Be sure to view our web page outlining our Junior Instructor program.

Karen Acton - Family Camp I Instructor

Acton is a classically trained artist and naturalist who has been an art educator for thirty-one years. Her father instilled in her a reverence for nature as she grew up in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey where her desire to experience nature took seed.  Acton is committed to stewardship of the natural world, and has developed educational programs for core subject educators who want to integrate nature and art into their curriculums.

Acton is a volunteer for  Return the Favor, a Delaware Bay initiative devoted to rescuing trapped horseshoe crabs in their season of spawning; as their eggs are essential to the survival of the Red-Knot and many migratory shorebirds. She has worked alongside her great friend, Ron Smith; with whom Acton has published work in Adventures In Community Science. Additionally, Acton is currently working on illustrating a children's book to promote panda bear conservation in China.

Acton teaches nature journaling for Drexel University’s summer program at Lighthouse Center NJ along New Jersey’s watershed. Her passion for documenting natural history through careful observations in nature studies became more deeply cultivated after studying under John Muir Lawes. 

On Hog Island, Acton senses the ground as- home, the wind- breath for the soul, the night sky- an endless wonder of perplexing depth and mystery, the water- privileged and sacred.  Acton is grateful to be associated with all of those who have vehemently experienced the fullness of Hog Island Audubon Camp, Maine.

Seth Benz - Fall Migration and Monhegan Island One and Two Instructor

Seth Benz has served as Assistant to the Curator at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary,  director of Hog Island Audubon Camp, and is the current director of Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park’s Bird Ecology Program. In his current role, Seth coordinates citizen scientists’ efforts to monitor bird migrations, pelagic seabird concentrations, and biodiversity and phenology observations in the Acadia Region. Benz was recently elected to a three-year term on the Maine Bird Records Committee. Seth and wife Sue reside in Belfast, Maine with their Australian Shepherd rescue pooch Beazie.

Kayla Carrington - Sharing Nature: An Educator's Week Instructor

Tr. Kayla, an experienced outdoor educator, is dedicated to deepening the connection between children and nature. With a diverse background in leading outdoor youth programs at the University of Washington Arboretum for over 8 years, Tr. Kayla understands the transformative impact of immersive learning experiences.

In their workshop, Breathwork for Kids, Tr. Kayla guides educators on incorporating breathwork practices into their curriculum. This immersive workshop provides practical tools and strategies to create a calm and mindful learning environment. By seamlessly integrating breathwork with topics such as animals, art, and the natural world, Tr. Kayla helps educators encourage focus, emotional well-being, and resilience among students.

Tr. Kayla's unique perspective as an artistic and exploratory educator brings a fresh and engaging approach to the workshop. Their passion for nurturing the connection between children and nature is complemented by their talents as a jazz saxophonist, poet, and environmental activist. Tr. Kayla is committed to inspiring environmental action and empowering the next generation to become stewards of the planet.For more information and to connect resources, please visit www.kaylacarrington.com. 

Sarah Collins - Educator's Week

Sarah Collins dreams of long days outside, deepening their understanding of the natural world. In her waking life, she works to support a sustainable future for all living beings. Sarah finished her bachelors degree in Early Care and Education from the University of Washington, while teaching outdoor early education. Through her research investigating how early educators were preparing children and their families for living in the era of the climate crisis, Sarah found herself completing a dual-degree program at the University of Michigan (UM) where she combined her experience in education (School of Education, Educational Equity, Justice, and Social Transformation) and passion for the environment (School for Environment and Sustainability; Sustainability and Development) to connect sustainability and climate action into any learning experience.

Today, Sarah serves as an Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education Fellow with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Office of Sustainability and Climate. Her Fellowship focuses on "greening" wildland fire operations with the National Greening Fire Team. She continues to support Education for Sustainability research with her research group at UM, considering how formal education settings can develop sustainability leaders from any discipline. Outside of her work life, she spends her days backyard homesteading with her family in Ann Arbor, MI, camping, preparing to be a wildland firefighter, birding, and learning how to watercolor. Sarah uses she/they pronouns.

Kathy Cubert - Photography of Maine Birds and Landscapes Instructor

It was still dark as she slipped into the tight quarters of a wooden shed prior to sunrise. She was in the middle of a Prairie Chicken lek in Kansas that would soon be filled with males “booming” or displaying to females. On another day she watched thousands of Sandhill Cranes take flight for the cornfields of Medaryville, Indiana, their calls resonating within her.  On yet another adventure, Kathy experienced the magic of hiking to photograph monarch colonies overwintering in butterfly sanctuaries in Mexico. During the past three years her efforts have included supporting two Ohio conservation organizations, the Arc of Appalachia and Appalachia Ohio Alliance, through her imagery. In addition, Kathy’s future goals include teaching other photographer's ways to improve their wildlife photography both technically and artistically.  Toward that effort she has given multiple presentations to local camera clubs with tips on how to find a purpose in life through conservation-oriented photography as well as ways to improve wildlife photography skills.

She has been an Artist-In-Residence at the Arc of Appalachia and has been published by Audubon.org., Bird Watchers Digest, Columbus Monthly, Columbus Metro Parks and NANPA (the North American Nature Photography Association), to name a few.  In addition, she is an award-winning photographer. Kathy has a B.A. in journalism with a minor in photography from The Ohio State University. In total awe of the sights and sounds found in nature, she has spent the majority of her available time in the past five years photographing wildlife with an emphasis on bird photography. Her imagery can be seen at both www.kathryncubert.com.

Khavin Debbs - Sharing Nature: An Educator's Week Director

Khavin Debbs was born in Sacramento, California. After teaching preschool and elementary school for homeless children he relocated to Washington in 2013. There he finished his bachelors degree in Environmental Education from the Evergreen State College. He then later received his Urban Environmental Education Masters from Antioch University, where his thesis focused on decolonizing the outdoors for families of color. He is currently working as an Education Professor at North Seattle College. In his spare time Khavin enjoys watching and playing soccer, mycology, rock climbing, cooking, and art. Khavin goes by the pronouns He, Him, His.          

Maggie Dewane - Birds of Maine Islands Co-Director

Maggie first visited Hog Island in 2002 as a camper for youth ecology camp and has since returned over the years as both camper and instructor, always drawn to this magical place. Now she joins us as camp director to the Birds of Maine Islands session, sharing insight as a climate and wildlife journalist and filmmaker.

Maggie is the Communications Director to Defenders of Wildlife and serves on the board of Birdability, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing accessibility to the outdoors through birding. She co-hosts a wildlife podcast, The Watering Hole, and sits on the DC Environmental Film Festival Advisory Council. She has a B.S. in diplomacy and international relations from Seton Hall University and an MPA in environmental science and policy from Columbia University. In her free time, Maggie is hiking with her dog Argos, playing soccer, or eating the delicious food found on Hog Island.

