eNews From Project Puffin - February 9, 2012

MYSTERY OF A PUFFIN'S WINTER HOME DISCOVERED

Scientists and birdwatchers have long wondered exactly where puffins go in the winter months. Now, Project Puffin researchers are beginning to unravel the mystery. Geoocation technology has enabled the first ever winter tracking of individual Atlantic Puffins from North America and reveals their surprising far-flung travels.

In 2009, researchers attached tracking devices to the leg bands of eight puffins at their summer nesting island Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge, a 65-acre treeless island located 21 miles off the coast of Rockland, Maine. Last June they recovered the devices from two puffins. The tiny tracking devices revealed that one puffin ranged from the icy waters of the northern Labrador Sea to warmer waters near Bermuda while the other wintered in the Gulf of St. Lawrence before travelling south to the offshore waters of the mid-Atlantic states.

Read more and see a map of the remarkable travels of the puffin named "Cabot."

eNews From Project Puffin - January 29, 2012

THINK PUFFINS THIS VALENTINE DAY

Adopt-A-Puffin for Valentine’s Day!

If you are looking for a special way to celebrate this Valentine’s Day, consider adopting an Egg Rock puffin. Your tax-deductible gift will help protect Maine puffins and your valentine will receive a biography, photo and certificate of adoption. Y-33 is our featured adoption puffin. This 34 year old female was brought to Egg Rock from Newfoundland in 1977 when she was just a few days old to help restore this lost puffin colony. She is now the oldest known nesting puffin in North America.

While some puffins keep their mate for most of their long adult life, Y-33 has survived three of her mates who did not come back from their winter at sea. On losing a mate, she has been able to find a new mate and retain the same nesting burrow under a giant boulder at Eastern Egg Rock- for the past 28 years!

Her first mate was also a Newfoundland puffin and her same age. They were paired for nine years. Her subsequent mates are unknown ages, but we have documented the length of each relationship. Her second mate failed to return after just one year. She remained with her third mate for the next eight years and she has stayed with her fourth mate for the past nine years. Click HERE to adopt a Valentine puffin and view the recipe for Seabird Sue Schubel’s famous ‘Cream Puffins’ - a great valentine day treat. ALSO, consider shopping for your Valentine at Project Puffin’s online store - the best place to find puffin jewelry, socks, yoga pants and much more!

Bring Your Valentine to Hog Island

Reserve your place this Valentine’s day for a Hog Island session to see puffins, other birds and to learn about the Maine coast. Project Puffin is sponsoring six-day resident programs for adults, families and teens this summer at Audubon’s legendary Hog Island off mid-coast Maine. Programs are for birders, educators and families and feature some of the country’s top instructors including Steve Kress, Pete Dunne, Lang Elliott and Scott Weidensaul.. Treat yourself to great food, comfortable lodging and the sounds of surf and loons. Spaces remains in most programs. Click HERE for details and to register.

eNews From Project Puffin - December 23, 2011

BAJA CALIFORNIA PROJECT

The Seabird Restoration Program is a partner in an exciting new program that uses restoration methods developed in Maine to help restore colonies of seabirds on islands off the west coast of Baja California. Most of the management and education outreach will be conducted by our Mexican partners; two of the new Mexican directors worked with Project Puffin in Maine to learn seabird restoration methods. To read more, click HERE.

EGG ROCK UPDATE

Highlights of Project Puffin's 38th year are summarized in the 2011 issue of Egg Rock Update. Read about the recovery of tracking devices on puffins and Arctic Terns, habitat improvement projects for seabirds conducted by interns and volunteers and highlights from our seven field stations. The Egg Rock Update was mailed to more than 13,000 friends and supporters of Project Puffin with an envelope to send a gift to support our 39th field season. Gifts can also be made online. Please consider lending your support with an end of the year gift or puffin adoption!

JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT PUBLISHES SEABIRD RESTORATION REVIEW

The January, 2012 issue of the Journal of Wildlife Management contains a paper by Holly Jones of the University of California Santa Cruz and Stephen Kress that reviews the use of social attraction and seabird chick translocations- methods pioneered by Project Puffin. The paper was selected as the cover feature of the issue. To read more, click HERE.

SNOWBIRD DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE FOR HOG ISLAND PROGRAMS

The six-day Hog Island programs for adult and teen birders, educators, Audubon Chapter leaders, and families are filling rapidly. There is a $25/ discount until January 15th for most of the 2012 sessions at the legendary Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine. To read more, click HERE.

