Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center

• Watch the shorebirds feeding in the marsh
• Rent a canoe or launch your own
• Join a canoe tour led by Audubon naturalists
• Discover the marsh on your own through natural history displays and a self-guided nature trail
• Go to one of many natural history programs for all ages throughout the summer
• Shop at the Maine Audubon Nature Store for books, toys, Maine-made gifts and bird-feeding and optic equipment
• Try out our hands-on activities and displays for all ages
• See the aquarium, mounted birds and mammals, and, interactive exhibits featured at the center

All programs are listed in Events & Programs section of the site.

Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center offers a variety of guided and self-guided walks and canoe tours in addition to exhibits, a nature store, and canoe rentals.

All guided programs are led by trained naturalists. Walking and canoe tours and specially-designed programs are available for groups at a discounted price.

Maine Audubon requires that all paddlers wear personal floatation devices; these will be provided for anyone who does not bring their own.

Group Nature Explorations

• Salt Marsh Nature Explorations
• Salt Marsh By Canoe

Daily, 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. in-season

Rent a canoe or kayak, and we\’ll also provide a map and nature guide.  You\’ll be all set to take a self-guided tour of the meandering Dunstan River to explore the unique habitat of the salt marsh.

At least one person in your group must be 18 years or older, and children must be at least 4 years old. Dogs are not permitted in the canoes.

• Nonmembers:
  • $16/hour
  • $23 for 1 1/2 hours, and
  • $30 for 2 hours.
• Maine Audubon members, and Maine residents on Sunday:
  • $15/hour
  • $22 for 1 1/2 hours, and
  • $29 for 2 hours.

• Scarborough Marsh Trail Guide
• Scarborough Marsh Scavenger Hunt Guide
• Scarborough Marsh Trail Guide – French
• Scarborough Marsh Scavenger Hunt Guide – French

Contact Information

• Route 9 / Pine Point Rd
• Scarborough, Maine 04074
• (207) 883-5100 – April-September
• (207) 781-2330 x213 – October-March
• smac@maineaudubon.org

Hours

• 9:30 a.m.- 5:30 p.m.
• Rentals 9:30 a.m. – 4:00
• Daily, June 12 – Labor Day Weekends, Memorial Day – June 11 and September 10 & 11

Directions

From U.S. Route One in Scarborough, turn east onto Pine Point Road (also marked as Route 9 West). The nature center is located .8 miles on the left.

Scarborough Marsh provides critical habitat for a broad array of wildlife, particularly birds. Waterfowl, egrets, herons, glossy ibis and many species of shorebirds depend on this rich ecosystem for food, a place to rest during migration and, in some cases, nesting habitat. The marsh is also an excellent spot to find a number of grassland songbirds not commonly found in other parts of Maine, as well as various birds of prey that hunt in the marsh throughout the year. Muskrat, mink, otter, and deer also frequent the wetland.

For a virtual tour of a salt marsh, and detailed guides to the plants and wildlife you\’ll find there, visit Robert Zottoli\’s excellent Field Trip to a New England Salt Marsh .

Scarborough Marsh has a long history of human use. Sokokis Indians hunted, trapped, clammed and fished on the wetland. When European settlers arrived in the 1600s, they harvested the salt hay as fodder for cattle and sheep and used the marsh as summer pasture. The 19th century saw increased ditching, filling of pannes and the introduction of tidal gates, which prevent the tide from flooding portions of the marsh. Channels were dug to allow boats built inland to float through the marsh out to sea.

When haying declined in the 1900s, people began to view marshes as sacrifice areas for airports or cheap space on which to fill and build. Scarborough Marsh was even proposed as a site for the town dump.

Recognizing that a significant coastal wildlife habitat was threatened, in 1957 the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife began the twenty-year process of acquiring the marsh. In 1972 Maine Audubon initiated a partnership with the state to convert into a nature center an old clam shack at the edge of the marsh.

Today, Scarborough Marsh is a livelihood for clam diggers, a classroom for schoolchildren, a laboratory for biologists, prime territory for fishermen and hunters and a fascinating, ever-changing world for naturalists, especially birders. Every spring and summer more than 10,000 people begin their journey into the marsh at Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center.