Adam DiNouvo - FOHI Volunteer Coordinator

Adam DiNuovo has been working with shorebirds and seabirds on the East and West Coasts and Gulf of Mexico for fifteen years. Most recently he worked for Audubon Florida and was the Collier Shorebird Monitoring and Stewardship Program Manager.  Prior to his work in Florida he was a Research Coordinator for the Institute for Conservation Research at the San Diego Zoo and served as Assistant Sanctuary Manager for Project Puffin for three years.  After serving as an instructor at Hog Island for four summers, Adam has now joined the Friends of Hog Island has their Volunteer Coordinator.

Andrea Montalvo Durbin

Andrea Montalvo Durbin, born and raised on Long Island, NY has been a high school science teacher for 18 years, taking one year "off" to teach elementary STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) in Arizona to a Native American School. Though having taught science most of her career, Andrea was trained in Science Illustration and was a Fine Arts Major at SUNY at Stony Brook. She employed her skills as an artist at the American Museum of Natural History and has continued to show at various art shows in New York. Her artwork has evolved over the years, always using nature as inspiration, but using art to teach about the places she has been in and also the wildlife she has encountered.  Andrea loves to travel around the country, engaging in various teacher professional development workshops, which is how she was introduced to beautiful Hog Island and its amazing employees. She also travels with her husband, Sam, a National Park Ranger who has increased her love and appreciation of nature.

Jonah Eckles - Fall Migration and Monhegan Island (SESSION ONE) Junior Instructor

Jonah Eckels, a Hoosier, graduated from Concordia University Wisconsin with a B.A. degree in Secondary Education and History. As a kid, he grew up digging for dinosaur bones, watching Zoboomafoo and the Crocodile Hunter, and playing in the mud. His fourth birthday party was in fact “mud” themed. He is currently the Education Coordinator at the Audubon Center at Riverlands, just outside of St. Louis, Missouri. His favorite part about his job is connecting students of all ages with the outdoors. He also loves leading camp songs during the summer at Little Creek Nature Area. His spark bird is the Purple Martin, but he is unable to pick a favorite. In his free time, he loves to go birding, explore new places with his wife, Sarah, and play with his dog, Louie.

Mark Garland - Spring Migration & Monhegan Director

Mark Garland is an old hand at Hog Island, having served as an instructor for several sessions each summer from 2003-08. He is a naturalist based in Cape May, New Jersey, who spent six years with the National Park Service, 17 years with the Audubon Naturalist Society, and four years with the Cape May Bird Observatory.  Since 2005 he's been his own boss, mostly planning and conducting nature-oriented tours, courses, field trips and presentations.  Birds are a special interest of Marks.  He has led more than 200 nature tours to various parts of the world, including more than 30 trips to Costa Rica.  Mark is the author of "Watching Nature: A Mid-Atlantic Natural History," and he writes the “Birders Question Mark” column in Bird Watcher’s Digest.  He is director of the Cape May Monarch Monitoring Project, and teaches week-long birding programs in Cape May for the Road Scholar program.  He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in conservation and environmental education from the University of Maryland.

Julia Gartrell - Sous Chef, Hog Island Kitchen

Julia came to Hog Island for the first time in the Fall of 2023 to assist in the kitchen. She quickly realized it is a special place, and made it her mission to come back for a full season! Julia is interested in making flexitarian diets appealing and approachable for all, improving her gluten free baking, and experimenting with ideas gleaned from decades worth of Cooks Illustrated magazines. Hailing from Durham, NC, Julia is a professional artist— while not in the kitchen she can be found scavenging for materials to create sculptures, textiles, and collages. She runs a public art project called the Radical Repair Workshop, which is dedicated to using repair as a site of storytelling and sculptural intervention. Check out her work at juliagartrell.com and radicalrepairworkshop.com.

Ted Gilman - Sharing Nature: An Educator's Week Instructor

Ted Gilman is a naturalist and environmental educator at Audubon Greenwich, where he has inspired a love of nature in generations of children and helped train educators from across the country. Ted received his bachelor'ss degree in Biology from Earlham College and did graduate work in Science and Environmental Education at Cornell University. He has led Audubon trips to Trinidad & Tobago and Kenya, as well as served as an education volunteer for the International Crane Foundation in northern China. Ted began teaching on Hog Island in 1974 and has returned over the past four decades to serve as an instructor for ornithology and family camp programs. 

Catherine Hamilton -  Field Ornithology Instructor

Catherine Hamilton grew up exploring the mountains and deserts of Southern California, and was pretty much born with a pencil in hand. She began birding at an early age with her father, developing a keen interest in both natural history and art, and started her first ornithological notebook at seven. Somewhat mysteriously her parents encouraged her to continue this behavior, and is still doing about the same things today. 

Catherine holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Bennington College. She taught painting and drawing at RISD from 1997-2003, and has taught at other institutions and programs (Bennington College, Mass College of Art, Mass Audubon) throughout the 25 years she has been a professional artist. For the last five years she has been traveling and birding full time, keeping her studio on the road while maintaining her exhibiting and project schedules. Working out of wildlife refuges, urban environments, research stations, and museum collections, Catherine has been following birds around the world, making drawings and paintings. Her fine art can be found in private, corporate, and small museum collections in the US and abroad. Her bird illustrations can be found in publications like the recent Princeton University Press book “The Warbler Guide,” and in journals and magazines such as “Nature,” “Bird Observer,” and “Orion Magazine.” Catherine was also featured in the 2012 HBO documentary Birders: the Central Park Effect.”

Catherine loves sharing her passion for both the avian world and the world of drawing with birders and artists of all levels, and believes that anyone can gain insight and greater understanding of the world around them through field sketching and observation.

Carver Hauptman - Joy of Birding and Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens (SESSION ONE) Junior Instructor

Growing up, Carver loved being outdoors from an early age, always wanting to be in the lead on a hiking trail and the first to try something new. His love for birds developed early and he loved reading through bird books over…and over…and over in the back of the car on road trips to learn every species. After his camp experience in summer of 2022, Carver knew he wanted to be back. This experience grew his love for ornithology and the outdoors even more and he greatly values the relationships he made. He is a rising sophomore studying Environment and Sustainability at Cornell University taking every ornithology related class he can. His involvement in clubs at Cornell has helped him form a more sustainable life and he hopes to be able to spread what he has learned into the rest of his life and into the lives of people around him.