HOG ISLAND EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT DEADLINE IS DECEMBER 15TH!

Give the gift that can change a lifetime -- a week at Audubon’s legendary Hog Island Camp Reserve aplacefor someone special now in our programs for adults and teens, educators and families. A $100 deposit made before December 15th will hold your place and qualify you for a $50 discount. Learn about puffins and other birds in our magnificent Maine coast setting. These five-day, residential programs feature extraordinary meals and instruction from birding experts, including Steve Kress, Pete Dunne, and Scott Weidensaul.

LIVING BIRD FEATURES PROJECT PUFFIN

The Autumn 2011 issue of Living Bird, the quarterly magazine of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, contains a feature of Project Puffin. The issue features a stunning photo of an Atlantic Puffin with its beak stuffed with shrimp. Read the complete article or view the Lab's video documentary, "Seabird Success Story".

eNews From Project Puffin - December 3, 2011

PROJECT PUFFIN HOLIDAY SPECIALS

It’s Cyber-Seabird Shopping Season!

Feel good about your holiday gifts by thinking of puffins and shopping at Project Puffin’s online store. All proceeds will directly help protect Maine puffins and other rare and endangered seabirds. We are offering FREE shipping and handling for all online purchases starting today through December 14th. Select from new puffin theme gifts, including puffin pajamas, unisex pants and men’s boxers, yoga pants, socks, earrings, holiday cards, seabird books, videos, and the all-time favorite stocking stuffer, the Audubon plush puffin, complete with a recording of an actual puffin growl!

Adopt-A-Puffin for the Holidays

Your tax-deductible donation of $100 will help sponsor a real live puffin living on Eastern Egg Rock. With documented life histories of up to 34 years, our adopted puffins are unique among all “adoption” animals. Audubon biologists have followed these individual birds since hatching and know their mates, nesting success, and exact burrow locations. Participants in our Adopt-a-Puffin program receive a biography and photo of their puffin, a certificate of adoption, and the option of receiving a copy of our award-winning book about Project Puffin. And you don’t have to feed or clean up after your puffin! Adopt your puffin by clicking here.

HOG ISLAND EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT DEADLINE IS DECEMBER 15TH!

Give the gift that can change a lifetime - a week at Audubon's legendary Hog Island Camp Reserve a place for someone special now in our programs for adults and teens, educators and families. A $100 deposit made before December 15th will hold your place and qualify you for a $50 discount. Learn about puffins and other birds in our magnificent Maine coast setting. These five-day, residential programs feature extraordinary meals and instruction from birding experts, including Steve Kress, Pete Dunne, and Scott Weidensaul.

eNews From Project Puffin - October 13, 2011

REGISTRATION FOR 2012 HOG ISLAND AUDUBON CAMP PROGRAM OPENS OCTOBER 17TH

This coming Monday the National Audubon Society opens registration for the famous 5-day birding and environmental education programs at the historic Audubon Camp in Maine on Hog Island. New for 2012 is the Family Camp program (not offered since 2008) and a special fall migration program with a trip to Monhegan Island. The ever-popular Joy of Birding and Field Ornithology sessions for adults are in June, as well as two weeks of teen camp. The season begins and ends with 5-day service-learning sessions presented in partnership with Road Scholar (Elderhostel), where participants work side-by-side with National Audubon Society biologists and interns to census seabirds and restore nesting habitat on offshore seabird islands. The highlight of July is an Educator’s Week and in August a leadership program focused on the Atlantic Flyway Initiative is offered for Audubon chapter members. Steve Kress, Pete Dunne, Scott Weidensaul and many other expert ornithologists and naturalist-educators will be in residence during the 2012 sessions. All summer programs include field trips to nearby Eastern Egg Rock, where Project Puffin has successfully restored an island colony of Atlantic Puffins, and Roseate, Arctic and Common Terns. Participants live in restored wooden buildings dating back to the early 1900’s and are treated to three hearty meals each day, prepared by chef extraordinaire Janii Laberge. There is a $50 ‘earlybird’ discount for registrations received by December 15th. For more information, photos and to enroll, click HERE or call (607) 257-7308 x.14.

