Richard Wayne MacDonald

Rich MacDonald is a field biologist, ornithologist, naturalist, tour guide, writer, photographer, husband, and father who lives in Bar Harbor, Maine. With a background rooted in science, natural history, and adventure, he has been told his curriculum vitae reads like an action novel!

As a field biologist, Rich has studied the natural world, focusing on issues relating to climate change, forest ecology, and birds (this last a passion since childhood). His work has taken him to the higher latitudes, both Arctic and Antarctic, across the boreal forests of North America from Newfoundland to Alaska, and around much of Europe. He even spent two winters studying birds, primarily Bicknell’s Thrush, in the Dominican Republic (although Rich says he missed the northeastern winters). In the course of his research, he has been involved in banding in excess of 30,000 birds.

Early in his career, Rich began leading bird tours, specializing in boreal birds and waterbirds. Meanwhile, his adventure toolkit grew to include sea kayaking, white-water kayaking, canoeing, hiking, and back-country skiing. Rich’s longest adventure was a five-month educational sea kayak expedition around the Gulf of Maine. Afterward, he settled in Bar Harbor with his expedition co-leader and now wife, Natalie.

Today, Rich’s family includes a teenage daughter, Anouk, and a Goldendoodle named Fogo (so-named for Fogo Island, Newfoundland). Rich is the owner of The Natural History Center, an organization leading educational programs and tours throughout the natural world of Acadia National Park, Downeast Maine, and beyond.

“Little Big Year: Chasing Acadia’s Birds” is Rich’s first book. Follow his 2021 Zero-Carbon Little Big Year—as he bicycles around the greater Acadia region in Downeast Maine to raise awareness about global warming—on his blog (https://www.thenaturalhistorycenter.com/blog).