September 15th – A Birding Tour of Jamaica – with Doug Hitchcox
September 15 @ 7:00 pm - 8:15 pm
Free
An Orangequit, an endemic species in Jamaica – photo by Doug Hitchcox
In March 2026, Maine Audubon led a birding tour to Jamaica, one of the hotbeds of avian endemism in the West Indies with at least 28 species that can be found there and nowhere else. This week long tour visited some of the best known birding locations on the island, from the forests in the Blue Mountains National Park to the famous feeders at Rocklands Bird Sanctuary, and of course no trip is complete without a trip to the local sewage ponds! Just five months before the trip, Hurricane Melissa made a “catastrophic landfall” in Jamaica that caused unprecedented destruction.
A Jamaican Spindalis – photo by Doug Hitchcox
Join us to hear Doug Hitchcox, Maine Audubon’s Staff Naturalist and one of the guides on the Jamaica trip, recounting the trip with a focus on the birds, how they adapted to hurricane damage, plus culinary and cultural highlights! This will be a fun program for anyone planning their own trip or hoping to bird vicariously through the stories, and you’ll get the latest scoop on what tours are coming next.
On Tuesday, September 15th, at 7 p.m., York County Audubon is pleased to host YCA Board member Doug Hitchcox who will present this program. Doug is the Staff Naturalist for Maine Audubon. In his free time, Doug is one of Maine’s eBird reviewers, owner and moderator of the ‘Maine-birds’ listserv, and member of the Maine Bird Records Committee. He also served as the Outreach Coordinator for the Maine Bird Atlas, and writes a regular nature column for the Portland Press Herald.
This program will be presented in-person in the Mather Auditorium of the Wells Reserve at Laudholm. The entrance to the parking area is off Skinner Mill Road in Wells. It will be free and open to all ages, and no registration is required for attending the program in person. It will also be live-streamed via Zoom.
To view via Zoom, you’ll need to register in advance. To do so, please click on this link and enter your name and email address: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0yYVVHqJSPmEKnzY3hUKEw After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
We hope you can join us in-person, or, if not, via Zoom!