ROAD SCHOLARS ASSIST AUDUBON BIOLOGISTS TO IMPROVE HABITAT FOR MAINE SEABIRDS

On September 11-16, 22 participants in the Road Scholar session titled ‘Maine Seabird Biology and Conservation’ arrived on Hog Island for a very successful service-learning program. On the first full day of the program, all 22 participants landed on Eastern Egg Rock for the day. Enthusiastic volunteers pulled invasive wild radish which was over-running tern nesting habitat and laid down vegetation barriers to keep habitat open for tern nesting. Meanwhile, others built new burrows for Leach’s Storm-petrels and an ambitions team removed more than a dozen huge bags of washed up plastic and other marine debris. A carpentry crew re-roofed the Egg Rock outhouse and built two new tent platforms for Project Puffin interns. Two days later most of the group travelled to Stratton Island, an Audubon owned island in southern Maine. Here they helped to remove dozens of washed up lobster traps (which become traps for seabirds) and they installed more vegetation barriers for Common and Roseate Tern nesting. Additional projects undertaken during the session on Hog Island included a complete inventory of the bird collection and removing invasive barberry from the south end of the island. During the session participants also learned about bird biology from Audubon lecturers and participated in songbird banding. The session ended with a celebratory lobster dinner in recognition of the tremendous accomplishments that were achieved. Registration is now open for the spring (June 3-8) and fall (Sept 9-14) service learning sessions on Hog Island. For more information or to enroll in 2012 sessions, visit the Hog Island web site.

eNews From Project Puffin - August 23, 2011

Most terns have completed their nesting season on Audubon's Maine Coastal Islands Seabird Sanctuaries and puffins will soon complete their nesting cycle. Tern "fledgers" (young terns just learning to fly) have now departed with their parents to begin their first epic migration to the southern hemisphere. The migration this year coincides with the northward projected path of Hurricane Irene- a cause for some concern - especially for the endangered Roseate Terns whose numbers are already low.

On August 15th our sixteen hard-working seabird interns also fledged after sharing the highlights of their summer at the annual meeting of the Gulf of Maine Seabird Working Group on Hog Island. The students will return to academic programs and continue obtaining similar work at other field programs.

INTERNATIONAL INTERNS

Two new countries were represented in this year's interns through the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the McArthur Foundation. Among this year's interns were Ivan Mota from Dominican Republic and Talía Pérez Martínez from Cuba. Talia received the distinction of being Audubon's sixth Herz International Seabird Fellowship.

ISLAND UPDATES

Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge - Puffin numbers continued to increase with more than 500 nesting pairs. A final estimate this year will emerge from conducting a sampling method of the colony. The change from a complete count to a sampling method is because of the increasing numbers of pairs. Too many to count is a great problem! But it represents a sampling challenge is variable habitat where puffins continue to pack close together, often several pairs using the same burrow. Tracking devices were placed on six puffins as part of our effort to discover their winter range. The puffin cam at Seal Island was left in place and will continue to operate for the next several weeks. Most of the puffins are now at sea, but there are still occasional landings and there are always great ocean views. The puffin cam is sponsored by Barbara’s Bakery, maker of puffin cereals.

Matinicus Rock - Interns have been crawling under the boulders in search of puffin chicks to band, weigh, and measure. They have "grubbed" more than 200 puffin chicks a new record that is testimony to their ambition and the growth of the colony. Eight of the chicks were fitted with tiny geolocator tracking devices. Some of this year’s devices provide information about water temperature, diving depth and all provide data on latitude and longitude. The geolocators were placed on breeding adults and since they typically return to the same burrow, we hope to recover the devices next year. The crew on Matinicus Rock has also documented the appearance of several species of fish which are new to the diets of seabirds on the island: rough scad, haddock, and a mystery fish that has yet to be positively identified.

Eastern Egg Rock - Figuring out just how many nesting puffins there are on this seven-acre island is a daunting challenge, and interns have been spending many hours each day in the observation blinds attempting to do just that. Soon after the interns departed, two Bald Eagles took up residence, feeding on some of the remaining Laughing Gull nestlings. This is an annual occurrence and emphasizes why it is important to keep the seabird interns on the island to protect the nesting terns and puffins.

Stratton Island - As the island’s terns complete their nesting cycle, our island team has shifted its work to fighting back the incursion of oriental bittersweet. This invasive vine has engulfed a number of the egret, heron and ibis nesting trees, smothering them with lush growth. The tedious removal process is helping to extend the life of the trees. Daily shorebird counts on adjacent Little Stratton Island are getting more exciting each day, with perhaps 1,500+ birds of different species being observed while resting. Semi-palmated Sandpipers, semi-palmated plovers, ruddy turnstones, short-billed dowitchers and willets constitute the majority of sighted shorebirds but others including red knots and Whimbrels are also present.