Anthony Hill - Puffin Exploration Instructor; Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens Two Guest Lecturer, Field Ornithology Instructor

Anthony Hill came to Hog Island in 1995 as a Field Ornithology camper. At that session, he saw a banding demonstration by Sara Morris and heard a talk about Project Puffin by Steve Kress. As a result of that exposure, he became fascinated with both songbird banding and the Seabird Restoration Project (Project Puffin) and immersed himself in both activities. Anthony volunteered for part of 20 Summers with Project Puffin and has spent time on Eastern Egg Rock, Stratton Island, Matinicus Rock and Seal Island (his favorite). After seeing Sara Morris' banding demonstration, Anthony attended a week-long introduction to bird banding at her banding station on Appledore Island, Isles of Shoals in August 1995 and has been a regular Spring and Fall volunteer at that station since that first visit. He now holds a Master Bander permit with endorsement for hummingbirds and is certified as a bander Trainer for Passerines and Hummingbirds by the North American Banding Council (NABC); he also serves as co-chair of the Hummingbird Working Group for that organization. His personal banding research has focused on wintering hummingbirds in New England, migrating Saw-whet Owls and breeding American Kestrels in the Connecticut Valley of Massachusetts where he lives. He is on the board of the Kestrel Land Trust and is a regular construction volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. He is immensely grateful for the excellent training and mentoring he has received and is honored to be helping teach at Hog Island as a way to 'pay it forward'. Anthony retired from a career in medical microbiology in 2010 and served as a Navy Hospital Corpsman with the Marines in Vietnam from 1968-1970.

Doug Hitchcox - Mountains to Sea Birding for Teens Teen Leader

Doug Hitchcox, a Maine native, grew up in Hollis and graduated from the University of Maine in 2011. Throughout college Doug worked at Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center and was hired as Maine Audubon’s staff naturalist in the summer of 2013 -- a long-time "dream job." In his free time, Doug volunteers as one of Maine's eBird reviewers, is the owner and moderator of the "Maine-birds" listserv, and serves as a York County Audubon board member and member of the Maine Bird Records Committee.   

   
  

Corey Husic - Joy of Birding Instructor

Growing up in the Appalachians of eastern Pennsylvania left Corey with an immense appreciation for nature and the environment. He first landed on Hog Island as a camper in the summer of 2012 and quickly fell in love with this special place. He has since returned several times as an instructor. Over the years, Corey has worked with various local organizations to conduct ecological research as well as develop educational programs related to ecology, conservation, and natural history. He is an eBird regional reviewer, an Audubon Christmas Bird Count compiler, and a member of the Pennsylvania Ornithological Records Committee. Although he is down for just about any sort of birding, Corey is particularly excited by morning flight, exploring difficult-to-access and under-birded locales, and using remote detection techniques to monitor birds. Corey currently resides in Pasadena, California, where he is pursuing a doctoral degree in chemistry.

Alice James - Head Chef, Hog Island Kitchen

Alice James (she/her) is the Head Chef for the Hog Island kitchen.Her culinary path began with receiving a self-designed degree in Sustainable Agriculture, and then founding a farm-to-table restaurant. She has worked as the Executive Chef for several place-based conference centers before making a home at Hog Island. She loves the focus on ecological stewardship and community belonging that Hog Island fosters. When she’s not in the kitchen, she’s tidepooling, sewing, reading, and making art. When she is not at Hog Island, she lives in Durham, North Carolina. Her projects there center on strengthening circular economies and sharing economies. The throughline of her work is supporting cultural and ecological restoration, primarily through gathering around creative, scratch-made meals.

James King, Jr. - Sharing Nature: An Educator's Week Instructor

James E. King Jr has more than 10 years of experience coordinating environmental stewardship projects throughout the United States. Through his work, he has engaged and inspired well over 15,000 people to be active in outdoor recreation, sustainability, and environmental justice issues. James has worked with numerous national organizations such as Sierra Club Inspiring Connections Outdoors, Natural Leaders Network, National Wildlife Federation-Earth  Tomorrow, Outdoor Afro, Greening Youth Foundation, Let’s Retrofit A Million, The Student Conservation Association, IslandWood, Diverse Environmental Leaders, Keeping It Wild and Americorps, all dealing with community engagement surrounding the outdoors, sustainability, and youth/young adult development. He has also worked alongside governmental agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service throughout the United States envisioning the next generation of stewards enjoying the public land systems. He has been credited with opening doors that connect diverse individuals and families to the land and encourage hands-on experiences through culture, hikes, outings, educational opportunities and community-building partnerships. Currently  James serves on the Board of Directors for Keeping It Wild (Atlanta), Nurturing Roots (Seattle), Organizer for Environmental People of Color (Seattle). In 2018 confirmed on the Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO), No Child Left Inside Advisory Committee for the State of Washington. James graduated Antioch University Seattle with a B.A. majoring in Urban Ecology; Leadership and Sustainable Business; Global and Social Justice. Graduate with his MAEd in Urban Environmental Education (’18) held at IslandWood /Antioch University Seattle.

Stephen Kress - Founder, Project Puffin; Puffin Exploration Instructor; Birds of Maine Islands Instructor; Guest Speaker at various sessions

Steve Kress is the Founder of Project Puffin, and was Executive Director of the Seabird Restoration Program and Vice President for Bird Conservation of the National Audubon Society for many years. He received his B. S. in Zoology and M.S. in Wildlife Management from Ohio State University, and his Ph.D. in Environmental Education from Cornell University. Steve began Project Puffin in 1973 and served as the Director from then until 2019, when he retired. Steve has also served as Manager of National Audubon's Maine Coastal Island Sanctuaries, Ornithology Instructor at the Audubon Camp in Maine on Hog Island from 1969 through 1981, and Director of the camp from 1982 through 1986 (as well as serving as Director once again just before his retirement). Prior to working for Audubon, he was Assistant Director of the Glen Helen Outdoor Education Center in Yellow Springs, OH, where he taught Field Ornithology and founded the Glen Helen Raptor Rehabilitation Center. Steve was formerly a Visiting Fellow for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, NY, where he taught a popular birding course called Spring Field Ornithology for many years. Steve continues to teach a Spring Ornithology course, and it is now available via the Cayuga Bird Club.

Whitney Lanfranco - Joy of Birding Instructor

Whitney's passion for nature began at a young age while she was growing up on a ranch in rural Central Texas. She spent her youth learning the names of wildflowers and observing bacteria under her microscope. While earning her degree in zoology from Texas A&M University, she discovered her true passion was birding. Whitney completed an ecological study abroad in South Africa before beginning work as an aviculturist at the San Antonio Zoo. At the time, that was the third-largest bird breeding facility in the United States of America, giving her a wonderful opportunity to work with many endangered and unique species. However, she soon realized that her true joy was in educating and sharing her passion with others. A fortuitous turn led to her discovering the world of bird guiding and ecotourism, and she spent four years guiding in south Texas before her wanderlust started leading her to new guiding opportunities and adventures. In September of 2021 she traded her guiding hat for an optics one and became the Nature Sales Manger for Leica Sport Optics. These days, Whitney can be found on the bird festival circuit guiding and educating about birds and optics.

