Birds of Maine Islands
August 31 – September 5, 2025
Registration is open now for the 2025 Camp season! All campers must agree to the Camper Guidelines and Cancellation Policy. Please read this policy before registering.
The National Audubon Society is in the process of updating our health forms for the upcoming season. You will receive a notification from Camp Docs and Hog Island when health forms, required for attending Hog Island, open in February.
The deadline to pay your tuition in full and complete your registration forms is April 1, 2025.
REGISTER NOW
Find answers to frequently asked questions about lodging, transportation, schedules, packing lists, meals, and more here. For technical support with CampDoc, please visit their help page or contact support@campdoc.com.
Learn what it's like to be a seabird biologist or "puffineer" in the place that seabird conservation first took flight! During this exciting hands-on week, seabird biologists and conservationists will guide campers through the biology, threats, and conservation of birds on Maine coastal islands. The central focus of this week is service. Campers will have the unique opportunity to directly support seabird research in Maine through various service projects throughout the week.
Through field trips, workshops, and evening programs, campers will learn about and contribute to conservation efforts. Field trips may include the opportunity to visit seabird islands where our Audubon researchers and nesting seabirds spend the summer. Workshops may include habitat management through invasive vegetation removal, marine debris cleanup, painting seabird decoys, and building blinds or chick shelters for researchers to use on the island colonies. Participants will learn from and work alongside preeminent bird biologists and leaders in the conservation field.
During this program you will learn about seabird identification, bird banding, adaptations, migration, and ecology while participating in active restoration work. Please note that the probability of seeing terns and puffins at this time of year is very low!
Pricing: $1425
The base registration fee includes meals, housing, instruction, and all field trips. This price is based on a standard shared room (with 2 twin beds) a shared bathroom. A limited number of upgraded accommodations are available for an additional cost. Two upgrade options are a single room for solo travelers or a room with a private bath for two people traveling together. There are no single rooms with private bathrooms available. 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.
There are several different scholarship opportunities available to help participants attend Hog Island sessions! Please see our scholarships page for more information about Hog Island Scholarships. You should also check with your local Audubon chapter or bird club for additional opportunities.
Requirements: There are no requirements to attend this program, but we do ask that you have a genuine interest in service work and seabird conservation. Carpentry, painting, and sewing skills are a plus!
Director
Maggie DeWane 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 as an author and filmmaker, Maggie leads the Birds of Maine Islands session, sharing insight on climate impacts to wildlife and habitats. 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.
Instructors: Seabird Sue Schubel
Katie Stoner is an Oregon State University PhD student assessing the conservation status and threats to Tufted and Horned Puffins breeding in the Kodiak Archipelago, Alaska. She developed a passion for wildlife while attending summer camps with Bird Alliance of Oregon (formerly Audubon Society of Portland) in her hometown of Portland, Oregon. After graduating from the University of Vermont, Katie studied avian ecology as part of several different research programs. She contributed to the conservation of threatened and endangered petrels and shearwaters in the tropical mountains of Kauai’s Na Pali Coast and monitored tree nests of the Marbled Murrelet in Oregon’s coastal forests. She lived in remote field camps in the backcountry of the Kodiak Archipelago, on Chowiet Island in the Gulf of Alaska, and on the windy slopes of Cape Crozier on Ross Island, Antarctica studying Adelie Penguins.
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.
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