We went to Maine to visit friends and do some birding recently. I've always wanted to take a cruise off the coast to see pelagic birds so we decided to go on the Hardy Boat puffin cruise out of New Harbor. hardyboat/puffinwatch
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| Atlantic puffin |
Here's an interesting fact: during winter, the bills and feet of puffins fade to dull shades of
their summer colors. Every spring their beaks and feet turn a colorful
orange in preparation for the breeding season. The beaks and feet of
puffins become brightly colored and the beak increases in size as the
bird matures. The size and color of puffin beaks may serve as badges of
experience and help birds assess the 'quality' of potential mates.
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| New Harbor |
The boat leaves this picturesque harbor at 5:30pm to catch the puffins as they return to Eastern Egg Rock where they breed. The island is home to the world's first restored seabird colony. It's a 5 mile cruise out to the island. projectpuffin.audubon
According to Audubon's website: Puffins hunt a variety of small fish including herring, hake, capelin and
sand lance. They do not come to land outside of the breeding season,
flying, swimming or riding the ocean surface throughout the year
regardless of weather.
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| black guillemot |
Along the way we saw lots of birds, puffins, black guillemots, laughing gulls, common eiders, double-crested cormorants and common terns.
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| common tern |
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| laughing gull |
Laughing gulls and common terns were the most common birds.
The island, while closed to visitation during breeding season, is home to 4 or 5 researchers. Work includes projects such as: annual
tern, eider, and laughing gull census; tern band resighting, chick
provisioning, productivity and growth studies; puffin census,
productivity, band resighting and provisioning studies; vegetation
monitoring and management; predator management; and daily weather and
bird lists.
The need for protection from what "rains" from the sky is evident!
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| roseate tern |
This was a great chance to see roseate terns, listed as endangered by the US fish and wildlife department.
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| arctic tern |
The largest colonies of arctic terns occur in Maine where they nest close together in order to be safe from gull predation.
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| double-crested cormorant |
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| Atlantic puffin |
On the way back from Eastern Egg Rock, we saw 3 Cory's shearwaters flying around the boat. This large, brown seabird is usually seen farther out at sea. They are large (44" wingspan) and flew low above the ocean with strong wingbeats and short glides. This was an unexpected treat and unfortunately, Gerry had put his camera away!