Andy Lantz - Costa Rica Teen Camp Trip Leader

Andy currently serves as a 4-H Extension Agent II with the University of Tennesee.  Andy co-led the 2016 Hog Island Costa Rica Trip and currently oversees a young birders club in Nashville, TN. He taught in middle and high school classrooms for seven years, and an additional four years in environmental education. In his years as an outdoor educator and naturalist, he has worked for Georgia 4H, MassAudubon, and The Nature Conservancy. Andy has a BA in Environmental Sciences from UMass Boston, and a MS in Science Education from Florida State University. He has been an active birder since 2005.

Eva Matthews Lark - Costa Rica Teen Camp Trip Leader; Tern the Page Book Club

Eva has a Masters of Science degree in Recreation & Parks Management and Bacherlors of Science degrees in Environmental Science, Biology and Chemistry. She isthe former Senior Manager of Public Programs for the Seabird Institute and Hog Island Audubon Camp and managed all camp programming from 2014 to 2023. She is the director of the Costa Rica Teen Camp. Eva also runs the online Tern the Page: An Audubon Book Club and loves reading books with a nature or bird focus. She has been a birder for nearly two decades and credits the winter warblers of Florida as being her spark birds.  In her free time she enjoys traveling with her wife, two sons, and two rescue dogs. She particularly enjoys birding competitions with friends and is an avid eBirder and recovering Fantasy Birder.  Currently Eva works for Boulder County Parks and Open Space as the Education and Outreach Supervisor.

Margaret Lechner - Sharing Nature: An Educator’s Week

Margaret Lechner credits her parents’ love of nature and the outdoors for inspiring her career as an experiential educator. For 25 years Margaret was Jill-of-all-trades (Associate Professor of Biology) at Earlham College, where her work included directing the Wilderness Program, initiating the East Africa semester, teaching biology and education courses, and participating in Quaker Foundations of Leadership. She spent a third of her time in the field, much of it leading Southwest Field Studies, a semester of natural science and education study with a significant back country component.

Margaret's post-Earl ham career has included directing a community mediation center, facilitating AVP (Alternatives to Violence) in US prisons and Central American communities, and organizing AVP World Gatherings in Guatemala, Ireland and Nepal. During Covid she discovered the stories in her that needed to be told, co-writing They Kindled a Fire: The First 50 Years of Wilderness at Earlham and contributing to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Field Guide: Stories of Lived Experiences.

She delights in her children (one son, one daughter-in-law and many students), bread baking, fabric arts and Tai Chi. Contact Margaret at: Margaret.lechner@gmail.com.

Amanda Leemann - Hog Island Day Trips Instructor; Mountains to Sea Birding for Teens Teen Leader; Sharing Nature: An Educator's Week Guest Lecturer; Seasonal Naturalist; all sessions

Amanda Leemann is a young, passionate environmental educator from St. Louis, Missouri who recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point with a degree in Environmental Education and Interpretation. Since then, she has worked as a naturalist for the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies in Homer, Alaska, as a Mountain School instructor at the North Cascades Institute in Diablo, Washington, and as a naturalist for The Coastal Institute in Cambria, California. She loves exploring and learning, birding, botanizing, finding awesome creatures while tide pooling, and sharing her passion for nature with others of all ages. They also enjoy music, knitting, drawing, and recently, watercolor, and they love incorporating music and the arts into their teaching practices. She has visited Hog Island Audubon camp twice before as a camper and is incredibly honored and excited to be able to work as a staff member this summer.

Trysten Loefke - Fall Migration and Monhegan Island (SESSION TWO) Junior Instructor

Trysten has been birding since the age of ten and has been fascinated by wildlife for as long as he can remember. He grew up in rural San Diego County, California, surrounded by rare and endangered wildlife and his passion for wildlife and conservation has only grown since then. Trysten holds a B.S. in Zoology and currently works for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance as an educator and guide. He also serves as the Conservation Committee Chair and member of the Board of Directors for the Palomar Audubon Society. Trysten has worked with many falconers and wildlife rehabilitators in their efforts to save local wildlife and release them back into the wild. Trysten’s work has allowed him to be a frequent lecturer on birding, wildlife, and conservation topics for many organizations throughout Southern California. Trysten is also an award-winning photographer and writer, and his work has been published by the American Birding Association. His love for wildlife extends beyond birds to mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and other invertebrates. He is an advocate of “ecologically holistic” conservation, which takes the whole ecosystem into consideration and not just the charismatic species that we humans naturally have an affinity for. One of Trysten’s greatest passions is teaching people about the lesser-known and lesser-loved creatures that play important roles in our world.

Don Lyons - Director of Conservation Science, Audubon Seabird Institute; Hog Island Day Trips Instructor; Puffin Exploration Program Director; Birds of Maine Islands Instructor; Guest Speaker for various sessions

Don Lyons is Director of Conservation Science for Audubon's Seabird Restoration Program. He has participated in seabird science and conservation for 20 years as a graduate student, post-doc, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife of Oregon State University.  His interests include restoring seabird colonies using social attraction and understanding the relationship between seabirds and forage fish.  His background as an electrical engineer and seabird biologist help him further research on tracking seabird foraging, dispersal, and migration using both banding and electronic tagging and assessing the impacts of changes in ocean climate on seabird breeding success and population resiliency.

In recent years, he has provided leadership for research and conservation about the critically endangered Chinese Crested Tern in Asia, investigations of the steep decline of Aleutian Terns in Alaska, and reduction of conflicts between Caspian Terns and threatened salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest.

Tyler McClain - Family Camp I Instructor

Tyler McClain is from the small town of Sycamore, Ohio. Ever since he was 7 years old he has assisted with bird banding projects that have taken him all over the state of Ohio. After finishing high school he attended the University of Toledo where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies. After graduation, he moved into the city of Cleveland where he now works as a part time Naturalist with Cleveland Metroparks. There he provides educational nature based programming to schools and the public. Tyler also works as a part-time substitute teacher for his local school district. In his spare time Tyler enjoys hunting, fishing, herpetology and wildlife photography. Birds have been a touchstone for his life and he cannot wait to share his passion this summer.

Carter McDermott-Hinman - Sous Chef, Hog Island Kitchen

In the kitchen, Carter focuses largely on baking and decorating the desserts for the camps, but enjoys exploring all of the different parts of the cooking process. Before joining as Sous Chef, Carter was a Friends of Hog Island volunteer, and even before that, a Family Camp camper. Outside of the kitchen, Carter enjoys reading, crocheting, and playing viola, with a focus both on classical performance and fiddle music. When not at Hog Island, Carter is a student at Amherst College, where she is pursuing a double major in History and German Literature. In both of her areas of study, she considers the role that culture plays in the social and political structures of society, across both time and the globe.

