Join field biologist, ornithologist and writer Rich MacDonald as he talks about his book “Little Big Year: Chasing Acadia’s Birds” on Thursday, May 6 at 7 p.m. on Zoom with the Jesup Memorial Library. During 2018, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the migratory Bird Treaty Act, MacDonald undertook a year-long adventure to see and hear all the birds of Hancock County which became his “Little Big Year.” This is his story of that year.

As MacDonald brings you along with him, he tells you how he found each species of birds while weaving in fun facts and stories from his more than 40 years of study, birding and travel from Newfoundland to Antarctica. His year starts with seeing Black-capped Chickadees on a New Year’s Day Schoodic Christmas Bird Count and he ends the year spotting Boreal Chickadees. Join him on research vessels into the Gulf of Maine to look for seabirds, hike the mountains of Acadia to observe Snowy Owls, take a night-time bicycle ride into Great Pond Mountain Wildlands to look for the rare Chuck-will's-widow and view shorebirds from the cockpit of a sea kayak. Through it all, you feel as though you are right there with him.

As a field biologist, MacDonald has studied the natural world, focusing on issues relating to climate change, forest ecology and birds. His work has taken him to the higher latitudes, both Arctic and Antarctic, across the boreal forests of North America from Newfoundland to Alaska and around much of Europe and South America. He even spent part of two winters studying birds, primarily Bicknell’s Thrush, in the Dominican Republic. In the course of his research, he has been involved in banding in excess of 30,000 birds.

Early in his career, MacDonald began leading bird tours, specializing in boreal birds and seabirds. Meanwhile, his adventure toolkit grew to include sea kayaking, white-water kayaking, canoeing, hiking and back-country skiing. MacDonald’s longest adventure was a five-month educational sea kayak expedition around the Gulf of Maine. MacDonald runs The Natural History Center, leading nature tours and conducting educational programs throughout the natural world of Acadia National Park, Downeast Maine and beyond.

Copies of “Little Big Year” are on sale courtesy of co-sponsor Sherman’s Books and can be purchased at any of their locations, online at shermans.com or by calling their Bar Harbor location at 204-288-3161.

Registration is required to receive the Zoom link. To register email kchagnon@jesuplibrary.org or fill out the form at jesuplibrary.org/events/macdonald.