HOG ISLAND

Hog Island Audubon Camp celebrated its 75th year this past weekend, with festivities organized by Friends of Hog Island. This summer nearly 300 Audubon Campers took part in sold out sessions for birders, educators and Audubon chapter leaders.

The final Hog Island program of the year will run from September 11 to 16th. Maine Seabird Biology and Conservation is a service learning program in which participants will be able to land on Eastern Egg Rock to conduct much needed habitat and cabin improvement projects and to learn about seabird and bird migration from Stephen Kress, noted author Scott Weidensaul and others. The session is offered in collaboration with Road Scholar (formerly Elderhostel, Inc.). A few places for this program remain.

Enrollment for 2012 Hog Island sessions will open on October 15th.

eNews From Project Puffin - June 30, 2011

STAFF TRAINING

On May 23, seventeen interns and supervisors and many of the 18 volunteers were present for staff training at Hog Island. The three day program focused on the ecology of the Gulf of Maine, identification of Maine seabirds, and training regarding common fish fed to seabirds, banding and boat safety. The interns came from ten states (Missouri, New York, Maine ,New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, Wisconsin, North Carolina), Ontario, Nova Scotia, Dominican Republic and Cuba. Immediately following training, the interns began their experience living on our seven key seabird nesting sanctuaries. The supervisors remain at their designated islands until mid August; while most of the interns rotate among the islands to provide a more diverse experience.

HERZ INTERNATIONAL SEABIRD FELLOW

Talia Pérez Martínez has received the honor of being designated the 2011 Joephine D. Herz International Fellow. She is the first recipient of the award from Cuba and joins the ranks of other recipients from Peru, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Recipients are young professionals in the field of waterbird conservation who have shown through their accomplishments, keen interest and commitment to conservation.

Talía Pérez Martínez is from Guanabo, Ciudad de la Habana, Cuba. She received a B.Sc. in Biology in 2004 from Havana University. She holds the position of Coordinator for Cuba’s National Waterbird Program. In this capacity she conducts basic research about waterbirds and monitors waterbird population status, specializing in studies of population dynamics of several sandpiper populations that winter in Cuban wetlands. Through her position, she manages a database of the waterbirds that frequent Cuba’s protected areas. She also works with environmental education themes in several of the local Cuban schools.

RETURN OF ADOPTION PUFFINS

Early results from Eastern Egg Rock have revealed that two of our oldest puffins that were not sighted in 2010- have been sighted this summer. Y54 was sighted once near the burrow that he has occupied for more than twenty years. Now 34 years old, he and neighbor Y33 are the oldest known puffins in North America. Y54 has not been observed feeding, but Y33 is tending a chick. Puffin watchers were also elated to rediscover EN+06, a 31 year old puffin in the vicinity of his burrow. Little is known about the behavior of ‘senior’ puffins. All three puffins were translocated to Eastern Egg Rock from Newfoundland to help found the new colony. These and other puffins are part of the Adopt-A-Puffin program.

CAPTURE OF PUFFINS AND TERNS WITH GEOLOCATORS

Project Puffin supervisors Nathan Banfield and Caroline Poli were thrilled to be able to capture 15 of 18 puffins at Matinicus Rock that were carrying geolocators attached to their leg bands. Nathan and Caroline attached the tiny devices last year in hopes of recovering them a year later. Hopefully, the devices contain information about the puffin’s mysterious winter home. Likewise, Sara, Gutowsky, supervisor of Seal Island NWR was elated to help volunteers Benjamin Donnelly and Jesse Rubenstein recapture two puffins carrying geolocators attached in 2009. These are especially helpful as they may have two winters worth of location data. Likewise, Supervisor Rolanda Steenweg, and her team at Eastern Egg Rock have captured eight of the 15 Arctic Terns that were equipped with geolocators in 2010. The information from these will provide insight into the travel paths of these great migrants that likely travel to Africa and Antarctica over the course of the winter. The geolocators have been transported to the mainland and the data will be interpreted over the coming months.