Holly Merker - ​Spring Migration & Monhegan island Instructor; Joy of Birding Director; Fall Migration and Monhegan Island One and Two Instructor

Holly Merker has been in awe of birds and the wonders of the natural world, as far back as she can remember.  She’s been lucky to share her passion by connecting others to nature in her work as an environmental educator and professional birding guide, working with people of all ages.

With a strong interest in bird distribution, Holly has been the eBird state coordinator for Pennsylvania since 2005 and was a two-term voting member and Chairperson of the Pennsylvania Ornithological Records Committee. She has participated in many avian population-monitoring projects, and has been actively involved with multiple birding clubs, including one she helped start for the local elementary school. Holly’s passion for studying migration is especially alive in fall, experiencing raptor migration as a volunteer hawk counter for Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania, finding thrill in visible migration but also in all birds she encounters.

Holly believes strongly that birding holds a key to wellbeing, recently co-authoring the book Ornitherapy: For Your Mind, Body, and Soul, which aims to deepen our connections to birds for benefits beyond the enjoyment. In her free time, Holly spends every possible moment practicing Ornitherapy herself, which she credits in helping her defeat breast cancer, restoring her health mentally and physically. 

Lisa Monetti - Family Camp II Instructor

Lisa is an archaeologist and forensic anthropologist who teaches at Drew University in New Jersey. Her first visit to Hog Island was in 2023. Lisa looks forward to bringing some experimental archaeology activities to family camp and helping campers connect to the natural world by learning how people of the past lived and experienced nature. Lisa’s research focuses on funerary practice in archaeological contexts and she is involved in both archaeological excavations and forensic casework. 

Lisa earned her PhD in Archaeological Science and MSc in Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology, both from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.

Sara Morris - Field Ornithology Instructor

Sara R. Morris is a professor of Biology and the Director of the Environmental Science Program at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY. She earned her MS and PhD in zoology at Cornell University.  Her research focus is bird migration, specifically in how birds use sites in-between where they breed and winter to successfully complete their migrations. At Canisius, Morris teaches classes in ornithology, vertebrate zoology, ecology and evolution.  She regularly takes her undergraduate research students to ornithological conferences to present their research projects and class students on extended field trips to areas like Fort Myers, FL, and the Galapagos Islands to study wildlife.   Morris is a Fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU), the Secretary of the AOU, a council member of the Wilson Ornithological Society, and a research associate at the Buffalo Museum of Science.  

Katama Murray- Family Camp I and II Instructor, Artist, Educator, & Naturalist

Katama Murray (she/her) is an eco artist, educator, naturalist, and business owner from the Blue Hill peninsula in Maine and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Her mixed media work and company, Teach Peace Prints, are inspired by place-based making and our interconnectedness to the environment. While living and studying throughout regions of New England and the Midwest, she has always been influenced by the outdoors and the ways in which we coexist with the natural world. Utilizing locally foraged natural materials, she layers print and fiber processes to visually communicate ideas, observations, and perpetual experimentation. Katama has a BFA in Printmaking from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, and an MFA in Printmaking from Indiana University-Bloomington. She has taught workshops and exhibited work throughout New England and beyond, yet will always be drawn to the beauty of the Northeast coast. Tuning into the rhythm of the seasons and the plants that exist within those moments of time help to foster a deeper connection to local surroundings with respect, admiration, and care.

In 2013, Katama ventured south down the coast of Maine and visited Hog Island for the first time as a camper, attending the Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens session thanks to a scholarship from Downeast Audubon. It was then that she fell in love with the island and its special community, and is thrilled to return as an instructor since 2022. With a passion for slow, multidisciplinary making, she strives to learn and teach together with people of all ages, hoping to inspire others to become more connected to the earth through the power of art and community.

Sean Murtha - Arts & Birding Instructor

Sean Murtha has lived all of his life near the Long Island Sound.  The marshes, beaches, and wide open skies attracted his artistic sensibilities and inspired his first plein-air paintings in his early teens.  He still makes a regular habit of drawing and painting in the field, using these as a basis for oil paintings completed in the studio. He earned a BFA in Painting from Pratt Institute in 1990, but feels his true education was gained at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where he worked from 1995 until 2007.Sean first came to Hog Island in 2016 as part of the Artist-in Residence program, and has longed to get back ever since.  He has also been an Artist-in Residence at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum in Wisconsin, and at Great Gull Island, a tern-nesting colony off Long Island, NY.  In 2013 he was named “Bird Artist of the Year” by CT Audubon.  Sean lives with his wife, two sons (when they are home from college) and an indoor cat in Norwalk, CT, not too far from the Long Island Sound. His artwork can be seen at www.seanmurthaart.com

Angelika Nelson - Joy of Birding Guest Instructor; Field Ornithology Instructor

Angelika Nelson is an enthusiastic ornithologist, fascinated by birdsong. She earned her MS at the University of Vienna in her home country of Austria and her PhD at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Until 2017 she curated the animal sound collection at the Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics at The Ohio State University where her research focused on song dialects in the white-crowned sparrow along the Pacific Northwest coast. Currently Angelika lives in Germany and works for the LBV (Landesbund für Vogelschutz in Bayern e.V.), a sister organisation to the Audubon Society. She communicates scientific research as well as results from citizen science projects to the public and teaches school kids in nature settings. She enjoys spending time in nature, communicating the joy of bird-watching to the public as well as going for long walks.

Colleen Noyes - Family Camp I and II Director

Colleen was a Naturalist at the CT Audubon Society for over 25 years.  Currently she is enjoying a new opportunity teaching earth science in her own classroom at the Unquowa School in Fairfield, CT. She is hoping to inspire the 5th and 6th graders to love science! 

In 2012, Colleen was introduced to the magice of Hog Island as a camper during Educator's Week.  That experience led to many volunteer weeks and eventually the honor of sharing her knowledge as an insturctor and director on Hog island.  She is living proof that if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life.  

Colleen is an avid music lover and plays in a trio called Small Noise. During the height of the pandemic, the group was formed and wrote and recorded many original songs.  On weekends, Colleen can be found jamming with other music lovers. That love of music has become a popular part of evenings at Family Camp. Many of the amazing instructors are also musically inclined and lend their talents to the weekly band.  Two of our band names over the years have been "Guillemotley Crew" and "The David Buoy's"!!!

In her spare time, Colleen spends time with her wonderful daughters, Fiona and Eleanor. She also has a sassy young Airedale terrier name Bright. He keeps her active and fit.

Johnny Owens - Spring Migration and Monhegan Junior Instructor

Johnny Owens is an avid birder and nature advocate from Essex, Massachusetts. He is a freshman attending Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida and is majoring in Environmental Studies. Johnny is especially interested in the fields of ecotourism, environmental research, education, and endangered species recovery programs. Through these areas, he hopes to raise greater public awareness of the incredible biodiversity that exists in the world and the threats it faces from anthropogenic issues such as climate change. To date, he has volunteered for over one thousand hours in various roles at the Mass Audubon Society's Joppa Flats Education Center, assisted with several avian research projects, and served on the Brookline Bird Club's Conservation and Education committee. Johnny attended the Hog Island Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens camp in 2022, and he is thrilled to return this summer as a Jr. Instructor.

