News
from the Seabird Islands
National
Audubon Society Seabird Restoration Program
News
From the Seabird Islands - November 25, 2007
By this date, most of the seabirds that nest on our Maine islands are far from their summer homes. Some, like the Arctic Tern have already arrived in Antarctica, resting on ice after their remarkable trip via Africa. Roseate and Common Terns are now wintering in the estuaries of Brazil and Argentina, while we are still not sure where the puffins winter- somewhere at sea in the North Atlantic.
In our Ithaca office at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, we have been busy writing up some of the summer highlights for your interest. Many of you have probably already received our fall mailing with an issue of our annual newsletter, Egg Rock Update. This year’s newsletter focuses on the perils of global warming and how seabirds are affected. The 2007 newsletter and an expanded article about the effects of global warming on puffins and other seabirds is now on-line at Puffins on the Maine coast continue to thrive, but this is not the case everywhere. The current issue of National Geographic (December 2007) has an article about warming waters and the problems faced in Scotland by puffins and contrasts this to the success we are having in Maine. Project Puffin was also featured this month in Birding, the magazine of the American Birding Association who ran an article titled ‘Dancing Puffineers’ by one of our volunteers. The article captures the enthusiasm of our summer interns relates the remarkable dedication of our young biologists who are making a difference for Maine seabirds- and enjoying themselves. Links to this article and others about Project Puffin are on our website at:
Your newsletter will also be accompanied by an envelope and my letter welcoming your help funding next summerÕs internships. Providing summer internships for the next generation of conservation biologists not only insures the future for more than 42,000 puffins and other seabirds that nest on our Maine sanctuaries, but it offers a key summer experience for future conservation leaders.
As the holiday season approaches, please consider making a gift to Project
Puffin. This is an ideal time to renew Puffin Adoptions so that you can
receive the latest report on your puffin- or give a puffin adoption as
a special holiday gift.
With my best wishes for happy holidays.
Stephen Kress News From the Seabird Islands - August 24, 2007
The sixteen Audubon interns who spent their summer protecting Maine seabirds closed seven field stations for the 2007 field season on August 9 and summarized their summer to a gathering of 72 seabird biologists from throughout the Gulf of Maine on August 11th at the annual meeting of the Gulf of Maine Seabird Working Group. At Maine Audubon Society’s Hog Island Audubon Center, the interns reported on the exceptionally good year that was enjoyed by Maine puffins and terns. Here are a few of their highlights:
Puffins: The team on Eastern Egg Rock reported that the number of nesting pairs of puffins increased from 82 pairs in 2006 to a new record high count of at least 90 pairs in 2007. This included nine new pairs. This 10% increase continues the trend of increasing numbers. The original population disappeared from the island in 1887 and was restored by hand-rearing and releasing puffin chicks between 1973-1986. Four pairs from the translocation program first nested in 1981.
The interns at Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge reported more than 300 nesting puffin pairs. They also noted that the puffin colony has spread to even the most remote regions of this 65 acre island. The 2007 high count was an astonishing 701 puffins within view at one time, contrasting to the 2006 high count of 450 puffins. The Seal Island interns are the only members of the 2007 team to return to their island following the Hog Island meeting. Their tasks are to continue the search for puffin nests, study the nesting success of the small colony of Great Cormorants, and document use of the island by migrating land birds through October.
Terns: Maine’s Least Terns enjoyed an exceptionally good year by nesting at Stratton Island in Saco Bay. These tiny, state-endangered terns have previously suffered by nesting on the state’s mainland beaches where their eggs and young were usually eaten by fox and other predators. In 2006 they began nesting at Stratton Island where they found safer nesting habitat. This year nearly all of Maine’s Least Terns moved to Stratton Island, where113 pairs took up residence in one tiny patch of sandy beach. Here, Audubon wardens watched over them to help deter disturbance from humans and gulls. This situation helped the terns produce more than 100 fledglings- the best production in many years.
Even though there were several notable storms during the tern chick-rearing season, ample supplies of hake, herring, and sand launce provided largesse of high quality food at just the right time for tern chicks at most islands. This summer, terns also benefited by few encounters with Great Horned Owls, Black-crowned Night-herons, and mink.
