by Marion Sprague
On Saturday, July 10th some of our young birders and their families embarked on the Maine Audubon Puffin Cruise into Muscongus Bay to Eastern Egg Rock. All eyes were on tropical storm Elsa leading up to this year’s Sunset Puffin Cruise. Lucky for us the storm cleared and left us with gentle seas and plenty of sunshine for our outing.
The island is home to the world's first restored seabird colony. The restoration of Eastern Egg Rock has been replicated worldwide to help endangered and threated seabirds. On the ride out to the island, Captain Al gave a brief overview of the history of puffins and what makes this tiny, 7-acre island so important for in their continued breeding success. Last year there were over 180 breeding pairs of Atlantic Puffins on the island.
We headed out at low tide, which gave us an opportunity to see waves breaking off the the New Harbor Sunken ledges. As we passed the ledges, Ian called out a Wilson’s Storm Petrel. Doug Hitchcox explained that storm systems such as Elsa sometimes drive storm petrels in closer to land. We had a spectacular show of them dancing across the water’s surface.
As we approached the island we were greeted by the sounds of terns and Laughing Gulls. We saw about 40 of our target bird, the Atlantic Puffin, throughout the evening—even a few carry fish in their brightly colored bills. The group was treated to many spectacular sightings including Black Guillemots (the MYBC mascot!) showing off their red feet. We saw 2 species of terns: Common and Roseate and a lone Razorbill in a small raft of puffins.
We ended the evening with the story of Franklin Light (the 3rd oldest lighthouse in Maine!) and a few good looks at harbor seals before we headed back to New Harbor.
Check out the eBird checklists here:
https://ebird.org/atlasme/checklist/S92831844
MYBC wants to give a huge thank you to Maine Audubon for sponsoring this trip for the young birders and club coordinators. Also thanks to Doug Hitchcox for sharing his expertise with the young birders and parents! We appreciated his excellent leadership on this trip.
Keep your eye out for our August trip announcement coming soon! Happy Birding.
