [Aislinn] Volunteers are not allowed to stop traffic, so sometimes they watch vehicles drive over the amphibians they're trying to save.

But often, drivers will slow down and even ask questions.

- We're helping frogs and salamanders get across the road.

You know, I find that a lot of things in life, it's a lack of understanding.

And when we have conversations and people understand better, then it has the impact and then things change.

- [Aislinn] In addition to counting live amphibians, Big Night volunteers count dead ones, and they move them off the roadway so they aren't counted twice.

This also helps protect any scavengers from being hit by cars.

- [Greg] Hey, did you get this dead one here?

It's like in pieces.

- [Volunteer] Can you even tell what it is anymore?

- [Greg] Yeah, this is gonna be a wood frog.

You can actually unfortunately see the face of it right there.

- They also document frogs that are bloated from being poisoned with road salt.

While the project has grown beyond initial expectations, organizers continue to look for volunteers to cover amphibian hotspots throughout Maine, especially in the northern half of the state.

Did you ever think it was gonna get this big and what does that feel like to have people out there doing what you've been so passionate about for so long?

- I had no idea it was gonna grow the way that it has.

You know, when I started this, I wondered, are people gonna care enough to think that going out on a rainy night like tonight in a roadway where cars are zipping by you, who would wanna do that?

But as it turns out, a lot of people really like to do it, so.

(chuckles) - Maine's Big Night or multiple nights usually occurs at the beginning of April.

All you need is rain and temperatures over 40 degrees.

If you come out and do this, it's always gonna be rainy.

It's always gonna be not so warm.

- Yep.

- But people still do it.

They're still passionate about it.

- Yeah.

I mean, your inside will warm up when you move your first salamander.

You'll feel it in there.

- [Aislinn] Leclair said that even those not participating in the project can help.

Just avoid driving on roadways during a few rainy nights in April.

- It's a simple thing and I think it's something that we can all get involved in to make a very quick and easy contribution to our wildlife.

- [Videographer] Ah.

- The group is always looking for volunteers, so if you love wildlife and you don't mind going out in the rain, then visit mainebignight.org.

You can become a certified member, or you can join a group that's already monitoring a site.

As you engage with the natural world, one thing becomes abundantly clear.

Timing is everything.

Whether you're a migrating salamander or a forager looking for edible plants like fiddleheads.

To learn more about this local delicacy, we had to time our next story just right.

So we enlisted the help of seasoned fiddlehead foragers on the beautiful campus of Pineland Farms in New Gloucester.

Let's go take a ride.

(upbeat music) At Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, spring has arrived.

The fields are vibrant green, wildflowers dot the rain soaked earth, new leaves dance in the breeze, and we're on a mission to harvest some of the most celebrated wild plants in Maine.

Matt Sabasteanski, the outdoor recreation director at Pineland Farms, has agreed to help us in our quest.

On the 5,000 acre property, he leads educational foraging walks each spring.

- [Matt] Let's go see what we can find.

I know that there's a patch of fiddleheads behind us right along the river, and we can go down and, and check that out.

- [Aislinn] Awesome.

- [Matt] So this stuff is- - [Aislinn] Spiky?

- [Matt] Dangerous.

Yep.

- [Aislinn] Fiddleheads are among the most prized wild delicacies in Maine.

Curled up into tight spirals, they're young ferns that have yet to unfurl.

- [Matt] It is really a pretty time to be in the woods.

We've obviously had a lot of rain, so things are wet.

Fiddleheads like wet.

So this is the Royal River, and you'll find that all the fiddleheads are gonna grow in what we would call a floodplain.

- [Aislinn] Okay.

- So you can see that the water has come up over the bank, has filled in these wet areas, and all of the silt you'll see that comes out of the bottom of the river helps fertilize the fiddleheads.

- [Aislinn] While many ferns form tight spirals, the fiddleheads eaten in Maine are a specific species, the ostrich fern.

It's important to know how to properly identify them because other fern species can be toxic or simply unpalatable.

- For far away ID, we talked about these.

