On June 28th, 2014, on Seal Island NWR, the viewers of the explore.org Puffin Burrow Cam witnessed the emergence of this year's Project Puffin celebrity, little puffling "Pal" - a chick that was named by the viewers of the explore.org cam and the members of the popular Facebook group "Hope's Journey" - a fun group dedicated to puffins and the puffin cam's "celebrity" puffins.

If you missed the puffling emerging from its egg, explore.org has since posted a video, which you can view by clicking HERE. 

According to the Puffin Burrow Cam viewers, the name "Pal" was chosen not only because viewers all agreed that Puffins Are Love, but also because some were wishing for a little pal for last year's puffin chick, which they had named "Hope". Puffling "Hope" got her name last year because the puffling preceding her - the first puffling brought to viewers on the Burrow Cam (named "Petey") - did not survive due to the lack of the right kind of fish being brought to him by his parents. 

You can follow the adventures of our third Puffin Burrow Cam star, "Pal", by tuning in each day, but you can also follow two other entertaining cams, the Puffin (Loafing Ledge) Cam and the new Boulder Berm Cam.

If you wish to assist with ensuring that future pufflings survive by determining if parent puffins are bringing home enough fish, or bringing the right kind of fish to their chicks, you can visit our donation page on Razoo.com. We are trying to raise enough money to purchase six motion-sensing cameras that will be placed near puffin burrow entrances at two Maine puffin colonies: Seal Island NWR and Eastern Egg Rock Island. These cameras would monitor puffin parents as they feed their chicks from dawn to dusk. By monitoring them, we could then learn how much food the chicks are getting, and how much they actually need in order to survive to fledging age and successfully leave their burrows.

Each camera costs $650. Please consider making a donation to help keep the restored puffin colonies thriving, and please also keep watching the puffin cams to see the progress!

UPDATE:

Puffling "Pal" was banded on August 6th, and fledged overnight August 8th to 9th. For those who are asking about Pal's band numbers, here they are:

Metal Fish and Wildlife Service band number: 1125-10075

Metal Field readable band:  FH
                                                       70

Thank you to all who watched this year's Puffin Burrow cam. We hope to connect with everyone again next summer for another chapter in the lives of our popular Seal Island puffin cam "stars"!