Interns measured the success of the tern nesting season by determining the number of chicks that reached at least 15 days old per nesting pair. This method showed that Common Terns produced respectively 1.1, 2.0, 1.7, 1.7, and 1.8 chicks per pair at Eastern Egg Rock, Pond Island, Jenny Island, Outer Green Island, and Stratton Island. Most of the federally endangered Roseate Terns were also successful. This year, 117 pairs nested at Eastern Egg Rock, 17 pairs at Jenny Island, and 80 pairs at Stratton Island.
The tern colonies on Matinicus Rock and Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge were not nearly as successful this year as the more inshore sites in mid-coast and southern Maine. The destruction of more than 2,000 tern nests by gulls at Seal Island in early June caused about 900 pairs to relocate at Matinicus Rock and elsewhere. At Matinicus Rock, the 663 nesting pairs of Common Terns produced just .5 chicks/pair, while the 1,790 pairs of Arctic Terns produced only.37 fledglings per pair. Here, a marginal food supply made the chicks vulnerable to weather.
The terns that stayed and renested at Seal Island fared somewhat better. Here, 1,800 pairs of Common and Arctic Terns succeeded in fledging an average of .7 young/nest. The nesting season for Arctic Terns at Seal Island NWR and Matinicus Rock are especially important because they likely support many of the pairs that formerly nested at Machias Seal Island, formerly the largest tern colony in the Gulf of Maine. For the second consecutive year, Arctic Terns abandoned this historic nesting island on the U.S./Canadian border because of gull predation and poor food supplies.
Project Puffin Visitor Center: Located at 311 Main Street in downtown Rockland, Project Puffin Visitor Center opened daily on June 1. In its first two months, nearly 6,000 people have visited, representing about 700 more than this time last summer. Now in its 2nd year, the Center continues to wow its visitors with live streaming views of puffins and terns using remotely controlled cameras at Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge, 18 miles south of Rockland.
The burrow cam is certainly one of this year’s highlights. This solar-powered camera illuminates an underground burrow with infra red light, permitting visitors to share in the wonder of the puffin’s mysterious underground life. Scientists are also watching the camera with great interest as it is revealing new behaviors. The most remarkable observation is the amount of parental interaction with the chick. Throughout the summer, one or both parents were frequently in the burrow with their chick, preening its feathers and brooding. This behavior continued, even as the chick approached fledging age. Sometimes the parents were seen maintaining the interior by turning over the soil. Most surprising was that when the chick fledged on August 7th, the apparent puffin parents continued to occupy the burrow (these puffins were not banded). More than two weeks after fledging, at least one of the adults continued to frequent the burrow. The purpose of this post fledging residency is not known for sure, but it may be that the adults stay in the burrow to keep it from being taken by other puffins.
News
From the Seabird Islands - August 4, 2007
NOTE: The live puffin banding demonstration
previously scheduled for August 3rd, 2007 was postponed due to
poor transmitting conditions. The new date will be announced
soon. News
From the Seabird Islands - August 1, 2007
To
share the experience of puffin banding with visitors - a real
time banding is planned for our website viewers. This first
ever live puffin
banding over the Internet will occur in front of the Seal Island puffin
cam on Friday, August 3rd at 4PM. To see the banding, click on Live
Puffin Cam on our website http://www.projectpuffin.org
News
From the Seabird Islands - July 14, 2007
News
From the Seabird Islands - June 10, 2007
Puffin Cam Goes Live: The robotic puffin and tern
cams on Seal
Island National Wildlife Refuge went live to the Internet
on May 25th. The puffin cam is perched on a rocky outcrop favored by ‘loafing’ puffins.
Viewers will see two decoys on the rock and usually some puffins nearby.
The best hours at this season for puffin watching are the morning, but
puffins, razorbills and black guillemots can be seen at any time coming
and going from their nearby underground burrows. The tern cam sits nearby
in the middle of the Common and Arctic Tern colony where about 2,000
pairs nested last year. At this date some are beginning to incubate eggs.
The cameras are set to rotate every few minutes to a new location. We
hope you enjoy the virtual puffin and tern watching and that you will
share the site with a friend. To find the puffin cam, go to the home
page of http://www.projectpuffin.org
2007 Birdathon: The 2007 Birdathon team was thrilled
to find the weather switch to a clearing cold front that brought blue
skies and abundant bird song back to the Maine coast. After two bone-chilling
days of fog and rain (due to tropical storm Barry), we set out at dawn
on June 6th to see how many species we could find. By the end of the
day, we tallied a total of 186 species and saw a grand total of 78 puffins.
