Meet the Guerards

Jason and Laura Guerard

Since becoming Audubon’s first residential camp more than 70 years ago, Hog Island has touched the people who step foot on it. There is something about its rich history, striking beauty, and unique atmosphere that makes this 330-acre gem in midcoast Maine’s Muscongus Bay simply unforgettable.

For Jason and Laura Guerard it’s no different—the island holds a special place in their hearts. But in their time at Hog Island these former instructors not only fell in love with the island, but with each other.

In a long-awaited homecoming, the Guerards, both 31, are returning to the island this summer to launch a new session, Family Birding Adventure. The program will bring families closer together in an unforgettable week of birding some of the most spectacular spots the Maine coast has to offer.

“I just can’t wait,” Laura said.

An Audubon-style Courtship

The Guerards both got hooked on birding in college. While a student at the University of Vermont and an environmental educator at Green Mountain Audubon Center, Laura was charged with revamping the center’s bird education programs. That led to an ornithology scholarship at Hog Island. “It was overwhelming in the most spectacular way,” she said of the experiences there that sparked her love of birding.

Jason’s introduction to birding was a reluctant one. He was at Northland College studying outdoor education when he was required to take a class on birds and botany. He wasn’t too keen on binoculars and bird guides at first, but he soon discovered that birding was a natural fit for him. “I have few regrets in life,” Jason said, “but one of them is not starting birding earlier.”

Both were instructors at Hog Island in 2000, but their paths never crossed, as Jason instructed adult sessions and Laura in youth sessions. When the following summer’s adult session came to a close, though, camp director Seth Benz asked Jason to co-lead a youth camp program.

Jason met his fellow instructor, Laura, while bringing her to the island in a skiff. Was it love at first sight? “I didn’t like him at first,” Laura said of her initial impression. “I thought he was a little rude.”

But by the end of the session, they had become good friends, and something more. As Laura headed to Corkscrew Sanctuary in Florida, Jason happened to be living “nearby”. He made a three-hour drive (each way) every weekend for a uniquely Audubon courtship—birding dates at the sanctuary. Before long, Jason had passed two of Laura’s big requirements. “He was a good guy and a good birder,” she said.

While Jason took summer jobs around the country, Laura returned to Hog Island for the next two years, first as assistant director, then as full-time director of youth and teen camp. Jason came back to Hog Island that summer to help Laura develop and lead the Coastal Maine Bird studies teen program, one of his proudest accomplishments.

In December of that year, the two rowed out to Hog Island for a day of birding. Laura spotted long-tailed ducks, eider—and an engagement ring. “It’s exactly what I pictured my proposal being,” Jason said.

Since then, the husband and wife have moved to New Jersey, where Jason manages Cape May Bird Observatory’s Nature Store while Laura manages the center’s Web site, birdcapemay.org.

Family Birding Adventure

The couple’s new session at Hog Island focuses on family birding. The week will include puffins at Eastern Egg Rock (“You can’t go to Maine without going to Eastern Egg Rock,” Jason says), and boat trips to several islands, including Harbor Island. “It’s one of those wonderful places, like a fairy tale,” Laura said of the island, a place she says where a kid’s, and adult’s, imagination can really run wild.

Laura said she has enjoyed seeing kids grow during their time at Hog Island, but that there’s something extra special in watching families grow closer there. “During the year families just have so many distractions, but now they’re on a small island together for a week,” she said. “No phones or TVs or soccer practices. Just each other and this really unique experience.”

The Guerards hope the session gets kids interested in the outdoors and birding while giving parents what they need to keep that interest thriving after they’ve left the island. “We’re a little biased, but we think Hog Island is the best place to spark that new connection, or to nurture an old one,” Laura said.

So what makes Hog Island such a good environment for learning? Maybe it’s living on wildlife’s territory, Jason said, where seals pop up out of the water right next to you, and bird nests abound. Maybe it’s the sense of safety an island brings, Laura said, letting people feel comfortable exploring at night where there are no lights to block the shooting stars.

“It’s a completely different world,” said Jason. “I liken it to the book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Step into the wardrobe.”

“Whether you’re there for five minutes or a week it becomes your home,” Laura said. “It becomes part of you.”

In helping shape their careers and their marriage, Hog Island has undoubtedly become inseparable from the hearts of these two. They hope their upcoming session gives families a sense of what that feels like.

About Hog Island

A landmark of environmental education since 1936, Hog Island Audubon Center’s residential programs educate adults, children, and families about coastal wildlife in Maine and beyond. The sessions are based on a 330-acre island in midcoast Maine's beautiful Muscongus Bay, and are led by some of the world’s most-respected naturalists and environmental educators.