Little Big Year: Chasing Acadia’s Birds

By Richard Wayne MacDonald

Imagine spending a year focused on birding. That is exactly what Richard Wayne MacDonald did! Little Big Year documents Richard’s year-long adventure in search of the birds of Acadia National Park and his corner of Maine. The book is written in his easy-to-read story-telling style. With each bird found, Richard weaves a narrative filled with fun facts and stories from his many years studying the natural world, birding, and traveling from the Arctic to the Antarctic. His year is book-ended with chickadees: Black-capped Chickadee on the Schoodic Christmas Bird Count and, 364 days later, Boreal Chickadee near the Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. He voyages out on research vessels into the Gulf of Maine to look for seabirds, hikes Acadia’s mountains to see Snowy Owls, takes a night-time bicycle ride into Great Pond Mountain Wildlands to find the rare Chuck-will’s-widow, and views shorebirds from the cockpit of a sea kayak. You feel as though you are right there with him. Anyone with an interest in natural history will want to read this book. 

Available directly from The Natural History Center. Call us at 207/266-9461 or email info@TheNaturalHistoryCenter.com to order.