Boston Flora

Tag: Puffins

  • Sunday, May 31 – Friday, June 5 – Hog Island Nature Journaling Summer Camp

    Join The Wild Wonder Foundation for its 2026 Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Adventures, including Hog Island Nature Journaling Summer Camp in Maine on May 31-June 5 with Charlotte Belland @bellandpixel and Michael Boardman @mboardmanart!

    It will be a Puffin Party! Join this birding and nature journaling adventure at Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine, a historic location for birders and nature lovers. With a rich legacy in American ornithology, Hog Island is a fantastic setting to immerse yourself in the world of birds. Explore the region’s stunning beauty through guided walks, boat tours, field sketching, and evening speakers.


    Registration is open, and our trips often sell out in days. Folks on our mailing list are the first to hear when signups open. You can sign up for our mailing list at wildwonder.org/subscribe


    Led by experienced and engaging educators, Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Retreats offer you the opportunity to deepen your nature journaling practice while inspiring you, challenging you, and encouraging you to connect with nature, other nature journalers, and yourself. The vibe is joyful, kind, enthusiastic, supportive, and fun…and nature journalers of ALL experience levels are welcome!

    In 2026, we are excited to offer five retreats: (plus a Sandhill Crane Adventure!)

    — Sandhill Crane Migration Celebration in Nebraska: March 20-22 with John Muir Laws

    —Point Reyes National Seashore, CA: April 27-30, with John Muir Laws and Catherine Hamilton

    —Hog Island, ME: May 31-June 5, Charlotte Belland and Michael Boardman

    — Wolf Ridge, MN; July 12-17 with John Muir Laws and Roseann Hanson

    — Olympic National Park, WA: August 16-21 with John Muir Laws, Debby Kaspari, and Maria Coryell-Martin

    —Sierra Nevada, CA: October 13-18, with Kate Rutter and Rob Wade

    Visit wildwonder.org/adventures26 or wildwonder.org/events to learn more. Registration will open later this month, and our trips often sell out in days. Folks on our mailing list are the first to hear when signups open.

  • Monday, May 18, 7:00 pm – Project Puffin

    Project Puffin is the inspiring story of how a beloved seabird was restored to long-abandoned nesting colonies off the Maine coast. As a young ornithology instructor at the Hog Island Audubon Camp, Dr. Stephen W. Kress learned that puffins had nested on nearby islands until extirpated by hunters in the late 1800s. To right this environmental wrong, he resolved to bring puffins back to one such island—Eastern Egg Rock. Yet bringing the plan to reality meant convincing skeptics, finding resources, and inventing restoration methods at a time when many believed in “letting nature take its course.”

    Today, Project Puffin has restored more than 1,000 puffin pairs to three Maine islands. But even more exciting, techniques developed during the project have helped to restore rare and endangered seabirds worldwide. Further, reestablished puffins now serve as a window into the effects of climate change. The success of Dr. Kress’s project offers hope that people can restore lost wildlife populations and the habitats that support them. The need for such inspiration has never been greater.

    Derrick Z. Jackson, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for commentary and an accomplished photographer, is an associate editor and editorial board member of the Boston Globe. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and will speak on Project Puffin at Porter Square Books on Monday, May 18 beginning at 7 pm. For more information visit http://www.portersquarebooks.com/event/derrick-z-jackson-project-puffin.

  • Saturday, March 3, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm – Mass Audubon Birders Meeting – Birds, Baleen, and 20 Years of Marine Conservation

    The Massachusetts Audubon Society will hold its 20th Annual Birders Meeting on Saturday, March 3, from 8 – 4 at The LaCava Center, Bentley University in Waltham. Registration fee, which includes lunch, is $63 for Mass Audubon members, $70 for non-members, and you may register online at www.massaudubon.org.  Sessions will include talks by Stephen Kress on Restoring Endangered Seabirds: Lessons from Puffins and Terns, Dave Wiley on Foraging Behavior of Humpback Whales in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Debi Shearwater on 35 Years of California Seabirding, and Shawn Carey and Jim Grady on Epic Journeys: Tracking the Migrations of Shorebirds in the Western Hemisphere. Additional breakout presentations will be given by Anne-Marie Runfola, Julie C. Ellis, Brian Harrington, and Joan Walsh.