From a distance, these look like ostrich feathers.

Those are fiddlehead fronds, so that's a great opportunity to know that we're getting close to a bed.

I can see fiddleheads that are popped up.

You can see those ferns, so we're gonna wanna be thinking about where we put our feet so we're not stepping on the fiddleheads, you know, and killing them.

- [Aislinn] Ostrich fern fiddleheads have a golden brown papery covering and a deep groove that runs down the center of the stem.

- [Matt] When you do pick them, you can just snap them with your finger, and there you've got a fiddlehead.

- [Aislinn] When picking any wild plant, it's important to leave some behind for other foragers and to keep the plants healthy.

When fiddleheading, Matt only picks two or three from each bunch.

- Because I know if I pick some of these and the next guy behind me comes in and picks a couple, and the deer eats some, it really is hard on the plant.

And we wanna try to make sure that we have something to harvest next year.

- [Aislinn] Unfortunately, we couldn't snack on the fiddleheads as we foraged.

It's important to clean and cook fiddleheads thoroughly before eating them.

Otherwise, you might end up with an upset stomach.

So for those who haven't eaten a fiddlehead, what does it taste like?

- I think it has a nutty, earthy flavor, which I enjoy.

They taste great.

It's definitely a Maine thing.

When you get out of New England and you start talking about fiddleheads, people look at you like you're crazy.

(gentle music) - [Aislinn] To cook fiddleheads, people often boil, then saute them in a pan with some butter and perhaps garlic and onions.

Some people dress them in vinegar and salt.

They're often added to pasta dishes, quiche, and other foods, and pickling them is also popular.

- There's some really good pickable ones right here.

- [Aislinn] Fiddlehead season starts as early as late April, and it's over before you know it.

- You get three good weeks of fiddleheading, and then they pop and come up.

These may have been heads yesterday, small heads, and that's how fast that plant is gonna sprout and come up.

- [Aislinn] While fiddleheads usually steal the show, many other tasty greens, like certain sedum species, grow right alongside them.

Nearby in the woods, Matt led us to a patch of wild leeks, also called ramps.

Could you cook this with your fiddleheads?

- You can put them in salads.

Like I said, I like them in scrambled eggs.

A lot of people do pesto, butters, put it in with cream cheese.

You could use it any way you could use an onion.

- It doesn't really smell like an onion though.

- Smell that end.

- Oh yeah.

(both laugh) That'll do it.

Wow.

It smells really good like oniony, garlicky.

Matt knows of several fiddlehead patches along the Royal River, so he took us to one more.

It seems to me that fiddleheads' locations are kind of guarded.

- They are.

Everybody has their spot and nobody tells anybody where it is.

In order to get this off this paper, you can put them in a paper bag and just shake the bag, and a lot of that stuff will fly right out of the top.

A lot of people try to wash that husk off and it just gets it wet, and it sticks it to the fiddlehead.

I have a special screen that I take an air compressor, and I just blow the air through it, and it knocks all the husks off and you get really clean nice fiddleheads.

- You know you're a true Mainer when you have a trick to clean fiddleheads.

- Always like to have an easy way to get stuff done.

- [Aislinn] When foraging, it's common courtesy to obtain permission before harvesting from a property that's not your own.

In Matt's experience, people usually allow it.

I just love walking with another person in the woods because I feel like I learn at least one new thing every time.

In this case, I learned a lot of new things, so I really appreciate it.

- Mission accomplished, that's great.

- Here atop Saddleback Mountain, you can enjoy stunning views of the High Peaks Region.

This is one of the many spots that people visit during the Rangeley Birding Festival, one of the many birding festivals hosted throughout Maine each spring.

These family-friendly events are an opportunity for people to learn about the art of birding while socializing with fellow nature enthusiasts.

So, let's grab our binoculars and join the party.

(chill music) (birds chirping) They come in all colors of the rainbow.

They're songs echoing through the wilderness, distinct calls that together form a wild symphony.

(birds chirping) It's no wonder that birds capture the hearts of so many.