Mik Oyler - Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens One Teen Leader

Mik holds a Master of Education in Psychology from Springfield College and has over 13 years of experience leading residential programs. Mik spent over seven years with a premier wilderness program, serving as Field Guide, Shift Director, Program Director, and ultimately as Executive Director. Mik was the Director of the Camp Wediko in NH for three years prior to his current role as COO of Shortridge Academy, an innovative boarding school in NH.  Mik has been an avid birder for over 15 years since his uncle helped him identify his first Scarlett Tanager in south central Pennsylvania. Since then, birding has been a way of life and form of personal meditation. Mik has participated in multiple birding competitions, always electing a human powered approach, and is an ongoing Mountain Birdwatch volunteer, currently for the Huntington Ravine route at the base of Mount Washington. Mik and his wife Katelin are parents to a one year old girl and live in the White Mountains of New Hampshire where they enjoy year round outdoor pursuits.

Joshua Potter - Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens Two Teen Leader

Joshua is a naturalist and associate director for operations at Shaver's Creek Environmental Center at Penn State, from where he also holds a BA in Integrative Arts. He has been an enthusiastic co-leader for Hog Island CMBS camps since the summer of 2012 and has the tern-poop-stained apparel to prove it. Previously Joshua worked as a naturalist and outreach coordinator for Tin Mountain Conservation Center in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, where he spent his summers leading teens on backpacking and canoeing adventures in search of the wild denizens of boreal-wrapped peaks and cool North Woods waters. Now you are more likely to find him plying the time-worn slopes of the Appalachians with his wife Sarah, son Ellory, daughter Lucy, and Aussie Molly.

Kelly Radding

Kelly Leahy Radding honors the natural world she loves through her art. She finds all aspects of nature interesting subjects for her paintings. Animals, plants, butterflies, rocks, the sometimes overlooked minute details of Nature, are to her an integral and necessary part of the whole. Kelly grew up in rural Connecticut on the edge of a state forest and has come full circle living on a farm in Columbia, Connecticut at the end of a dirt road surrounded by woods. She shares the farm with her husband, her brother, three gray cats, seven elderly goats and one perfect border collie.

“My intention is to have my work create a connection not only to the physical beauty of the natural world that I love, but to reach a deeper understanding of our own essential connections to nature, to our own stories.”

Kirk Raper - Family Camp II Instructor

Kirk Raper is a research scientist with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. He develops Trends Reports using environmental indicators to summarize conditions across a broad range of topics, including air/water quality, wildlife/plant populations, and land use change. He has worked extensively in the science of climate change with a particular focus on understanding coastal change over time, especially in relation to sea-level rise. Kirk works closely with research partners to integrate data across the region and has developed a database to make data more accessible and achieve a broader spatial assessment of coastal change.

Tom Reed - Spring Migration & Monhegan Island

Tom Reed grew up along the Delaware Bay in Cape May County, NJ, the perfect outdoor classroom for a young person fascinated by the natural world. Just steps from the beaches where world-renowned shorebird and horseshoe crab congregations occur each spring, Tom started birding at age 10, benefiting immensely from a supportive family and Cape May’s large and talented community of naturalists. A graduate of Rutgers University, today Tom coordinates the Cape May Bird Observatory’s migration monitoring programs, tasked with keeping the observatory’s finger on the pulse of bird and butterfly migrations throughout the year. He loves nothing more than watching visible migration and is constantly looking to learn more about birds’ movements while sharing that passion with others.

Emma Rhodes - Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens One and Two Teen Leader

Emma is an avian biologist and Master Bander from Alabama. She has worked with both state and National Audubon chapters and is the founder of the Mobile Bay Audubon Young Birders Club, Alabama’s first young birders club. She has been an avid birder since she was seven and in 2009, while in high school, she began training at a Neotropical migrant bird banding station in Fort Morgan, Alabama and has been a bander on the project ever since. Emma has been monitoring coastal birds since 2014 working alongside various nonprofit organizations in Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and the Bahamas. She first visited Hog Island in 2013 as a Coastal Maine Bird Studies teen camper where she instantly fell in love with Hog Island. As a direct result, she returned to work with Project Puffin in 2014 and 2015 as a volunteer research assistant and as an assistant for the Hands-on Bird Science week at Hog Island in 2015. In 2017, she became a science staff member for Alabama’s Coastal Bird Stewardship Program with Alabama Audubon where she worked for nearly three years.  She received her BS in Biology (with a minor in GIS) at the University of South Alabama where her undergraduate research was focused on avian window strike mortality. Emma is currently focused on expanding her migratory bird research as a PhD student at Auburn University and with the organization she co-founded, Banding Coalition of the Americas (BCA). BCA is an organization dedicated to bird research and outreach throughout the Americas. Emma is passionate about science outreach and using research to help connect people with the natural world, and she sees being an instructor for Hog Island as an opportunity to help connect diverse groups of people to the beauty of nature surrounding them.

Heather Richard - Family Camp I Instructor

Heather is an educator and graduate student in Marine Science at San Francisco State University's Romberg Tiburon Center. As a native Mainer, she has always had a strong connection to the outdoors, and as a Student Assistant on Hog Island in 2003 she developed a passion for sharing her connection to the outdoors with others. She graduated with a B.S. in Biology from Clark University and served as an education intern for Project Puffin in 2005. With nearly 10 years of experience in outdoor education, her experiences include backpacking with students in West Virginia, snorkeling with school groups on Catalina Island in California, and leading public trips out to the Farallon Islands in search of whales and seabirds. By far, she feels most at home living by the tides on islands such as Hog Island where she has specialized in teaching marine science since her time as a Student Assistant. She feels fortunate to have made her passion her career, and is also an avid biker, explorer, artist and musician.

Susan Schubel - Birds of Maine Islands Instructor

"Seabird Sue" Schubel is Project Puffin's own Disney Hero , and has been the Outreach Educator for Project Puffin since 2000. She loves to engage her students in exciting learning activities and share real data from the seabird islands with them. Her acquaintance with Project Puffin began in high school, when she saw Marlin Perkins rowing ashore with Steve on Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom episode Return of the Puffin. She started working with Project Puffin as a volunteer on Matinicus Rock in 1984, and since then has spent many summers on islands in Maine,California and the Galapagos. Sue loves islands and beasts, and recently acquired a dog with very familiar little black triangles over its eyes.

