HIGHLAND PLANTATION – Maine Audubon is offering a trip from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, April 27 to 29, to watch and learn about wildlife in the foothills of Maine’s Bigelow Range.

“This trip is a great way to celebrate as Maine’s wildlife, and we, emerge from the long, snowy winter,” said Margi Huber, Maine Audubon’s trips and tour coordinator.

The group will turn over logs to look for salamanders, listen for peepers and wood frogs making their mating calls, watch the American woodcock’s courtship flight and call in saw-whet, barred and great horned owls.

Participants will search nearby brooks for smelt runs and collect predacious diving beetles, giant water-bugs and other aquatic insects to observe under a microscope.

The trip is co-led by Greg Drummond, a Registered Maine Master Guide who has led hunting, fishing, hiking and nature exploration trips in the Bigelow area for 25 years. He and his wife have owned and operated the Claybrook Mountain Lodge since 1985.

Co-leader Ron Joseph has worked as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist for 25 years, helping landowners restore habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife.

Lodging will be at the Claybrook Mountain Lodge in the Upper Carrabassett Valley near Flagstaff Lake and Bigelow Mountain.

Open to 12 participants, the trip includes meals and lodging and is $235 for Maine Audubon members, $250 for nonmembers. Advance registration is necessary; to register, call at 781-2330, ext. 215. For more information on other Maine Audubon programs, visit www.maineaudubon.org.