Here's to Wonder and Mystery! Audubon's Hog Island Camp Celebrates 75 Years of Education
08/19/2011
The Queen Mary Lab on Hog Island. The lab offers a wealth of books, bird-related specimens, and aquariums. Photo by Terri Willingham
To take care of nature, you’ve got to love it. To love it, it helps to immerse yourself in its earthy depths, to learn about its rhythms. For decades, Audubon’s Hog Island Camp has been an ideal setting for loving and learning about the natural world. Established in 1936 as Audubon’s first educational camp, it celebrates its 75th anniversary tomorrow, August 20th. Among its first instructors: the legendary birder Roger Tory Peterson, who inspired one of its current teachers, renowned avi-expert Kenn Kaufman (a field editor at Audubon magazine.)
The island is 335 acres "of spruce and fir that hug the coast inside [Maine's] Muscongus Bay, a quarter-mile from the mainland, a mere gull’s flap away,” Ted Levin wrote in “A Touch of the Wild” (2002) about an emotional trip he and his two sons took to the locale after his wife passed away. “Hog Island is full of wonder and mystery. Twice each day the sea pulls back from the shore, exposing weed-covered boulders and tidepools rife with crabs and snails and barnacles. At sunrise, 10 or 12 species of warblers flit through the evergreens, harvesting the last caterpillars of summer, while offshore, cormorants and ospreys tow their shadows over the surf. Some mornings, distant islands appear to float in the mist. The frigid water is filled with fish. Its surface is dotted with bright red, yellow, and green lobster buoys, which makes Hog Island pastoral as well as wild.”
The camp experience can even be life-changing. “One of the most memorable field trips we took was to Eastern Egg Rock Island, the southernmost breeding ground in the United States for Atlantic puffins,” Andrea Willingham wrote in “Summer Camp Salute" (2008), at age 17. (In 1973, Steve Kress, director of National Audubon’s Seabird Restoration Program, began his efforts—known as Project Puffin—to restore Atlantic puffins to historic nesting islands in the Gulf of Maine.) “Harbor seals peered inquisitively at us from a distance, and porpoises cruised nearby. Wilson’s storm-petrels soared around the boat, while northern gannets hurled themselves headlong into the waves. A chorus of birds filled the air and the smell of guano wafted into the open-air boat as we arrived at Eastern Egg Rock. Razorbills and Atlantic puffins flew by to perch on the white-spattered rocks and bob in the rough waves…After experiences like these, I knew I would never see the natural world the same way again.” (Willingham subsequently wrote about Hog Island in her college application essay and was accepted to Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, with a scholarship. At the writing of her article in 2008, she planned to major in environmental studies and “go birding as often as possible.”)
There’s another bonus to appreciating the splendors Hog Island offers, too. Participating in its programs forges bonds not only between humans and nature, but between campers. “Walking by the tidepools, I begin to realize that the Hog Island experience has been more than expertly led activities on an enchanting island,” Levin wrote, “People from across the country--the staff and the 41 campers, including grandparents (we had 3), parents, and 19 children--have become a large extended family.”
Whether you’re a teen or an adult, a beginner or a veteran bird enthusiast, Audubon’s Hog Island programs offer something for everyone. For more information, click here.
Sitting in my dark office,
Sitting in my dark office, wishing to be there.
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Love this lol, I wonder if
Love this lol, I wonder if all posts on this website are like this. Will skimm throu it.
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I will be happy if I will
I will be happy if I will see decorations for Episode 7 of The Walking Dead Season 2 and I will appreciation it as I will post it to MEGAVIDEO so that tons of people can watch it online.
omegle .. nice makale.
omegle .. nice makale.
I've heard of these, people
I've heard of these, people talking, but i've never believed its' true.
I visiting Hog Island for
I visiting Hog Island for the first time this summer and I too fell in love with the place. I hope to return soon, maybe with my family, to share the beauty of this magical place!
Truly an evidence of great
Truly an evidence of great works of mother nature. I've been doing island hoping in different places at least once a month, I say it really takes away all the stress in life from the busy city and stressful work. That island with that white old house is breath taking... wishing i was there now..
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Hog Island has been one of
Hog Island has been one of my favorite places ever since i visited there with my family when i was but a nine year old boy. Its good to know that its still as beautiful and cared for as it was then.
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i always thought it was
i always thought it was beautiful as well
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I have really turned into a
I have really turned into a city-boy. I have been telling myself i was gonna get to hog Island for the better part of 5 years. Nothing. Whats the best time to be there?
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I am a lover of nature and i
I am a lover of nature and i know about this camp and already visited 2 times here.
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i love this beautiful place.
i love this beautiful place.
this is the dream place i
this is the dream place i want go to. it is just great.
Hi Julie! This place seems
Hi Julie! This place seems very peaceful. I'd love to go here. I definitely want to book a stay inHog Island one of these days. So glad I came across this post. Thanks!
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Great picture! Nice school.
Great picture! Nice school.
So many of my patients would
So many of my patients would love to go here!
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I mean ... So many of my
I mean ... So many of my patients would love to be able to be healthy enough to go here. Maybe I can show this to them as motivation :)
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Safety Programs: Safe Patient Handling | Hospital Patient Safety
Nurse Resources: calnurses.org | Nurse Injury Prevention
Legislation/Stats: nursingworld.org | Safe Patient Handling Legislation/Safe Patient Handling Act
Hospital Nurse Safety
Hospital Nurse Safety
thanks for your valueable
thanks for your valueable information
aside from getting giardia
aside from getting giardia the whole time I was there - Hog Island is a beauty. But I couldnt enjoy it at all! Iodine drops, iodine drops, iodine drops - u may not usually need them but IF you do, and dont have them...it is not fun.
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So happy today! Thank you
So happy today! Thank you for the beautiful post.
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I am so happy our bill
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Hi Cathy, thanks for the
Hi Cathy, thanks for the great review of Hog Island. It's the reason I decided to visit this past summer. You are right in pointing out that it is quite an education. I also caution other readers regarding drinking the lake water. Just from taking a swim I came down with a case of giardia. That said, it was a wonderful experience that I would recommend to all.
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has been an ideal setting
has been an ideal setting for loving and learning about the natural world.
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Its surface is dotted with
Its surface is dotted with bright red, yellow, and green lobster buoys, which makes Hog Island pastoral as well as wild.
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and green lobster buoys, which makes Hog Island pastoral as well as wild.
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