LEWISTON — The Stanton Bird Club of Lewiston and Auburn will resume meetings on Nov. 7, but first club members will take a birding field trip to explore the lakes and rivers of the L-A area. 

The club will meet at 8 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 5, at the Auburn Mall, 550 Center St., Auburn, in the parking lot near JC Penney and Center Street. Members will carpool to a variety of sites. The focus of the trip will be to explore open water from Lake Auburn to Sabattus Pond for shorebirds and other fall migrants. Members should dress warmly and bring binoculars.

This popular annual trip for club members is open to guests. The club will set up scopes at the water’s edge to improve viewing ability. This will be one of the last opportunities to see the common loon this season, and the bald eagle may come into view along the shores or overhead. Migrating waterfowl seen on this trip in past years included the greater scaup, hooded merganser, common merganser, ruddy duck and American coot; and the white-winged scoter, northern pintail, bufflehead, common goldeneye and ring-necked duck have also been seen. 

The trip will return to the mall around noon. It will be led by Dan Marquis, who may be reached by contacting 207-513-8213.

Regular club meetings will resume at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7, in Room 285 at the University of Southern Maine Lewiston-Auburn College, 55 Westminster St., Lewiston. All meetings and field trips are free and open to everyone. 

The Nov. 7 meeting will leave Maine to discuss birding in Costa Rica. 

Club members Anne Williams and Stan and Joan DeOrsey have traveled to this birding wonderland separately and will join forces on this presentation, including pictures. The DeOrseys journeyed to Costa Rica in the fall, while Anne went a bit later in December, so the birds they each saw varied as the seasons were changing.

Costa Rica offers birders great bird-watching opportunities within relatively short distances, as the habitat ranges from sea level to mountains above 11,000 feet. The speakers have reported seeing almost 200 birds that they had never seen before while there, as well as many that are seen locally, but which had migrated there for the winter. Among the colorful native birds they will be sharing about are toucans, macaws, hummingbirds and tanagers. One of the goals of the presenters is to share things that someone preparing to travel there would need to think about.

Stan has been actively birding for more than 40 years and is interested in the historical changes of bird populations. He has written a book on this topic concerning New York, as well as a research guide about birds for the Lewiston-Auburn area.

Williams is a retired economics professor from Bates College, having served more than 25 years. She is also a puzzle expert and has appeared in that role in several broadcasts. She has written numerous books, articles and documentaries.

The Stanton Bird Club manages the Thorncrag Nature Sanctuary as well as the Woodbury Nature Sanctuary in Monmouth and Litchfield.

FMI: www.StantonBirdClub.org, facebook.com/Stanton-Bird-Club-124412894909/.