Spring Migration & Monhegan Island
May 25 – May 30, 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.
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Join us for a special spring experience in Mid-coast Maine. Birding highlights will be nesting species on territory and late spring migrants heading to breeding grounds.
The week includes an overnight trip by boat to Monhegan Island, a world-renowned migratory hotspot, beautiful island village, and vibrant artists’ colony. We’ll walk several short trails on the island, enjoying the spectacular scenery while searching for songbirds. Another highlight of the week is an excursion to Eastern Egg Rock, famous for its nesting Atlantic Puffins and three species of terns. Walks on Hog Island and at nearby mainland sites take us to a variety of habitats and, hopefully, a great assortment of birds, which will be in their most brilliant breeding plumage. We’ll visit spruce forests, meadows, rocky coastlines, and perhaps other habitats. Back at camp and on our walks, we’ll discuss details of migration, conservation challenges facing birds, and the fast-growing practice of mindful birding.
Pricing: $1990
The base registration fee includes meals, housing, instruction, and all field trips. This also includes your hotel room, ferry transportation, and most meals on Monhegan (participants will be responsible for purchasing one lunch on the second day of the Monhegan Island trip). Participants will also be responsible for gratuity for cleaning and breakfast at their Monhegan hotels. 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 prerequisites for this program! Birders of all skill levels are welcome as are less experienced/enthusiastic partners, friends, or family. Participants must be able to walk over uneven terrain for 2 miles. Monhegan Island has unimproved trails with hills and rocky outcroppings that require the ability to walk uphill and on a single-track trail.
Director
Mark Garland is a naturalist, writer, leader of nature tours, and monarch butterfly researcher. He has worked as a naturalist for the National Park Service, several Audubon Societies, and private nature tour companies. He writes the "Birders Question Mark" column for Bird Watcher's Digest. He first served as an instructor at Hog Island more than 20 years ago. He lives in West Cape May, New Jersey.
Instructors
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.
Tom Reed is the Migration Count Coordinator for New Jersey Audubon's Cape May Bird Observatory, where he spends most of his time managing and collecting data on the 300+ species of birds that migrate through the world-renowned Cape May Peninsula each spring and fall. Tom also directs fieldwork associated with the observatory's Monarch Monitoring Project and regularly leads programs and tours on behalf of NJ Audubon's ecotravel and guide-for-hire programs. In his spare time, he likes to be out on the ocean and serves as the Avian Naturalist for the Cape May Whale Watch & Research Center. He loves nothing more than observing visible migration and sharing his passion for migration with others.
Junior Instructor
Josh Ward Jr. graduated from Virginia Tech in 2022 with a bachelor’s in Wildlife Conservation and a minor focus in Creative Writing. He is an avid poet, writer, birder, and wildlife photographer, and loves every opportunity to educate others about the natural world. He has assisted numerous research projects in the past few years, including jaguar camera-trapping in Belize, seabird surveys in Oregon, shorebird nesting surveys in Alaska, and migratory bird counts in Maryland.
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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