2021 Trips, Excursions and Camps

2023 Trips, Excursions and Camps

2023 Camps

Hearing the cries of a hatching gull chick is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity you find at Hog Island. ©Scott WeidensaulHog Island Audubon Camp, Maine

Summer sessions at Hog Island usually include visits to the restored puffin colony on Eastern Egg Rock. (©Scott Weidensaul)June 18-23, 2023

Sept. 10-15, 2023

Sept. 17-22, 2023

Join Scott Weidensaul and an exceptional faculty of instructors at Hog Island, the National Audubon Society's oldest educational center -- a spectacular 330-acre island in Muscongus Bay, on the beautiful mid-coast of Maine.

Scott will be directing four sessions at Hog Island in 2023:

Adult Field Ornithology, June 18-23

Join some of the top ornithologists in the country for a week-long exploration of the science of birds, hands-on and in the field. We'll explore the region's boreal forests, hardwoods, offshore islands and open bay, with instructors that include Dr. Sara Morris of Canisius College; acclaimed bird artist Catherine Hamilton of California; sound recordist Dr. Angelika Nelson and other bird experts. All that, and puffins, too!

Living on the Wind: Migration and Monhegan, Sept. 10-15

This special, small-group session is devoted to fall migration, and includes a birding excursion to Monhegan Island, a world-renowned Monhegan Island isn't just ruggedly beautiful, it is one of the best migrant traps in the East. (©Scott Weidensaul)migratory hotspot and beautiful island village.

This intensive week of birding will take participants from tidal marshes and beaches to hawk watches, spruce forests, and the outer islands and waters of Muscongus Bay, depending on where the birding is hottest. The highlight will be an overnight trip to Monhegan Island, one of the best "migrant traps" in the Northeast -- a place justly famous for its birding and dramatic rocky coastline, which has inspired artists for more than a century. Learn about how and why birds migrate and the conservation challenges facing them.

Raptor Migration and Monhegan Island, Sept. 17-22

Each autumn, a river of raptors flows south across North America — hawks, eagles, falcons and vultures by day, and owls by night. Join some of the top raptor biologists in the country for an immersion in this riveting phenomenon. We'll visit a variety of mainland habitats including a hawkwatch on a windswept blueberry barrens where broad-winged hawks, ospreys, bald eagles and American kestrels pass. We’ll make an overnight visit to Monhegan Island far out in Muscongus Bay, where peregrine falcons, merlins and accipiters are the common migrants. (And where we’ll also find superb birding for hordes of passerines and seabirds.) At night, we’ll open mist nets to lure migrating owls for banding. In between field trips, participants will learn about the mechanics of raptor migration, the fine points of raptor ID, and hear first-hand from experts doing the research about ground-breaking techniques for tracking raptors across thousands of miles of migration. Instructors will be Scott Weidensaul; Project Owlnet founder and goshawk biologist David F. Brinker; and Dr. Carol McIntyre of Denali National Park, Alaska.

2023 Excursions

Spring Birding Days, Lodge at Little St. Simons Island, GA

April 20-27, 2023

Join Scott Weidensaul on perhaps the loveliest of Georgia's spectacular "Golden Isles" -- Little St. Simons Island, an unspoiled gem managed for conservation and wildlife. Covering 11,000 acres, with seven miles of stunning beach, there are never more than 32 guests on LSSI at any time, staying in the justly famed Lodge at Little St. Simons. Go birding with Scott and the island's renowned team of naturalist-guides at the peak of the spring bird migration, or as we watch nesting roseate spoonbills and egrets -- or, if you choose, trying fishing, biking, kayaking, beachcombing, exploring the Spanish moss-draped live oak forests. You may just want to sit on the veranda and watch painted buntings swarm the bird feeders.

Camp Denali, Denali National Park and Preserve, AK

June 2-9, 2023

Experience the ultimate in Alaskan wilderness at Camp Denali in the middle of the 6-million-acre Denali National Park and Preserve. Established in 1952, Camp Denali is one of the most renowned ecolodges in the country. Join Scott for the very first sessions of the summer, when the subarctic tundra and taiga are exploding with life -- migratory birds returning from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the far Pacific, and resident wildlife like grizzly bears, caribou, Dall sheep, moose and wolves. We'll search for northern specialities like long-tailed jaegers, northern hawk owls, gyrfalcons and ptarmigan, often under the awe-inspiring bulk of Denali, the highest mountain in North America, whose base lies just 30 miles from camp. (There's a view of the mountain from every cabin, and even through the heart-shaped hole of the door in each cabin's immaculate outhouse.) Camp Denali is one of the most extraordinary experiences under any circumstances, but this year, because the main park road is closed for bridge construction, there will even fewer other visitors to the western half of the park where camp is located, making the park feel even more like yours alone.