The Return of the Oystercatcher: Saving Birds to Save the Planet

Wednesday, July 8

At a time when the news for birds (for the planet!) has rarely seemed more grim, there is reason for hope. Despite the odds today, all around the world people are actually reviving bird populations, providing a roadmap for wider recovery. In his newest book, The Return of the Oystercatcher, best-selling author and researcher Scott Weidensaul shows why creating a world that works for birds will work for everything, including us. He’ll trace this inspiring arc from a tiny island off the Maine coast to the bird-rich Danube Delta on the Ukrainian border, and vulture restoration in the mountains of Bulgaria to across the world’s largest and most intact forest in Canada where Indigenous communities are permanently protecting hundreds of millions of acres of some of the most important migratory bird habitat on Earth. This is a dose of optimism we all need.

There is a limit of 70 people for this program. Please click on the "Program Registration" link below for more information and to sign-up. 

Bio: Scott Weidensaul is the author of nearly 30 books on natural history, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist Living on the Wind and his New York Times bestseller A World on the Wing. His latest book, Return of the Oystercatcher published in April 2026, showcases what’s working for bird conservation around the world. Weidensaul is a contributing editor for Audubon magazine, a columnist for Bird Watcher’s Digest, and writes for a variety of other publications including the Cornell Ornithology Laboratory’s Living Bird publication. He is a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society and an active field researcher, studying Saw-whet Owl migration for 30 years, as well as winter hummingbirds in the East, bird migration in Alaska, and the winter movements of Snowy Owls through Project SNOWstorm, which he co-founded.

Program: Birds of New Zealand

Wednesday, September 9

In December of 2025, Cameron Johnson took a solo trip to see New Zealand’s incredible native birds. This program will go over many of the photos he took, as well as the adventures it took to get them.

Bio: Cameron Johnson is a wildlife photographer based out of Dover, NH and has been an avid birder since 2022. He spends most of his free time looking for rare birds in NH, as well as helping run the New Hampshire Rare Bird Alert Group Me and volunteering for NH Audubon as an eBird Reviewer.

Program: MicroExploring the SuperSanctuary

Wednesday, October 14

We often look to distant horizons for renewal, but the most profound transformations don’t require traveling far for a shift in perspective. Part guidebook and part tribute to a beloved landscape, Phil Brown and Ignacio Oreamuno’s book MicroExploring the SuperSanctuary blends history, ecology, and personal narrative to show how everyday walks can become journeys of belonging.

Join Phil and Ignacio as they reveal the hidden wonders of the Monadnock Region’s “SuperSanctuary”. Through the lens of “MicroExploring,” they challenge audiences to slow down, look more closely, and find the extraordinary in the everyday landscapes of NH. Whether you’re passing through or have lived there for many years, you’ll feel the SuperSanctuary’s story come alive and discover your own place within it.

Bio: A career naturalist and conservationist, Phil Brown brings decades of deep ecological knowledge. His ability to read the landscape, from the flight patterns of hawks to the history written in stone walls, turns every walk into a masterclass in observation.

An entrepreneur, artist, and author, Ignacio Oreamuno bridges the gap between the modern professional world and the ancient rhythm of the woods. He explores how the principles of nature can inform our creativity, our businesses, and our mental health.

Program: Saltmarsh Restoration in the Hampton-Seabrook Estuary

Wednesday, November 4

As one of two estuaries of national significance in NH, the Hampton-Seabrook Estuary (HSE) contains the largest continuous area of salt marsh in NH and contains the last remaining sand dunes and most productive clam flats in the state. Efforts to understand, monitor, conserve, and restore the HSE have only recently gained momentum. During this presentation, representatives from the NH Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) Coastal Program, NH Audubon (NHA), and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) will describe two separate efforts to restore salt marsh in partnership with the Town of Hampton and NHA. Participants will hear about some of the challenges encountered as well as some of the successes achieved.

