LEWISTON — The Stanton Bird Club’s first meeting of the new 2015-2016 birding season will be on Monday, Oct. 5, at the Green Ladle (Lewiston High School Culinary Arts Center) at 156 East Ave. A Social hour with silent auction and club displays will take place from 5 to 6 p.m. A buffet dinner will be served from 6 to 7 p.m. The annual meeting and monthly speaker will begin at 7 p.m.

The speaker for the evening will be Danielle D’Auria, who will present a program called “Monitoring Maine’s Great Blue Herons.” Danielle will discuss HERON, which is short for the Heron Observation Network, a network of volunteers across Maine who monitor nesting areas, or colonies, of wading birds, such as the great blue heron. HERON is managed by the Maine Deptartment of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. These volunteers have “adopted” colonies, and in doing so visit them 1 to 5 times during the breeding season (May to August) to determine if a colony is active and the number of active nests. The data collected by HERON volunteers will help assess the breeding populations of these birds over time. The coastal breeding population of Great Blue Herons has experienced a steady decline from 1,208 pairs in 1983 to just 430 pairs in 2009.

D’Auria is a wildlife biologist who works in the Bird Group of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. She focuses on understanding statewide populations of colonial wading birds, secretive marsh birds, black terns, loons and other rare water birds. Since 2009, she has spent a majority of her time researching why great blue herons have undergone a decline along Maine’s coast.

The presentation is free and open to the public. The cost of dinner will be $16 per person. Those interested in dinner should make reservations no later than Friday, Sept. 25. Please send a check payable to Stanton Bird Club to: Stanton Treasurer, PO Box 3172, Lewiston, ME, 04243. Dinner reservations are required, no walk-ins will be accepted.

FMI: www.stantonbirdclub.org, 888-363-0007, [email protected].