May 1 events:

• The conference begins at 1:30 p.m. with a presentation by William Barnard of Norwich University on Radio Telemetry Studies of the Gray Jay in Vermont.
• At 2:30 p.m., Bill Sheehan and Riche Hoppe of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will discuss, Design and Operation of the Maine M.A.P.S. Program.
• At 3 p.m., Falk Heuttmann of the University of New Brunswick will discuss, Winter Transect off Grand Manan Island.
• At 3:30 p.m., Sarah Bartos, a senior at Bates, will discuss, A Comparison of American Redstart Territory Size and Habitat Selection in Two Forest Types on Kent Island: Implications for the Conservation of the Species.
• At 4 p.m., Andrew P. Weik of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Endangered and Threatened Species Group will discuss Conservation of Grassland Birds in Maine: Field Survey Results from 1997 and Plans for 1998.
• At 4:30 p.m., Victoria Perry of the Cornish Elementary School will discuss, Birding with Children.
• During the 6 to 7:30 p.m. dinner in Commons dining hall, Bonnie Bochan, field ornithologist and botanist and co- director of the Vermont and Maine Breeding Bird Atlas projects, will discuss, Birds of Jatun Sacha: Following the Breeding Birds of North America to the Tropics of Ecuador.

May 2 events:

• At 6:30 a.m., The Stanton Bird Club will sponsor a campus bird walk. Participants will meet in front of the Olin Arts Center.
• At 8:15 a.m., coffee and muffins will be served, and registration will be held in the Olin Arts Center lobby.
• At 8:45 a.m., Thor Hanson of the University of Vermont will discuss, Foraging Behavior of Black-capped Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches and Golden-crowned Kinglets in Heterospecific and Conspecific Flocks.
• At 9:15 a.m., Peter Vickery and W. Gregory Shriver of the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Center for Biological Conservation will discuss, A Regional Survey for Breeding Grassland Birds in the Northeastern United States.
• At 9:45 a.m., Nat Wheelright and Jennifer J. Templeton of Bowdoin College will discuss, When Do Fledgling Sparrows Learn to Forage Independently?
• At 10:30 a.m., David I. King of the University of Massachusetts will discuss, Avian Reproductive Success in Clearcuts and Groupcuts in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
• At 11 a.m., Kyle Apigian of Bowdoin College will discuss Foraging Efficiency and Preference in Black-capped Chickadees.
• At 11:30 a.m., Randall B. Boone and W.B. Krohn of the University of Maine, Orono, will discuss, Evidence of Transition Zones in Bird Distributions.
• From noon to 12:45 p.m. lunch will be served in Chase Hall.
• 12:45 to 1:30 p.m. Panel discussion on Bird Conservation programs in Maine: Alternative Funding Sources at Work will be held.
• At 1:30 p.m., Thomas Hodgmann of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Bird Group will discuss, Partners in Flight Program: Opportunities for Monitoring Bicknell’s Thrush and Other Mountaintop Forest Birds.
• At 2 p.m., Herb Wilson of Colby College will discuss, The Effect of Supplemental Feeding on Wintering Black-capped Chickadees.
• At 2:30 p.m. Mitschka Hartley of the University of Maine, Orono, will discuss, Effects of Selective Silviculture on Breeding Songbirds.
• At 3 p.m., Taryn L. Kruger of Bowdoin College will discuss, Nest Box Choice and Site Fidelity in Tree Swallows.
• At 3:30 p.m. Judy Kellogg Markowsky and William Halteman of the Maine Audubon Society and the University of Maine, Orono, will discuss, Roadkilled Birds, Foraging Substrate, Season and Road Type.
• At 4 p.m., David Evers and Peter Reaman of the Biodiversity Research Institute will discuss, Mercury Exposure in Maine Fish-eating Birds.

The conference will cover several ornithological topics, including endangered bird species; the effects of different forestry practices on bird habitat; and bird behavior. Speakers include Ed Mair, chairperson of the American Birders’ Exchange, who will discuss Birdwatching in Cyberspace, and Peter Stangel of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, who will speak on the Voyage of the Wood Thrush: Winging Our Way to a New Century of Bird Conservation.

Further information on the conference is available from David Haines, professor of mathematics, at 207-786-6144.