Many thanks to everyone that contributed to making this year’s
Birdathon a big success.
2007 Josephine Daneman Herz Seabird
Fellowship: Each year the Audubon Seabird Restoration
Program welcomes an international scholar to participate in our Maine
seabird program. This year’s
recipient is Maria Félix Lizarraga with Conservación de
Islas (Ensenada, México). As Project Coordinator, Maria has worked
during the last three years in the Gulf of California islands and the
Baja California Pacific Islands. At Espíritu Santo Island her
work is related to eradication of introduced species as well as vegetation
and wildlife studies. On San Pedro Mártir and Farallón
de San Ignacio Islands, she collaborates with preparations for black
rat eradications to restore important seabird populations, including
boobies and tropic-birds. Maria, a native of Sonora, Mexico, is a biologist
(UABC-Ensenada) with a Masters in Science in Ecology (CIBNOR-La Paz).
Project Puffin Visitor
Center: Located
at 311 Main St. in Rockland, Project Puffin Visitor Center opened this
year on June 1 and will remain open daily through October 31st from 10-5PM.
At the Center, visitors are seeing the steaming video from Seal Island
of puffins and terns. Special events planned include Wednesday evening
lectures by project staff and the opening of a new exhibit comparing
puffins and penguins. “Puffins and Penguins- convergence in cold
seas” will open on June 20th. On July 7th, the Center will sponsor
the ‘2nd Annual Maine Seabird Celebration’ a day of festivities
with seabird games and guest speakers. Noted children’s book author
Gail Gibbons will take part in the festivities, signing her puffin book
and other titles. For more details, call 844-4-PUFFIN
.
Thanks
to everyone who tuned into http://www.projectpuffin.org to watch the live Internet banding of a puffin chick yesterday afternoon.
Unfortunately, an afternoon electrical storm passed along the shores
of Seal Island just at the time we were attempting to broadcast and this
has since caused further technical problems. We will attempt to find
a time for the banding next week and will reschedule if possible. Until
the puffin cam is working properly, we are broadcasting ‘Best of
the Puffin Cam’- our edited highlights from 2006.
Matt Klosterman, Supervisor of Seal Island, and his staff will band two
puffin chicks and explain the value of banding. Matt has been living
on Seal Island since mid May and has developed a keen knowledge of the
seabirds on this remote nesting island.
Seal Island is part of the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge.
The island supported a large population of Atlantic Puffins until 1887
when the last of the original population was extirpated due to excessive
hunting. Puffins were absent from the island until 1992 when several
pairs nested following an eight year long program to bring them back.
In 2006, 336 pairs nested at the island- ranking Seal Island as the largest
Maine coast colony. The banding that Matt is doing will help to determine
the number of nesting pairs in 2007 and permit an assessment of the health
of puffin chicks.
Puffin Chicks Hatching: Puffin
chicks began hatching on Eastern Egg Rock on June 14 and already 46 nests
have been confirmed. It’s too early to know the size of the puffin
colonies so far, but initial indications suggest they are thriving. On
July 4, there were at least 409 puffins sitting about the rocks and on
nearby water at Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge.
The 4th of July is a special day for Project Puffin, as it was the first
day that a puffin fed a chick on Eastern Egg Rock- 26 years ago. That
puffin (Y54) is now 30 years old and was back at Egg Rock again this
year- still nesting in the same burrow and feeding his 27th chick (puffins
rear just one chick each year). One of his chicks- named ‘Q’was
back this summer feeding its own chick in a nearby burrow. The 4th of
July was also notable this year because on this day the Seal Island team
successfully placed a burrow cam in a burrow that is now sending real
time video to the Internet! Click on http://www.projectpuffin.org and select the puffin cam. The burrow cam will appear in rotation with the puffin cam. Initial observations of the chick in this burrow are showing the parents present much of the time.
