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Join us for a special celebratory weekend on Hog Island! Expect a 'homecoming' atmosphere as friends, old and new, come together to enjoy classic Hog Island camp experiences.
Enjoy the best of Hog Island - including boat trips, hikes, bird walks, and intertidal exploreation - as we reflect on the island's rich history through shared stories, memories, and moments to connect with each other and the landscape. Friday evening we say "Thank You" to the Friends of Hog Island during the FOHI Apprection dinner prior to a special, keynote address. On Saturday, the island will open to the community for the Hog Island Open House. Instructors and staff will be running concurrent lectures, walks, and science activities for all ages. As Open House guests depart from the island, Weekend Session participants will gather for a final dinner and closing program. Registration for the weekend session includes the FOHI Appreciation Dinner and Open House.
Pricing: In order to maximize housing and make the event as accessible as possible, we are offering several different lodging options including group rooms (3-6 people) at a discounted price. The upgraded rooms with private bathrooms (Blackburnian, Guillemot, and Eider) are reserved for two people traveling together. There are no single rooms with private bathrooms available.
**If you are traveling with a roommate(s), make sure that you both select the same lodging option when you register.** You will be able to indicate who your roommate is in your registration forms.
Your total registration price will depend on which housing option you choose:
Please see our lodging page for more information.
Participants must arrange their own transportation to and from the Audubon dock in Bremen at the start and end of the session. Please see our transportation page for more information.
Requirements: There are no prerequisites for this program! Birders of all skill levels are welcome as are less experienced/enthusiastic partners, friends, or family.
Director: Rosy Tucker
Rosy Tucker 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.
Instructors: Ted Gilman, Holly Merker, Sara Morris, Scott Weidensaul
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 bachelors 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.
Holly Merker has been in awe of birds and the wonders of the natural world since childhood. She shares her passion by connecting others to nature in her work as a professional birding guide and nature-based wellness specialist, award-winning author, and public speaker. Combining professional backgrounds in bird identification, art therapy, certification in nature and forest therapy and wellness counseling, and mindfulness practice, she works as a global advocate for Mindful Birding. With dedication to bird conservation, Holly has been the eBird state coordinator/data reviewer for Pennsylvania since 2005 and was a two-term voting member and Chairperson of the Pennsylvania Ornithological Records Committee. She considers herself a migration junkie and lives her life around the seasonal journeys of birds. Holly believes strongly that birding holds a key to wellbeing, co-authoring two books on this subject, and founding the Mindful Birding Network and co-hosting the Mindful Birding Podcast.
Sara Morris is currently the Executive Director of the Shoals Marine Lab, an educational field station on Appledore Island, Maine, jointly operated by the University of New Hampshire and Cornell University. Her connection to Appledore and the Shoals Marine Lab dates back to 1990, when she began her studies of bird migration as a graduate student at Cornell University. She received her PhD in 1996 and joined the faculty at Canisius College that year. At Canisius, she taught a variety of courses including ornithology, vertebrate zoology, field ecology, evolution and ecology, and anatomy and physiology of plants and animals. Her career at Canisius included achieving tenure, attaining promotion to full professor, coordination of the Environmental Science Program, service as Co-chair of the Biology Department, selection as Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, and ultimately selection as Vice President for Academic Affairs. At Canisius, she was honored with induction into several honor societies, receiving the Arts and Sciences Teaching Award, and receiving the Koessler Distinguished Faculty Award, the highest honor for a faculty member. After more than 27 years at Canisius, the last nine of which were in academic administration, she retired from Canisius in 2024, received the honor of emeritus status, and immediately accepted the passion project of leading the Shoals Marine Lab. Shoals is the largest and oldest marine lab focused on undergraduate research. Shoals also provides extensive research opportunities, building of community, and advancement of sustainable practices and infrastructure. Shoals focuses on immersive, place-based education, and she is thrilled to be facilitating the continued transformative educational experiences Shoals provides. Sara’s research program has focused on migration and stopover ecology, and recently has expanded into flight calling behavior. She has also contributed to projects investigating the impacts of birds and bird migration on zoonotic diseases, the impacts of anthropogenic structures on birds (especially in migration), and the impact of climate change on bird migration in North America. Her work led to her election as and Elective Member and later a Fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU), election to the Council of the Wilson Ornithological Society (WOS) and AOU, election as Secretary of the WOS and later the AOU, election to the presidential succession of the WOS, and most recently election to the presidential succession of the American Ornithological Society. She currently serves as the President of the American Ornithological Society. She began teaching at the Audubon Camp in 1990 and is thrilled to have the opportunity to return to Hog Island each year to share her love of birds, Hog Island, Muscongus Bay, and Black Guillemots with participants in camp programs. She also currently serves on the Board of the Friends of Hog Island because of her commitment to the mission and activities of the Hog Island Audubon Camp.
Scott Weidensaul is the author of nearly 30 books on natural history, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist "Living on the Wind" and his latest, the New York Times bestseller "A World on the Wing." Weidensaul is a contributing editor for Audubon and writes for a variety of other publications, including Bird Watcher's Digest and Living Bird. He is a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society and an active field researcher, studying saw-whet owl migration for more than 25 years, as well as winter hummingbirds in the East, bird migration in Alaska, and the winter movements of snowy owls through Project SNOWstorm, which he co-founded. He lives in New Hampshire, and is the chair of the Friends of Hog Island board of directors.



