Introducing: Seabird Sue!

Hello! I am “Seabird Sue” Schubel, Volunteer Coordinator and head cheerleader for the Hog Island Audubon Camp. On Hog Island I help the volunteers keep the place running, explain the wonders of the intertidal zone, create slide-shows, and lug endless numbers of things on and off the island.

I have been living in Maine year-round for 16 years now, and during the winter I am Project Puffin’s Outreach Educator. I love being in the classroom where I get to lead students through learning activities and share real data from the seabird islands with them. It is great to encourage students to approach nature with a sense of curiosity.

My own introduction to Project Puffin began in high school, when I saw Dr. Steven Kress (on Wild Kingdom!) and learned about his efforts to reintroduce puffins to the Gulf of Maine. Later on when I was in college, by strange coincidence my Ornithology professor at UNH knew Project Puffin quite well, and directed me to the Audubon Camp at Hog Island.

I first volunteered as a research assistant on Matinicus Rock in 1984, and I have spent many summers since on Maine seabird islands, in addition to seabird stints in California and Galapagos.

These days on Hog Island, much of the wildlife is human, but I keep my hand in the seabird restoration business by supplying sound attraction equipment to projects from Bermuda to Hawaii, and Quebec to Baja.

I loves islands and beasts, and I will be available on the osprey cam comment board, in case you have questions about Maine and Hog Island!

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