Nathaniel Sharp - Family Camp I and II Instructor

Nathaniel Sharp is a birder, naturalist, and staff biologist at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies where he works on the Vermont Atlas of Life biodiversity monitoring project, the Vermont Wild Bee Survey, and assists with banding Bicknell's Thrushes, Blackpoll Warblers, and other montane bird species on Vermont's tallest peak - Mount Mansfield. Nathaniel holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Wildlife Biology from the University of Vermont, and has previously worked as a field technician with the Bobolink Project and as a point count technician for the 2nd Maine Breeding Bird Atlas. Nathaniel fell in love with birds and birding at a young age during family trips to the Delaware Bay, where Great Blue Herons, Ospreys, and migrating Red Knots were a constant source of wonder; that sense of wonder has since expanded beyond birds and towards everything from fungi and lichens to native pollinators, dragonflies, plants, and more. Nathaniel first attended the Hog Island Audubon Camp in 2013 as a camper with the Maine Coastal Bird Studies for Teens session thanks to a scholarship from the Wyncote Audubon Society.  You can follow Nathaniel on Instagram @evergreennaturalist, and see his latest bird and wildlife observations on eBird and iNaturalist. 

Anna Siegel - Family Camp (SESSION ONE) Junior Instructor

Anna Siegel (she/her) is from Yarmouth, Maine. She is starting her undergraduate studies at Cornell University in fall 2024 to become a conservation ornithologist. She has been engaged in climate activism since middle school with Maine Youth for Climate Justice, Maine Youth Action, and Sierra Club Maine. She is the Co-founder and Advocacy Director of Maine Youth Action, an organization fighting for bold and equitable climate policy through lobbying, crafting legislation, and grassroots advocacy.

Outside of climate work, Anna is a member of the Maine Young Birders Club and can be found photographing, drawing, writing about, looking for, and doing research on birds. She was chosen by the Maine Space Grant Consortium to participate in the MERITS program, where a number of high school juniors are selected each year to receive paid research internships. Through this program she conducted nest surveys and banded chicks for a Herring Gull rooftop nesting project run by the Perlut Lab at the University of New England. She also was the Outreach Lead for the 30-Year Bird Project, a science communications job for an ecology study around forestry, climate, and birds. When not answering emails or chasing rare species, Anna is an avid rock-climber, poet, and hiker.

Eric Snyder - Facilities and Operations Manager, Audubon Seabird Institute, Hog Island Day Trips Instructor; Joy of Birding Guest Instructor; Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens One and Two Guest Lecturer; Field Ornithology Guest Speaker; Mountains to Sea Birding for Teens Guest Educator; Arts & Birding Guest Lecturer; Sharing Nature: An Educator's Week Guest Lecturer; Family Camp I and II Guest Speaker; Birds of Maine Islands Co-Director, Guest Instructor for most sessions

In his 15 years working at Hog Island Eric has had the pleasure of sharing his deep enthusiasm and knowledge of the Maine ecosystem with thousands of program participants. Since earning a BA in Geology and minors in Biology and Geography from Vassar College, Eric has traveled extensively including surveying shorebirds around the Bahamas, environmental audio collection throughout Southeast Asia, and geologic research across the pacific. Eric has lived as a resident researcher on most of the Seabird Islands managed by Audubon’s Seabird Restoration Program. To benefit worldwide seabird conservation, Eric helped build out decoy and conservation product manufacturing at Audubon and continues to innovate new product development. On Hog Island, Eric manages operation of the facilities and infrastructure, is resident boat captain, and instructs numerous classes including geology, island ecology, astronomy, and natural history. As Co-director of the Saving Seabirds session, Eric hopes to share a unique and interconnected perspective of Maine Coast ecosystems, while working hard to complete meaningful projects in support of our seabirds and their habitats.

Lindsay Strout - Mountains to Sea Birding for Teens Teen Leader; Sharing Nature: An Educator's Week Instructor

Lindsay is a Maine high school science educator who is very passionate about the outdoors and all it has to offer! She studied at the University of Prince Edward Island majoring in Biology and minoring in Environmental Studies. She then left North America and headed to South Korea to teach English for a few years, then traveled for an additional year to 9 other countries, living out of a backpack, exploring the various cultures, food and languages. Upon returning to Maine, she was introduced to nature journaling and currently teaches wildlife biology at Sanford High School. Last year, Lindsay finished her year-long course to become a Maine Master Naturalist as well! She grew up in a very outdoorsy family, from hiking and bicycling to canoe camping. She can’t wait to share her passion for the outdoors and nature journaling with you this summer!

Santi Tabares Erices - Field Ornithology and Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens (SESSION TWO) Junior Instructor

Santi has always been fascinated with the outdoors, and started birding at the age of four. Growing up in Colorado, he spent his time searching for birds by whatever means possible, finding ways to combine nature with public outreach through bird banding, hawkwatching, and as a nature camp counselor. Now a rising senior at Cornell University studying Environment and Sustainability, he continues to share his enthusiasm for nature with others as the president of the Birding Club at Cornell and as trip chair for the Herpetological Society at Cornell. Whenever not searching for birds, reptiles, and amphibians, Santi spends his time baking and rock climbing. Santi attended Hog Island as a camper in 2018, and is excited to return as a Junior Instructor!

Zelle Tenorio - Birds of Maine Islands: A Service Week Junior Instructor

Roselle “Zelle” Tenorio believes everyone is a birder simply through seeing, hearing, or sensing birds. Zelle embraces mindfulness, joy, and establishing a mutual connection with the natural world not for what it gives us but simply for its existence.

They were welcomed to Chicago by the BIPOC and Queer birding community when failing state infrastructure, rampant gentrification, and oppressive state legislation drove Zelle to move from Dallas in 2022. They enjoyed the group birding events so much and saw a need for more of them, so they began organizing bird outings with Chicago BIPOC Birders and Feminist Bird Club Chicago. Zelle has organized and guided birding events for the community in partnership with the Chicago Park District, Brown People Foundation, South Side Nature Play, Latino Outdoors, The Nature Conservancy, Friends of the Forest Preserves, Friends of the Parks, and more.

Zelle completed the Master Naturalist course with the University of Illinois Extension in 2023 and is now a trainee, completing their volunteer hours by guiding birding events and conducting bird surveys in the Cook County Forest Preserves. They have a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies from Grinnell College and currently work remotely as a grantmaker for a nonprofit. Zelle is a nonbinary Tejane, the gender-inclusive term for the descendants of modern-day Texas before it became part of the United States.

Zelle is excited to bring their skills and experience to Hog Island for the first time; it will also be their first visit to the state of Maine! You can join Zelle virtually on a bird walk in their local park at @washingtonbirdwalks.Spark bird: Caspian Tern.

