Find birding adventures in Maine that make great gifts

I wonder if Black Friday still exists. Maybe online shopping has killed the post-Thanksgiving rush. Or maybe we just don’t need any more stuff.

I have no room for the things I have now. Gift vouchers as Christmas presents are starting to make sense to me. I’m particularly interested in adventure gift cards because once they’re redeemed, there’s nothing left to stash in the closet.

In 2025, there are several birding adventures that make great gifts—so good, in fact, that you might want to give them to yourself.

Bar Harbor Whale Watch is always a good choice. Who doesn’t like whales? Bird watchers may be more interested in the company’s puffin excursions. I can’t remember if this was an option in previous years, but gift cards are now available directly from the website.

A trip next year is very special and I will lead it again. The Downeast Offshore Seabird & Lighthouse Cruise takes place on Saturday, July 19th. This cruise took place for the first time last year and it proved to be a complete success. My co-leader was marine naturalist Zack Klyver, and we both jumped at the chance to work as guides again in 2025.

To be honest, I was a little impressed by everything we saw. The first stop of the 6.5 hour tour was the puffin colony on Petit Manan. It was wonderful as always, with lots of puffins, razorbills and black guillemots delighting the audience.

The second stop was Machias Seal Island, the largest puffin colony on the Maine coast. In the third week of July, the female puffins leave the nest and both parents carry food to their underground nestlings. When not actively foraging, puffins often hang out on the seaside cliffs or float in nearby rafts.

I’ll never forget the cloud of puffins that swam around the boat and then floated into the air as we idly walked by. I don’t know why so many people gathered in one place, but it was truly an impressive sight.

From there, the Friendship V picked up speed and headed across a large portion of the Gulf of Maine to Mount Desert Rock. It was our best chance to see whales and seabirds not normally seen from land.

Bar Harbor Whale Watch is having its own little Black Friday special. Discounted early bird rates apply to this cruise until December 31st.

I received word this week that Acadia Puffin Cruise in Steuben has updated their online booking system. Reservations for next season are already open and gift vouchers are available.

I really love the Acadia Puffin Cruise. There are five puffin islands along the Maine coast, four of which offer scheduled excursions. This cruise is arguably the easiest for bird watchers prone to seasickness. It’s a half-hour trip to Petit Manan Island, where numerous puffins hang out in the shadow of Maine’s second-tallest lighthouse.

One of the most dramatic is the puffin trip to Seal Island on board the Isle au Haut ferry. The journey takes you through the picturesque Stonington Archipelago, past the Isle au Haut and into open waters where seals and porpoises live. Along the way there is a greater chance of seeing pelagic birds, including three species that nest in the South Atlantic. Wilson’s petrels, great shearwaters, and sooty shearwaters travel to Maine when it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

Puffins have become such an important part of Stonington’s appeal that there are now two events centered around them. The Wings, Waves and Woods Festival includes several puffin trips to Seal Island during the third weekend of May.

Another Stonington festival, Puffin Passages, started last year. It is scheduled for June 18-21, 2025. There are no details yet, but I know it will include a puffin trip or two and I will be a tour guide.

You may need to call to finalize tour arrangements, but any puffin watching service will be happy to assist.

As an alternative to gift vouchers, annual memberships make a good Christmas present.

For example, several good friends look forward to our annual renewal of their Maine Audubon membership. For the hardcore bird watcher on your list, I would also recommend the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Their educational products and services are unique in the world – a boon to birders of all levels.

Just to be clear: I’m not trying to kill Black Friday. I’m just suggesting that Friday should come in different colors. Like green.