This past Friday Lee and I took a boat trip to Eastern Egg Island, a tiny island 12 miles northeast of Boothbay Harbor, Maine. This tiny bit of a rock is worth the trip, for one very special reason. In 1973, a member of the Audubon Society decided to attempt to reestablish a colony of Atlantic puffins on the island. It took time, but the effort has been successful. Eastern Egg Island happens to be the southernmost point that puffins are found. Any farther, and it gets too warm for them. Puffins prefer cold arctic waters.
It was a genuine thrill for me to see the puffins in their natural environment. Here is the boat, as we head out to sea.
People are looking back over their shoulders at a lighthouse.
Now here is what we came to see!!! These photos were taken by Lee. Thank you Lee, for excellent shots! The puffin has got to be one of the cutest animals on the planet. How can you not love a puffin?
Did you know that puffins have little hooks at the back of their mouths, to which they attach small fish (usually herring) as they catch them? This is how they can carry 6 to 12 fish at a time, back to the chicks in their rocky burrows. Puffins, it turns out, are very social birds, and are often found in "floats" of many individuals. The float of puffins below are milling around a lobster buoy:
A larger float of puffins:
This puffin is either landing or getting ready to take off. A puffin can beat its wings up to 400 times a minute when in flight, and can fly up to 55 miles per hour!! Can you imagine?
I don't know what this puffin is doing, but the photo gives an idea of the strength and flexibility of this little fellow:
Can one ever have too many photos of puffins? I think not!!
Several other species also raise young on Eastern Egg Island, including, most notably, eider ducks and roseate terns. I couldn't identify a roseate tern if it landed on my head, so no photos of those. I was looking forward to seeing eider ducks, but it turns out only females stay behind to raise the young. The much more colorful males were nowhere to be seen. Eider ducks are fairly easy to find, because of the oddly shaped bill which rises to the top of the head:
Cormorants perched on the rocks, of course, in their usual abundant numbers. The cormorants are standing upright in the photo below, while the eider ducks are sleeping or resting on the rock:
The birds on Eastern Egg Island are monitored closely by Audubon members. Two members live in a tiny shack on the island year-round. During the summer, additional members bring small tents to the island. Two "blinds" appear in the photo below, from which members can observe the birds with as little interference as possible:
Here is the island, as we pull away. I said it wasn't very big!!
A parting shot of the puffins, below. Aren't they amazing? The diversity and beauty of life on earth never ceases to amaze me.
To close, I include several photos of Boothbay Harbor, for those who have never had the opportunity to visit this lovely place:
Another lighthouse:
Fabulous!
(Lee gets credit for all but the very first photo)
