Fields Pond Audubon Center

Located seven miles southeast of Bangor, in Holden and Orrington, Fields Pond Audubon Center features a Nature Center, an 191-acre pond, and a 229-acre sanctuary with trails winding through field, wetland, forest, and lakeshore.

Click here for events and programs at Fields Pond

The center offers dozens of public programs year-round, a Maine Audubon Nature Store, and day camps for children. The variety of habitats and trails at Fields Pond Audubon Center are ideal for nature study, wildlife-watching, walking, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. The visitor center is also available to rent for meetings, gatherings, or your next special event. Visit our Rentals page for more information.

The Center provides a variety of guided and self-guided walks, exhibits, and nature trails. All guided programs are led by trained naturalists. Walking tours and specially-designed programs are available for groups at a discounted price. Our Fields Pond educators offer a wide variety of school programs both at the center and off site. Learn more about school programs here >

Maine Audubon sanctuaries are free and open to the public year round, dawn to dusk. Dogs, even while leashed, are not allowed in our wildlife sanctuaries, as their presence can be disruptive to wildlife. For our core policies for visiting a Maine Audubon sanctuary please read the guidelines here >

Visitor Center Hours: Please call the center (207-989-2591) before visiting to confirm it is open.
Winter hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10 am–4 pm; Saturday, 10 am–2 pm.
Closed Sundays and Mondays
(Check the Fields Pond Facebook page for the most up to date opening times. )

Learn more > Fields Pond Winter Photo Contest

Visiting during COVID-19

Directions & Contact

Fields Pond Audubon Center
216 Fields Pond Rd.
Holden, ME 04429
207.989.2591
fieldspond@maineaudubon.org

Directions: At Exit 5 from I-395, go RIGHT on Parkway South for 0.3 mile. Go RIGHT on Dirigo Drive 0.5 mile. Go RIGHT on Green Point Road 0.8 mile. Go LEFT on Wiswell Road 1.5 miles. At Fields Pond Road, go RIGHT 1 mile. Audubon Center is on LEFT.

From the North or South via I-95: Take Exit 182A to I-395, direction of Brewer. Proceed about 3 miles (crossing over the Penobscot River) then take the “Parkway South” exit from I-395. Turn left from the exit, continue on Parkway South to a four-way junction. Turn left on Elm Street, which becomes Wiswell Road in about a mile. Continue on Wiswell Road to Fields Pond Road (on right). Nature Center is well marked on Fields Pond Road.

From the East and the Coast: from Route 1A take a left onto either Copeland Hill Road (in Holden) or Green Point Road (in Brewer). Turn onto Wiswell Road, follow to Fields Pond Road. Audubon Center is well marked on Fields Pond Road.

Google Map Directions

Education

Educators at Fields Pond offer school programs both on site at the center and off site! Click here to see the content and curriculum units by grade offered by our Fields Pond / Bangor area educators.

Trails

Downloadable Trail Guide/Map (pdf)
View the Fields Pond trail map on Maine Trail Finder.

Trails range from level, mowed paths through fields to steep, rocky trails deep in the forest.

The Ravine Trail winds through a hemlock forest overlooking a ravine and features rock stairways and stepping stones across a small stream.

The Lake Shore Trail features a 300-foot board­walk through a floodplain swamp and good views of Fields Pond and its 22-acre island.

The Beechwood Trail creates several longer hiking loop options around the sanctuary, connecting the waterfront and Lake Shore trail to the interior of the property. This heavily forested trail passes through a stand of American Beech trees.  Beechnuts are eaten by a variety of birds and mammals such as mice, squirrels, black bears, foxes, ruffed grouse, turkeys, blue jays, and nuthatches.

The Marsh Trail runs along the edge of the wetlands and pocket fields near the Nature Center.

The Fern Trail forms a loop with the Marsh Trail and Ravine Trail. It goes through a forested wetland, with a diversity of tree species. Raised bog bridging allows dry-footed access to this forested wetland.

The Brook Trail connects the Ravine Trail to the Lake Shore Trail. Follow the brook through mature forest and look for animal tracks along the way!

Wildlife

The sanctuary provides year-round habitat for wildlife ranging from small salamanders and tree frogs to more than 130 bird species, to bear, and even moose. In early spring, the center comes alive with the sounds of owls and frogs. Warblers, bluebirds, orioles, and tanagers are among the late spring and summer winged visitors. At least 20 varieties of butterflies have been recorded at the sanctuary, visiting feeders and the wildlife-friendly garden surrounding the Nature Center. In autumn, hawks soar over the fall foliage, and in winter, the sanctuary is crisscrossed with tracks of weasels, hares, fishers, fox, bobcats,and coyotes.

History

The land that is now Fields Pond Audubon Center was donated to Maine Audubon and the people of Maine in 1994 as a bequest from the estate of Katherine Curran to create a sanctuary for wildlife and people.  The Curran family kept cows, harvested ice from the pond in winter, and cut wood from the forest. Their gift of land included 1,600 feet of lakeshore, a stream and ravine, several wetlands, fields, forest, and a 22-acre island in Fields Pond.

In the winter of 1998, Maine Audubon opened the L. Robert Rolde Nature Center, named after the Bangor-born, nature-loving father of a lead donor. To create a “green” building, Maine Audubon staff and volunteers worked with the architects to reduce waste, conserve energy, reuse natural resources, and use products that don’t pollute the earth and atmosphere.

 

Fields PondFields Pond, HoldenFields Pond signsSeasonal story walks on the trails at Fields PondWinter Ecology Hike at Fields Pond