Rosy Tucker - Manager of Public Programs

Rosy is a seasoned science educator and nature enthusiast. She holds a B.S. in Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources from Rutgers University and a Masters of Teaching from Virginia Commonwealth University. Previous to accepting this role at Hog Island, she proudly served as a science teacher in the public school system in Richmond, Virginia. Rosy has been a Family Camp instructor at Hog Island for nearly a decade, and she is thrilled to be returning to the island in a full time capacity. Motivated by the strong belief that everyone should have equal access to nature, Rosy is committed to getting people (especially young people) outside. In her free time, Rosy enjoys reading, biking, playing music, baking and hiking.

Dane Ward - Family Camp II Instructor

Dane Ward, PhD, is a conservation biologist, ecologist, and teaching professor in Drexel University’s Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science Department. Dane’s research and naturalist experiences are well rooted in the Philadelphia region, with horseshoe crab surveys in the Delaware Bay, Pine Barrens fire ecology, forestry and snake conservation research in New Jersey, and salamander surveys and limnology studies in the Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania. Beyond teaching and research, Dane actively serves on two non-profit boards of directors; the Wild Bird Research Group and the Natural Resources Education Foundation of New Jersey.

Dane has been coming to Hog Island’s Family Camp since 2021. Dane is looking forward to engaging families in maintaining their sense of wonder through forestry as well as coastal and stream ecology as we explore Hog Island. One of the most exciting experiences is always the tide pool survey, where he looks forward to finding new critters amongst the wrack weed.

Scott Weidensaul - Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens Two Guest Lecturer; Field Ornithology Director; Fall Migration and Monhegan Island One and Two Director; Raptor Rapture Online Speaker; FOHI President

Author and naturalist Scott Weidensaul has written 30 books on natural history, including Living on the Wind (a Pulitzer Prize finalist), and his latest, A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds, a New York Times bestseller. He is a contributing editor for Audubon magazine, a columnist for Bird Watcher's Digest, and has written for dozens of other publications. Scott has directed a major study of northern saw-whet owl migration for more than 25 years; is a co-founder of Project SNOWstorm (which studies snowy owls); a director of Project Owlnet, a collaboration of more than 125 owl-banding stations; and the Critical Connections project, which studies the migration of birds from Alaska's national park lands. He is also one of fewer than 200 licensed hummingbird banders in North America. Scott and his wife Amy live in New Hampshire.

Nadia Wilkins - Family Camp (SESSION TWO) Junior Instructor

Nadia has been birding since around ten years old, when they were lucky enough to receive enthusiastic mentorship and a pair of binoculars from a family friend. They have since founded a club for ecology and citizen science at their high school, where they lead bird walks and discussions while always trying to convince new friends to check out eBird. A big part of Nadia’s life is music, as they have played violin for over a decade and enjoy singing in choir and competitive contexts; for this reason, they love to engage with nature by listening to bird calls and other sounds. Nadia is also a longtime hobby artist, especially enjoying oil pastels and printmaking. They are excited to sketch birds and be inspired at camp! Nadia has spent several weeks in the Madre de Dios region of Peru to learn about bird banding, but they mostly enjoy birding locally in their home state, Massachusetts. They will begin studying at Middlebury College in the fall of 2024, where they plan to pursue Environmental Studies and explore Vermont. Nadia is a former Hog Island teen camper and is honored to return as a junior instructor.

Torri Withrow - Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens One Teen Leader

Originally from Southern Illinois, Torri relishes the rural mountain setting of Central Pennsylvania.  She has been immersed in seasonal and experiential outdoor education for over seven years.  Her experience ranges from leading multi-week backpacking trips on the Olympic Coast for teenagers, facilitating high-adventure programs, training birds of prey, and leading conservation education programs with live animals.  She's now a manager at a local outdoor gear store, a real estate photographer, and facilitator-of-fun for Shaver's Creek Environmental Center.  She's gained life perspective and stories after living out of her Subaru in Seattle for a summer,  but is now enjoying being rooted in Central Pennsylvania where she's remodeling a home with her partner on the best fly fishing creek in the mid-Atlantic. Natural habitats include local coffee shops, any small and winding river, old-growth forests, and porches with swings.  Torri lives to make meaningful connections, build community, and loathes writing in third person.  Preferred pronouns: she/her. Spark bird: Common yellowthroat.

Bruce Wunderlich - Photography of Maine Birds and Landscapes Instructor

Bruce Wunderlich is an award-winning photographer from Marietta, Ohio. As a teenager in the 1970s, he became interested in photography and has been a passionate student of the art ever since. His interest in bird photography started when a summer tanager visited his backyard in 2008. Bruce was the production director and a contributing photographer for Bird Watcher's Digest and Watching Backyard Birds from 2017 till their closing in 2021. His photography has been published countless times in state and local magazines and brochures 

Keenan Yakola - Birds of Maine Islands Instructor

Keenan's coastal upbringing on Cape Cod, MA sparked a deep love for the ocean and New England coast. The earliest birding experiences he can recall from his childhood included watching Common Terns plunge dive for fish and Common Eider ducklings bravely tackling the waves crashing along Maine's rocky coastline. These experiences formed the foundation for his interest in birding and eventually the focus of his academic research.

Keenan has worked with the National Audubon Seabird Institute for over a decade. During this time he has worked as a research assistant on Eastern Egg Rock, served as the supervisor of Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge, completed his Master's degree focused on long-term dietary shifts in some of Maine's iconic seabirds, and now is pursuing his PhD studying the movement ecology of terns and petrels using GPS tracking devices here in Maine. While Keenan's research interests focus on the conservation of seabirds, he is passionate and curious about any bird he can put his binoculars on!

Sherrie York - Arts & Birding Director; Artist-in-residence Program Coordinator

A self-taught printmaker and compulsive wanderer of landscapes, Sherrie York finds her inspiration in the natural world. A long-ago college field trip to draw backyard chickens was the unexpected genesis of a career that encompasses environmental education, natural history illustration, birding, and printmaking. Sherrie has provided illustrations and taught workshops for a wide variety of conservation organizations, including Trout Unlimited, Colorado Parks & Wildlife, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, and the Scarborough Land Trust. Her association with Audubon began in the late 1990s when she became illustrator for the “Audubon Adventures” education program. During the 15 years she worked on that project, she also wrote and designed the program’s Nature Journaling for Everyone unit. She came to Hog Island for the first time as an instructor in 2008. 

Sherrie’s linocuts have been presented in national and international exhibitions, including the Woodson Art Museum’s prestigious Birds in Art, and the Society of Animal Artists’ Art & the Animal, and are represented in corporate and museum collections. Sherrie also serves on the boards of the Society of Animal Artists and the Midcoast Audubon Society, and is the Coordinator of the Audubon Artist Residency at Hog Island in Maine. More about Sherrie and her work can be seen on her website.

All participants must agree to the Camper Guidelines - please read before registering.

NOTE: Audubon reserves the right to alter itineraries, instructors and particular arrangements, or to substitute similar itineraries or arrangements, at no penalty. If Audubon cancels a session, it will issue full refunds of all deposits or payments to the paid participants.