Bio: Kevin Lucey is the Coastal Habitat Coordinator for the NHDES Coastal Program. Since joining the Program in 2006, Kevin has worked with partners on many facets of coastal habitat issues including: salt marsh monitoring, invasive plant control, dam removal, and culvert assessment and prioritization. Since 2019, Kevin shifted the programmatic focus to salt marsh, including helping to create the Seabrook Hampton Estuary Collaborative in 2020, the co-creation of a Statewide Salt Marsh Assessment and Monitoring Strategy (SMAMS), and the pursuit of 200 acres of salt marsh restoration with support from a $2,000,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation-America the Beautiful Challenge.

Kevin will be joined by:

Grace McCullough, Community Science Project Leader at NHA. Grace will talk about NHA’s efforts to restore salt marsh in Hampton Falls.

Bonnie Turek, Biologist at the USFWS Gulf of Maine Coastal Program. Bonnie will talk about partnering with USDA NRCS, UNH’s Jackson Estuarine Laboratory and the NHA to restore salt marsh in Hampton Falls and North Hampton.

Zoom Program: Bald Eagle Monitoring in NH: New Methods and Season Results

Wednesday, December 9

Bald Eagle populations in NH have rebounded after decades of conservation concern, thanks to the time and effort of volunteers across the state. In order to ensure that this trend continues, in the 2026 season, we shifted to a new data collection system, NestStory, that accurately and consistently tracks activity and trends. NestStory is an online web application that allows volunteers to collect and submit their Bald Eagle monitoring data to NH Audubon in a consistent and efficient format. In this presentation, NH Audubon Avian Biologist and Bald Eagle program lead, Mickayla Johnston, will talk about this new system of Bald Eagle data collection, how it has been used during the 2026 breeding season, and what the data shows for this year’s population status.

Bio: Mickayla Johnston is NH Audubon’s Avian Biologist and leads the Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, and Northern Harrier projects. She is one of NH Audubon’s newest biologists and began her work with NHA in December of 2025. Prior to coming to NHA, Mickayla was the Wildlife Action Plan Coordinator for the NH Fish and Game Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program. Before working with raptors, she worked with shorebirds on Massachusetts beaches and Red-winged Blackbirds in New England and Yucatan, Mexico. She received her masters in environmental biology from the University of Massachusetts Boston and her bachelors in biology and environmental studies from Keene State College.

Zoom Program: Avian Ecology Research at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest

Wednesday, January 13

Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in North Woodstock, NH has one of the longest running avian research programs. Scientists have addressed a range of questions involving behavioral observations to study energy use of migratory birds to digitizing territory maps to test two competing ideas. This program will discuss the history of avian ecology research focusing on a couple of different projects.

Bio: Miranda Zammarelli is a postdoctoral researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. She completed her PhD research at Dartmouth College last May in Ecology, Evolution, Environment and Society. Her research focuses on how the environment shapes behavior and the consequences of this on the reproductive success of forest breeding migratory birds. She studies birds at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, mainly focusing on the Ovenbird. 

Recorded Programs

Program: Belize, a Perfect Winter Birding Getaway

Wednesday, May 13

Join Becky Suomala on a (virtual) birding trip to tropical Belize in Central America. This English-speaking country has great birding, but also unique archeological sites, and snorkeling from its islands in the Caribbean. From birds to butterflies, fish and scenery, Becky will share highlights from these special places. Her photos are from a recent February trip with several friends that was a perfect winter birding getaway.

Bio: Rebecca Suomala is a Biologist Emerita with NH Audubon. She worked for NH Audubon from 1988 until 2024 in a variety of positions. In 2005, she completed her Master’s in Wildlife Ecology from the University of New Hampshire, conducting research into songbird migration stopover for her thesis. She studied Common Nighthawks for almost 20 years and has banded birds on Appledore Island since 1994. As an avid birder, she has explored much of New Hampshire and has traveled to many national and international birding destinations.

To view a recoding of the meeting, please click on the link below:

Seacoast Chapter NH Audubon Youtube Channel