FEATURED GUESTS
In alphabetical order:
Cheryl Daigle is the community liaison and outreach coordinator for the Penobscot River Restoration Trust. Over the past fifteen years, she has worked with various conservation groups in Maine and Massachusetts, including The Nature Conservancy, Forest Society of Maine, Cobscook Bay Resource Center, and Maine Sea Grant. The focus of her work has primarily been to raise awareness about the natural environment and to engage people in stewardship of their local environment and/or habitat restoration projects. She is also a writer and poet, and serves as a correspondent to Orion magazine. She lives by the Penobscot River with her family in Old Town.Alison C. Dibble, Ph.D., of Brooklin, Maine, is a plant conservation biologist who serves on the adjunct faculty at the University of Maine School of Biology and Ecology, in Orono, and is a cooperating research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service. She was a board member of the Blue Hill Heritage Trust for 15 years, and President from 2001-2003. She taught plant taxonomy at U Maine and at College of the Atlantic. Today she runs a consulting firm, Stewards LLC, which provides research and consultation on plant conservation to agencies such as the Maine Forest Service, land trusts, and individuals
Pete Dunne When he was seven years old, Pete Dunne was presented with two instruments that would define his life. One was a pair of binoculars; the other a book—a book about birds. One brought intimacy; the other knowledge and through them the woodlands behind his suburban home became a portal that opened onto a world of discovery and wonders.
Now 56, Vice President of the New Jersey Audubon Society and Director of the Society’s Cape May Bird Observatory, Pete Dunne uses his talents and energy to make the natural world real for others. Through books like “Pete Dunne on Birding”, “The Wind Masters”, “Hawks in Flight” , “The Feather Quest” and the “Essential Field Guide Companion”; regular columns that have appeared in Birding, Bird Watcher’s Digest, WildBird, Birder’s World, American Birds, Living Bird, the “New Jersey Section” of the New York Times and frequent speaking engagements in the United States, Canada and abroad, he weaves information, insight and even fantasy into a net that captures minds and hearts. A field birder with an international reputation, he has served on the board of the American Birding Association and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute. An authority on the optical needs of birders he has served as a marketing and product advisor to Nikon, Zeiss, Leica, Swarovski, Optik, Bausch and Lomb and others.
As involved as he is the New Jersey Audubon’s educational programming, Director Dunne takes time to lead an every Monday morning bird walk in season, and in Autumn assist with the Cape May Hawk Count—the count he established 32 years ago. “It keeps me grounded in what is real and what is important,” he explains. He is also the founder of and a 24-year veteran of the World Series of Birding. Called “The Worlds Greatest Natural Treasure Hunt,” the annual event attracts over 100 teams and has raised over $8,000,000 for conservation.
In recognition of this event, and for “life time achievement” promoting the cause of birding, Dunne was awarded the American Birding Association’s Roger Tory Peterson Award in 2001. Other awards include the EPA Environmental Protection Award, Governor’s Conference on Tourism Environmental Award and the 1991 Winchester Good News Hunting Writer’s Contest 1st prize. When not working, writing, traveling, or birding Dunne spends his time with wife Linda and the couple’s volatile pair of Labrador retrievers, Max and Raven in the riverside hamlet of Mauricetown, NJ.
Michael J. Good, MS. Biologist/naturalist, President of Down East Nature Tours in Bar Harbor, Maine and Founder of Warblers and Wildflowers Festival (1998-2007) and events coordinator for Acadia Birding Festival. He has over 25 years experience studying the birds of North America and brings a wealth of knowledge about Neotropical migrants and the avifauna of the Eastern United States. Michael has traveled extensively in the US, Alaska, Europe, Australia, South America and Cuba. Michael is a regional business leader promoting sound ecologically practices in business, government and land development. As a Registered Maine Guide, Michael has been guiding professionally for many years through his company Down East Nature Tours focusing on avian ecology in the Gulf of Maine bioregion. Fields of expertise include wetland ecology, ornithology, environmental education and Developmental Biology. Michael spent many years studying numerous aspects of the Gulf of Maine while employed at the Marine Biological Laboratory and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. In his spare time he maintains Three Pines Bird Sanctuary in Town Hill, Maine, studying micro-habitat of Neotropical migratory birds on Mount Desert Island, Maine and winter ecology in various Neotropical countries when given the opportunity. He currently holds a BA (Biology) from Earlham College and a MS (Developmental Biology) from the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Wing Goodale is a senior research biologist and coastal bird program director at BioDiversity Research Institute. He carries outs diverse fieldwork from conducting bird surveys to testing seabird eggs for mercury to capturing and collecting blood from bald eagles. When not in the field, Goodale prepares scientific papers, conducts GIS analysis, manages Biodiversity's Web site, and oversees BRI's live eagle Web camera. Outside of work, he is on the Maine Board of Environmental Protection, is a member of the Falmouth Shellfish Committee, and Falmouth Conservation Commission. Prior to BioDiversity, Goodale studied wildlife in many regions of the continental U.S., worked with endangered species in Hawaii, assessed a macaw reintroduction project in Costa Rica, and assisted in an expedition to the lowland rainforest in Brazil. For his work he has been recognized as a National Fellow of the Explorers Club. Goodale has a bachelor's degree in biology from Colorado College and master's degree in conservation biology from College of the Atlantic.
