Barred Owl. Submitted photo

FARMINGTON — Western Maine Audubon is pleased to announce a nature talk titled Owls of Maine and the Maine Owl Pellet Project on Wednesday, September 13 at 7 p.m. in the Thomas Auditorium of Preble Hall on the campus of UMF. The presentation, which is free to the public, will be given by Associate Professor of Animal Behavior at the University of New England, Zach Olson.

The Maine Owl Pellet Project (MOPP) is a collaboration between the University of New England, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service that aims to engage the public and promote crowdsourced science to better understand the diet of Maine’s owls and the distribution and composition of the small mammal community on which they prey, including the threatened northern bog lemming, to inform conservation efforts. The talk will combine information about the common owls in Maine, an introduction to the northern bog lemming, a project update, and information about how interested individuals can participate.

For updated information on this talk as well as archived recordings of previous WMA talks, visit the website at: western.maineaudubon.org. This talk will also be archived on the website several weeks after it is given.