Find Nature in Maine
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Some other locations include the coast of Acadia National Park and the rugged wilderness of Baxter State Park (home to Katahdin) to the wild Atlantic beauty of the Bold Coast Trail and the tranquil inland waters of Moosehead Lake, alongside numerous stunning state parks like Grafton Notch and Camden Hills, catering to hikers, paddlers, and wildlife watchers.
INaturalist an App for Nature
Biodiversity To Be Found
Additional Wildlife of Maine
To flesh out your understanding of the region’s natural history, here is a breakdown of the specific taxa you can expect to encounter in the Pine Tree State.
Birds (Avifauna)
Maine is famous for its pelagic seabirds, most notably the Atlantic Puffin, which has been successfully restored to islands like Eastern Egg Rock through pioneering conservation efforts. The rocky coast is also the wintering ground for hardy sea ducks like the Harlequin Duck and the Common Eider. In the deep boreal woods, you will find the “boreal specialties”: the Spruce Grouse, the Black-backed Woodpecker, and the Gray Jay (Canada Jay), a fearless bird known to land on hikers to steal food.
Mammals
Maine is the stronghold for the Canada Lynx in the contiguous United States. These elusive cats are specialists, adapted with huge paws to hunt Snowshoe Hares in deep powder. The Moose population here is the densest in the lower 48, particularly in the regenerating clear-cuts of the north where browse is abundant. The coastal waters host marine mammals including Harbor Seals, Grey Seals, and during the summer, Fin and Minke Whales.
Insects
The native pollination systems in Maine are robust, driven by the vast blueberry barrens which rely on tens of thousands of native bees. The Katahdin Arctic Butterfly (Polixenes Arctic) is a subspecies found nowhere else on earth but the tablelands of Mount Katahdin. Maine is also home to the Tomah Mayfly, a rare species once thought extinct, which has a unique life history in the state’s sedge meadows.
Plants
The Eastern White Pine is the namesake of the state, historically harvested for ship masts and still a dominant canopy species. The forest floor in the acidic, boggy areas is home to carnivorous plants like the Northern Pitcher Plant and Round-leaved Sundew, which have evolved to digest insects to compensate for nutrient-poor soils. On the coast, the Rugosa Rose (though non-native) has become naturalized and iconic, holding the dunes together with its complex root systems.
Fungi
The moist, cool forests of Maine are a haven for lichens, including Usnea (Old Man’s Beard), which hangs from balsam firs and serves as a primary winter food source for white-tailed deer. The Lobster Mushroom (Hypomyces lactifluus) is a common find; interestingly, it is not a mushroom itself but a parasitic fungus that engulfs other mushrooms (like Russula), turning them bright orange and edible.
Maine Biodiversity Profile
Maine serves as the great biological transition zone of the Eastern seaboard, where the temperate deciduous forests finally yield to the true boreal north. The defining feature here is the Gulf of Maine, a semi-enclosed sea that is one of the most biologically productive marine environments on Earth due to its vigorous tidal mixing and cold, nutrient-rich waters. This rugged, glacially scoured coastline creates a complex interface of rockweed-covered intertidal zones and deep estuaries, supporting a massive biomass of invertebrates like the American lobster, which in turn fuels a food web that includes seals, porpoises, and migratory seabirds.
Inland, the state is dominated by the North Woods, the largest contiguous block of undeveloped forest east of the Mississippi. This is not a pristine wilderness but a “working forest” ecosystem that has regenerated into a vast mosaic of spruce-fir flats and mixed hardwoods. These unorganized territories are critical for connectivity, allowing for the movement of wide-ranging mammals that require massive home ranges to survive. It is a landscape of thousands of glacial lakes and peatlands, where water and forest are inextricably linked.
Rising above the tree line is Mount Katahdin, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. This peak hosts a fragile Alpine Tundra ecosystem, an isolated island of arctic flora left behind by retreating glaciers. Here, the climate is severe, and the biological community is more akin to Northern Labrador than New England, hosting specialized plants that can withstand hurricane-force winds and sub-zero temperatures.
Finally, Maine’s Downeast Barrens offer a unique, fire-adapted habitat. These glacial outwash plains, characterized by sandy, acidic soils, support vast stretches of lowbush blueberries and heath plants. This ecosystem is a rare example of a commercially harvested landscape that remains wild enough to support specialized native pollinators and ground-nesting birds.