HOG ISLAND

Three weeks of ornithology programming were complete in June, with adult and teens coming from more than 25 states and Canadian provinces. The sold out sessions were highly successful, providing great views and new insight into the lives of 111 species of Maine birds. Openings remain in the final program of the year when Road Scholar and Audubon offer 'Maine Seabird Biology and Conservation' from September 11-16. Plans are taking shape now to land participants in this service-learning program will land on Eastern Egg Rock to help with habitat improvement projects that include creating new habitat for terns through vegetation management. For details on this program, CLICK HERE. 

BBQ

Project Puffin friends Sandy and Terry Flint will host a Texas style BBQ followed by a benefit auction to support project puffin interns. If you are in Maine, consider joining us at the Flint's home on August 12. To purchase tickets, CLICK HERE.

PROJECT PUFFIN VISITOR CENTER

If visiting Maine this summer, be sure to include a stop at Project Puffin Visitor Center in Rockland. Here you can see the live streaming puffin cam projected onto a theater size screen, operate the camera and see the latest art exhibits. Three exhibits and guest speaker are lined up for the summer. The art exhibits include artists David Scheier and 12 year old Olivia Bouler who will have a July 16th book signing of her new book “Olivia’s Birds: Saving the Gulf”. For details CLICK HERE.

PUFFIN CAM

Visit the Puffin Cam for real time views of puffins, razorbills, murres and terns at Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge.

eNews From Project Puffin - May 25, 2011

BIRDATHON TO RAISE FUNDS FOR INTERNS

Project Puffin’s 23rd annual birdathon is scheduled for this coming Friday, May 27th. The advanced weather for birdathon day is south winds 10 to 15 mph with seas 3 to 5 ft and patchy fog with 1-3 miles of visibility. South winds are ideal for bird migration and we are hoping for some migrating land and seabirds- that is if the patchy fog permits us to see them! Regardless of the weather, Project Puffin’s interns, volunteers and staff will set out to tally as many puffins and other Maine bird species as possible. The annual fund raiser is an important way to raise the necessary funds to support our island interns that protect rare and endangered seabirds at Audubon’s Maine seabird nesting sanctuaries. This year the grand prize for the person that guesses closest to the total number of species observed will win a painting of an Atlantic Puffin by Olivia Bouler. This is the original puffin paintingfrom 11 year old Olivia Bouler’s new book Olivia’s Birds: Saving the Gulf. The grand prize for the person guessing the total number of puffins seen on birdathon day will win a puffin decoy used to lure puffins back to Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge. This year, donations in support of our birdathon are easier than ever through our new on-line donation link. To join the fun and help puffins and other Maine seabirds, click HERE.

PUFFIN CAM SHOWS REALITY AT SEAL ISLAND

Our streaming video camera on Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge shows the extreme weather at this remote nesting island and the growing numbers of puffins that are frequenting the nesting habitat. This past week some viewers witnessed a Great Black-backed Gull grab one of the puffins and take it down into the rocks. Perhaps it got away, the two were last seen tumbling into the boulders! Now that the terns are back from the southern hemisphere large flocks of a hundred or more terns often sweep past the camera as they settle into nesting habitat. The puffin cam is sponsored by Barbara's Bakery, maker of "puffins" cereals. View the puffins by clicking HERE.

STAFF TRAINING

Twenty three staff and volunteers participated in training at the Hog Island Audubon Camp these past three days. They learned about the ecology of the Gulf of Maine, how to identify the birds and the fish that dangle from the beaks of puffins and terns and how to pack bags of food and supplies to live on the remote nesting islands. Today, in a flurry of activity, they are heading out to five of the project field camps to begin the 39th field season for Project Puffin. Wish them well!

eNews From Project Puffin - May 16, 2011

PROJECT PUFFIN ATTRACTS SEABIRDS AND INTERNS WORLDWIDE

Now in its 39th season, the successful seabird attraction programs at Audubon’s Maine Coast seabird sanctuaries have attracted a cosmopolitan assemblage of seabirds and this year interns from four countries will travel to Maine to protect and study them. Arctic Terns that have traveled from Antarctica; Roseate Terns from Brazil; and Common Terns from Argentina will meet interns this year from Cuba, Dominican Republic and Fiji who will be working with new friends from the U.S. and Canada. In all, 18 interns will begin their training at Hog Island on mid-coast Maine to begin their training on May 21. One of the many projects they will work on this summer involves recovering tiny tracking devices attached to the legs of Arctic Terns and Puffins to help learn about their winter travels. Soon after the training, they and other volunteers will begin living on seven Maine Sanctuaries. To learn more about these islands and the work of the interns, click HERE.