In Maine, we see about 300 different species of birds, and each spring, they're celebrated in a series of festivals across the state.

- Each festival is different, and then even the things that they offer at each one can kind of be a whole range of activities for people to do.

(gentle music) - [Aislinn] Here at the Rangeley Birding Festival in the mountains of Western Maine, Hitchcox is leading a bird walk.

- This is one of my favorite parts about this festival is that these birds are here on their breeding territories.

We get to hear them doing like different and more complex songs, see them carrying food to nest, if not also nest building.

There's kind of all sorts to experience other than just, you know, checking a bird off a list.

- [Aislinn] Located on the Atlantic Flyway and straddling the 45th parallel, Maine is an exciting place to observe birds as they migrate and settle in a wide variety of habitats, from rocky coastal islands and inland boreal forests, to saltwater marshes and deep glacial lakes.

- Birds have habitat preferences and specializations.

So the birds that we're hearing now on this chairlift are gonna be different species than the ones when we get up there in just another 5 or 10 minutes.

- [Aislinn] Steve Hale is leading a group to the top of Saddleback Mountain in search of a rare bird called the Bicknell's thrush, along with other boreal species.

- One of the main positive things about birding is it's a lifelong endeavor.

You can never know too much.

There are always challenges.

So we're not broadcasting, right?

But I do wanna play for anybody who wants to hear what Bicknell's sounds like so that we're prepared.

(Bicknell's chirping) Then the song.

(Bicknell's singing) Some people say it sounds like guitar strings popping.

With your binocs, scan the tree tops, particularly any dead snags.

- [Aislinn] We didn't see a Bicknell's thrush on the walk, but we did hear a few singing and saw many other types of birds along the hike.

Hale's group the following day did spot one and shared an image of it with us.

- All right, everybody, blackpoll warbler.

Okay, follow this tree up.

Now go to the right.

I'm not gonna illuminate the bird.

Nice view.

Good spot, you guys.

- [Aislinn] People have different birding styles and goals, but most have one thing in common, the joy they feel while out in nature.

- Whenever I hear bird songs, especially like at the start of spring, it just makes me feel really good and happy again.

It makes me feel at peace.

It makes me feel happy, relaxed, and it's just a joy to see like a really colorful bird or a bird that feels like a friend.

You know, a hermit thrush is not so showy, but it's definitely one of the ones I love to see because the song is so beautiful.

- [Aislinn] In the US, according to the Audubon Society, more than one-in-three adults enjoy birding.

It's a hobby that's grown dramatically in recent years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While organized bird walks are popular, it's also fun to bird by boat.

(upbeat music) Loons are among Maine's most iconic birds with their haunting calls (Loon calls) and flashy breeding plumage.

- You have to take each pair on an individual basis.

Some are very, very tolerant to people.

Others, they want nothing to do with you.

And even within pairs, sometimes one adult is more tolerant than the other.

You really just have to learn to observe, recognize what their behaviors are, recognize the calls, and just know that if they're letting you know that you're too close, just stay away from them.

(upbeat music continues) - [Aislinn] In addition to Rangeley, spring bird festivals are held in Acadia National Park and Lubec.

There's also a festival on Deer Isle called Wings, Waves, and Woods.

(upbeat music continues) - That's our little (indistinct) up there, I believe.

- [Aislinn] Here on Deer Isle, Bob and Sandi Duchesne are heavily involved in the festival, leading walks and talks.

- I think he's still up there.

I'd like to hear him sing again just in case.

For instance there, that was him.

See that bird flying away?

Wasn't that cool?

(laughs) - Blackpolls through this really fun Doppler effect song, it's like a (imitating Doppler chirping).

(Sandi laughs) - Razorbills are flying by.

- Razorbills.

- [Aislinn] The pair also leads a boat trip to see puffins and other seabirds.

- She's so cool.

- [Aislinn] The festival's program also includes crafting decoy ducks out of cattails, building birdhouses, (hammer banging) and an evening walk to witness the elusive American woodcock.