Ruth Gortner Grierson is a well known local naturalist. For many years she has been writing a weekly Nature Column for the Mount Desert Islander as well as numerous special nature articles for Friends of Acadia. She also gives lectures on the Natural History of Mount Desert Island to various groups in Maine. Ruth has authored five books about the flora and fauna of Mount Desert Island. She lives in Bass Harbor on her private Sanctuary with her 11 year old dog, "Pete" ( a Hound/Jack Russel mix).
Scott Grierson of Bass Harbor, Maine is the founder and Executive Director of the Stanley Grierson Nature Foundation. A naturalist and educator, Mr. Grierson taught Natural History from 1993- 2004. His innovative Natural History Enrichment Program reached more than a thousand Hancock County elementary school students, several times each school year. The Stanley Grierson Nature Foundation named after Scott’s naturalist father is poised to construct the Ship Harbor Nature Center on the southern tip of Mount Desert Island. Mr. Grierson also writes the weekly nature column for the Bar Harbor Times. An avid hiker and adventurer Mr. Grierson has hiked the entire Appalachian Trail three times and leads jungle survival and adventure trips to the rainforest of Eastern Peru.
Ed Hawkes, a Bar Harbor bird carver, carving instructor, and avid birdwatcher, will demonstrate his carving process at Alone Moose gallery. Also on display will be a number of his finished carved birds. He has won numerous national and international competitions including a Best of Show for a life size loon. Ed was one of the artists selected to work on an endangered species project for the Visitors Center at the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Naples, Florida. He carved and painted two nesting and six flying Least Terns and a Red-cockaded Woodpecker for this display. His two nesting Least Terns are displayed in a seashore diorama demonstrating loss of their critical habitat due to overuse of beaches by humans. Ed’s six flying Least Terns are mounted swirling up the wall above the diorama. And his Red-cockaded Woodpecker is part of the upland habitat display demonstrating the need for periodic burning. These endangered woodpeckers, as well as many other species, rely on the periodic burning of the undergrowth to maintain their habitat.
Billy Helprin lives in Bass Harbor and has been interested in birds and other wildlife as long as he can remember. He has a Master of Science degree from Utah State University and a Master of Arts in Teaching. Billy has enjoyed leading wildlife explorations and studies in the Rocky Mountain region for Great Plains Wildlife Institute, the Teton Science School, and Abercrombie and Kent; and in Kenya for the School for Field Studies. He has been involved with avian research and inventory projects in Ohio, Maine, Wyoming and Guatemala. Whenever possible, Billy enjoys getting out with friends or on his own to see and hear which bird species are nearby and what they are up to.
Zack Klyver is head naturalist of Bar Harbor Whale Watch and has been guiding whale and seabird trips on the Gulf of Maine for twenty years. He has worked with the Center for Marine Conservation and the research organizations Cape May Bird Observatory and Allied Whale. Zack has also spent a season as a marine mammal lecturer for Abercrombie and Kent guiding trips to Antarctica and during the austral summer saw seven species of Penguin and five species of Albatross. He has been an avid birder since he began feeding birds at the age of twelve.
David Lamon, M.S., is the Executive Director of the Somes-Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary and serves as President of the Mount Desert Island Water Quality Coalition. His work focuses on environmental conservation, restoration, monitoring, and education. As a naturalist he enjoys spending time in aquatic environments
Abby McBride - A self-taught artist, Abby studied biology at Williams College. She is now writing and illustrating a book about her experiences birding on the road in the western United States. Abby provided the warbler illustrations for this year's Acadia Birding Festival and her work also appears in New York City Audubon's newsletter.
Robert L. Shaw - Born and raised in Bar Harbor, Robert is proud to be an "island native". Ask him anything about Mount Desert Island, the local environment, or his favorite subject, fishing. He is sure to provide lots of interesting tales. Robert received a BS in Recreation Management and Business Administration in 1984 from the University of Maine. When he is not kayaking or fishing, he enjoys camping, swimming, scuba diving, boating and paddling the Florida Everglades. Robert sits on the Board of Directors of the Bar Harbor Savings & Loan Association.
Scott Swann B.A and M.Ph, College of the Atlantic: For the last 12 years Scott has taught Ornithology, field ecology and marine botany at College of the Atlantic where he is also curator of the collection at the Dorr Museum of Natural History. Scott and his wife drove from Bar Harbor Maine through central and south America to Terra del Fuego on an epic bird watching voyage.