BIRDATHON TO RAISE FUNDS FOR INTERNS

Project Puffin’s 23rd annual birdathon is scheduled for May 27th. On that day, rain, fog, blizzard or sunshine, Project Puffin’s interns, volunteers and staff will set out to tally as many puffins and other Maine bird species as possible. The annual fund raiser is an important way to raise the necessary funds to support our island interns that protect rare and endangered seabirds at Audubon Maine seabird nesting sanctuaries. This year the grand prize for the person that guesses closest to the total number of species observed will win an original painting of An Atlantic Puffin by Olivia Bouler. This is the original puffin painting from 11 year old Olivia Bouler’s new book Olivia’s Birds: Saving the Gulf. The grand prize for the person guessing the total number of puffins seen on birdathon day will win a puffin decoy used to lure puffins back to Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge. This year, donations in support of our birdathon are easier than ever through our new online donation link. To join the fun, click HERE.

ADOPT-A-PUFFIN FOR FATHER'S DAY

The puffin's latin name, Fratercula means "little father." The name came from the black and white attire of a friar - but puffins are also great fathers in a parental way. Some pairs nest together in the same burrow for decades, each year raising a single chick. Father puffins share the incubation and chick rearing with their mate, and some of our male puffins have lived for more than 30 years. Looking for a unique gift for your special Dad? Consider adopting one of our special puffin dads this Father's day. The proceeds will help us protect puffins and other rare Maine seabirds. Click HERE to adopt.

THE PUFFIN CAM IS BACK

Our streaming video camera on Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge is now in place and sending real time video to the Internet. To learn more about the Puffin Cam, please click HERE. Please note that it is raining at Seal Island today and there are big seas rolling, but the camera has an automatic wiper that occasionally clears the lens. We hope to soon add sound to the video stream.

SEABIRD BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION SESSION ON HOG ISLAND

Join our seabird biologists this fall to learn more about seabirds and help further conservation projects with hands-on service learning. For more details about this September 11-16 session co-sponsored with Road Scholar (formerly Elderhostel), click HERE.

eNews From Project Puffin - February 7, 2011

ADOPT A PUFFIN FOR VALENTINE'S DAY!

If you are looking for a special way to celebrate this Valentine's Day, consider adopting an Egg Rock puffin.

Your tax-deductible gift will help protect Maine puffins and your valentine will receive a biography, photo and certificate of adoption. The adopted puffins have long histories that demonstrate amazing family lives in which pairs often stay together for a decade or more. For example, our oldest puffin Y-33, has a family history that dates back 33 years. There is still time to adopt a puffin for this Valentine’s day- the deadline is February 8th. Click HERE to adopt a valentine puffin and view the recipe for Seabird Sue Schubel’s famous "Cream Puffins." To purchase Valentine’s Day gifts from our new online store, click HERE.

HOG ISLAND SESSIONS FOR BIRDERS, EDUCATORS AND CHAPTER LEADERS REMAIN OPEN

Project Puffin is sponsoring ornithology sessions at Audubon’s legendary Hog Island off mid-coast Maine this summer. The five-day programs feature some of the best known birders in the U.S. Steve Kress, Kenn Kaufman, Pete Dunne and Scott Weidensaul are among the leaders of four adult programs and a teen program that is co-sponsored by the American Birding Association. The teen program has already filled and the adult birding programs are nearly filled. But at this date, limited space remains in all programs including the late May service learning program (Maine Seabird Biology and Conservation) in which participants will help Steve Kress and other Audubon biologists census Maine seabird colonies. This program, co-sponsored with Road Scholar (formerly Elderhostel) is the only public opportunity for directly assisting seabird conservation on the Maine coast. Click HERE for details and to register.

RARE ALBATROSS CHICK HATCHES!

Seabird watchers worldwide are thrilled with the news that halfway across the Pacific on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, two Short-tailed Albatross have successfully hatched a chick. News of the chick, which hatched January 14th, is significant because most of the world’s Short-tailed Albatross presently nest on an active volcano in Japan. Both parents hatched on Torishima Island Japan and found their way to Midway Atoll where they have nested among decoys provided by Project Puffin and several Japanese collaborators. Read more about this exciting news by clicking HERE For background on this and other seabird restoration projects click HERE.