Arguably, one of Maine's oddest-looking birds as it tries to attract a mate.

- [Doug] So we know that these festivals are having an economic impact, especially just based on the time of year that they're happening.

It's May into early June.

These are times that especially for some of the more remote areas like around Lubec and Eastport, up here in Rangeley, like there's not the full tourist season in effect yet.

- [Aislinn] In addition, people tally their bird sightings during the festivals and send those observations to eBird to be used by scientists and conservationists.

- A lot of the festivals are also trying to have a bit of a cultural impact, looking at some of the history, and then again to have that economic impact as well is, I think, great that these festivals can do so much for the people and for the environment.

(bird calling) - [Aislinn] Birding is often a solo pursuit.

These celebrations give birders the opportunity to come together, share their knowledge, and perhaps most of all, share the simple joys of watching a bird soar through the sky and sing from the treetops.

(bird sings) Birding can sometimes involve a lot of walking, and in the Rangeley area, there's tons of amazing trails to do just that.

Another spot in Maine where it's great to hit the trails is Baxter State Park.

Join me on a hike up South Turner Mountain.

(chill music) Today, we're in Baxter State Park, and we're gonna be hiking South Turner Mountain.

Now, a lot of people come to this park to hike Katahdin, Maine's tallest mountain, but there are tons of other really impressive peaks to hike, and this is just one of them.

South Turner Mountain is 3,122 feet above sea level, making it a challenging hike, but it starts out pretty easy, as a lot of hikes do, and then becomes increasingly rocky, and lots of tree roots and things like that that we see on Maine trails.

(peaceful music) (stream babbling) (peaceful music continues) (birds chirping) There's a bunch of jewelweed here, which is a really pretty orange yellow flower.

They have these little seed pods that pop that I used to love as a kid.

(peaceful music continues) One of the things I love about this mountain is along the way, early on, you come to Sandy Stream Pond, which is an awesome place to view wildlife of all kinds: ducks, wading birds, and sometimes moose.

And then the mountain itself is a great bang for your buck hike.

It's only about two miles to get to the top, and there are wide open views, so this is a great hike for people who are just starting to come to Baxter State Park.

Not sure about the giant mountains yet, but wanna try something that's difficult.

We have our first sign of moose, a big pile of moose poop, and looks like it's old.

It's pretty dry.

But moose are everywhere in Baxter State Park, and it's neat to see signs of them along the trail.

They like to use the trail because they're so big, and so it's easier for them to use these hiking trails to get around.

As we get closer and closer to tree line, it gets steeper, and that's the case with a lot of mountain trails.

Some wild blueberries.

They're all over the place.

I give them to my cameraman to make him happy.

Cheers.

We're above tree line, and there's this beautiful view of Katahdin here, and the last bit of it's pretty rocky, but it's all made easier by amazing views like this, so.

(gentle music) (feet stepping) (gentle music continues) (feet stepping) Made it to the top of South Turner.

I need a snack.

Baxter State Park is home to over 220 miles of hiking trails, and this is just two miles of them.

So I highly suggest you come out and check it out for yourself.

There's something for everyone.

On this mountain, we're just gonna head back down the way that we came, and I will see you on the next trail.

If you miss an episode of "Borealis" or just wanna rewatch one of your favorite segments, head on over to our YouTube page.

You'll find full episodes, individual stories, and bonus content that you won't find anywhere else.

Watch "Borealis" anytime, anywhere on YouTube.

On the next "Borealis."

Travel back in time to meet Cornelia Fly Rod Crosby, Maine's first registered guide, and learn how her legacy lives on today.

Hop into a dory and learn the traditional skill of rowing from Nicolle Littrell, a guide who takes people out into Belfast Harbor year round.

At The WoodenBoat School in Brooklyn, students are building a Shelburne dory by hand, learning the craft, the history, and the coastal routes behind this working boat.

Join me on a hike along the rocky coast and up one of the many spectacular mountains in Acadia National Park.

Thank you for watching "Borealis."

Until next time, get out and enjoy the outdoors.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues)