Eric Hynes has been fascinated by birds and passionate about birding since he first heard the ghostly wailing of a Common Loon at summer camp in Maine 30 years ago. Upon completion of his B.S. at the University of Vermont, where he studied environmental studies and wildlife biology, Eric began a serious endeavor as a bird hobo that lasted more than a decade. His travels ranged across the U.S. with a number of trips to Central America as well. During this quest, Eric did everything from rappelling 700-foot cliffs in the Snake River Canyon monitoring Prairie Falcon nests, to guiding for two summers in Alaska on St. Paul Island in the Pribilofs, to ground-squirrel rustling in Montana, to owl banding and hawk counting in Pennsylvania.

Getting married to his wife, Christine, helped settle Eric into a fulltime position at Maine Audubon but not until after a birding trip to Panama cleverly disguised as their honeymoon. As the staff naturalist and adult education coordinator, Eric taught numerous bird identification workshops and led field trips locally and abroad for Maine Audubon. Eric is in his second term on the Maine Bird Records Committee and is a certified Wilderness First Responder.

Eric and Christine recently relocated to Burlington, Vermont, where he is often spotted scoping for ducks on Lake Champlain or hiking one of the ancient Green Mountains listening for warblers and thrushes with their young daughter, Rita, in a backpack.