Mid-Coast Audubon Society


















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About Us

Mid-Coast Audubon Society, with its base in Rockland, Maine, is a chapter of Audubon, and affiliated with Maine Audubon Society. Our mission is to promote long-term, responsible use of natural resources through informed membership, education and community awareness.

The chapter owns and manages four refuges open to the public for quiet recreation on the trails. These refuges are natural areas and we allow nature to take its course except for the trail system. Birders are encouraged to use the refuges and the trail system in all seasons.

Davis Bog Preserve, a 40-acre white cedar wetland in the Town of Morrill, is the latest chapter land protection acquisition. Access is by a 10-foot right of way over lands of Rudy Hamm on the Higgins Ridge Road, about one mile from Route 3, east of the state's Ruffingham Meadow Preserve.

The 30-acre Guy VanDuyn Refuge is on Route 220, 1.5 miles south of Waldoboro. Park on right berm, several trails bisect diverse habitats and vegetation, from upland oak, spruce forest, field, riparian hardwoods, to tidal salt marsh on the Medomak River. Waterfowl, shorebirds, and more than 80 species of songbirds may be seen, depending upon the season.

The 95-acre Nelson Nature Preserve is on Route 97, on the left about 1 mile from Friendship Village and has a parking lot, trails, and diverse habitat, from upland mixed forest to unique red maple swamp fronting the Goose River. Proximity to the coast makes this an excellent spring birding location for warblers and year-round for dense forest-dwellers such as thrush family and woodpeckers.

The 3-acre Weskeag River Preserve is a narrow strip of land 0.1 mile from Route 73, on Waterman Beach Road just past Snowdeal Road. The parcel fronts 300 feet on the Weskeag River and has spruce, balsam fir and red maple. Shorebirds on the river and birds inhabiting dense conifer forest may be seen. Parking and trail system under development.

Please, no wheeled vehicles or fires. Pack it in, pack it out.

Mid-Coast Audubon Society is now an Affiliate Member of the North American Bluebird Society and chapter members may take advantage of special NABS membership offering of $15 by specifying "Special A+ Offer Applies" and mail with check to NABS, P.O. Box 45, Miamiville, OH 45147. Members receive the quarterly BLUEBIRD magazine filled with information about conservation, research, education and bluebird recovery.

The chapter is also a member of the Ducktrap Coalition, whose mission is to protect the natural and scenic features of the Ducktrap River watershed.

The Chapter annual meeting was held at the Maine Audubon Camp on Hog Island on Saturday June 23rd with 22 attending. A "Puffin Cruise" on the camp's new Puffin V to Eastern Egg Rock listed 20 species including Razorbill and Gannets. Speaker was Paul Kando whose informative presentation was about climate change.

Seaside Explorers, operating for over a decade on Thursday mornings from 9:30 to 11:30 during July and August, provides youth ages 7-11 hand-on outdoor experiences in pond life, salt marsh wanderings, meadow wanderings, the shore, woods and birds. The group meets at the Maine Audubon Camp Mainland Visitor Center at the end of Keene Neck Road in Bremen.

As a service to our members, we publish a quarterly newsletter, Mid-Coast BULLETIN, which reports current news, bird sightings, legislative developments, educational programs, upcoming field trips and other matters relating to our mission.

The chapter has a shed full of nest boxes for bluebirds, chickadees, nuthatches, Saw-whet Owls, flickers, kestrels, wood ducks and bats—and feeders too—both covered-platform feeders and oriole fruit feeders.

Compare our North American Bluebird Society "Approved" nest boxes with the boxes you find at local stores. You'll see ours are the best white pine boxes, fastened with galvanized annular-ringed nails, and the box is guaranteed not to come apart—if they do, return the box for a new box FREE!

Revised 03 September 2012