Annual Tern Census: Between June 12-23, terns were censused at all nesting colonies in the Gulf of Maine to arrive at total populations for Common, Arctic, Roseate and Least Terns. The count is a collaboration between Audubon, Maine Coastal Islands NWR, Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Canadian partners and others to arrive at total counts for the terns. The annual count is the best measure of the success achieved so far to restore these rare and endangered birds. Although the final numbers for the entire Gulf of Maine are not yet in, the total for all tern species on Audubon managed islands shows an 11% increase (813 pairs) more than were tallied in 2006 . In total, 8,517 pairs of terns were nesting on the seven colonies protected by Audubon staff. The census also highlights some of the challenges and the need for ongoing restoration.
Seal Island NWR: Recent events at Seal Island demonstrate
the value of having multiple tern colonies and resident staff. In 2006,
Seal Island ranked as the largest Maine Tern colony with more than 2,700
nesting pairs of Common and Arctic Terns. The colony was off to a good
start in 2007 with most pairs laying eggs during the third week of May.
However, events did not proceed well during the first week of June. Inclement
weather restricted the movements of the solitary ‘island sitter’ that
was left to protect the colony while the supervisor and interns attended
staff training. Then tropical storm Barry raced up the coast June 4-5,
with winds topping 35mph and driving rain. This further delayed the return
of the Seal Island team. On their return June 6th, they discovered that
most of the tern eggs were cracked open. At first a mystery, they soon
discovered up to 30 Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls raiding the
colony- eventually eating all of the nests- likely more than 2,000 pairs!
In response, the five Audubon interns began 4 AM hikes and a dusk hike around the edge of the tern colony to chase off the gulls. They also occasionally shot a rifle to disperse the gulls away from the tern habitat. Their continued presence has caused the gulls to leave the terns alone and about 1,800 pairs renested- the first of which hatched on July 3- about two weeks later than usual. It remains to be seen how well these chicks will do as the timing of he hatch is tied to the availability of small hake and herring just the right size for the chicks. Fortunately, most of the missing 900 pairs of terns at Seal Island were found nesting at Matinicus Rock, another Audubon-managed tern colony- located just 7.5 miles west of Seal Island. Seal Island and Matinicus Rock are managed in partnership with the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge.
Patriot’s Day Storm Improves Tern Habitat: The 2007 tern
census found notable increases in terns at several of the Audubon protected islands
that were due in large part to the fierce Patriot’s Day storm of April
15-16. The storm, notable for winds of 70 mph brought crashing waves that topped
most of our seabird islands. Apparently, the storm came within feet of sweeping
into our cabins on Seal Island and Eastern Egg Rock. The force of the water rearranged
huge granite boulders at puffin nesting islands and scoured beach and low-lying
areas of accumulated sod and dead plant stems. This action greatly improved nesting
habitat for terns at most islands- especially Stratton, Pond and Eastern Egg
Rock where vegetation was becoming increasingly dense in part due to the increased
fertilization by terns and other seabirds.
At Stratton Island, state endangered Least Terns have benefited from the effects
of the storm which removed vegetation from the island’s beach and dune nesting habitat. In 2007, at least 113 pairs of the tiny terns were nesting on Stratton Island- this represents most of the Maine population. Likewise, Common Tern populations increased on Eastern Egg Rock in habitat improved by the Patriot’s
Day Storm.
The huge effects of such isolated events illustrate the importance of long-term studies such as those conducted by the Seabird Restoration Program. These not only detect small changes from one year to the next, but they are in place to witness rare events such as exceptional storms. Maine terns have probably long benefited by such storms, but the beneficial effects of a well-timed storm are more important today than in the past as most Gulf of Maine terns are crowed onto just 12 islands because Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls (whose populations have grown in response to abundant garbage and fishing waste) exclude them from most places- except where summer island stewards are present to displace gulls. The ability of terns to readily move between islands gives them the ability to discover new habitat created by storms and improve their chances for nesting success.
Razorbill Count Finds Record High Numbers: On June 30, the Matinicus
Rock team searched the island’s huge boulders in search of razorbill nests. The island supports Maine’s
largest population of this state listed species of Threatened concern. The colony
has been undergoing a steady increase in recent years and that trend continued
this summer with the confirmation of 314 nests with either an egg or a chick.
This is an increase from 291 pairs in 2006 and 212 pairs in 2005. Late nesting
pairs may boost the 2007 total even higher. Some of the Razorbill young are already
fledging- one example of this was recently observed when a father razorbill escorted
his chick through the colony and to the edge of the sea in the late morning-
right past several snoozing Great Black-backed Gulls! This was unusual as they
typically leave at dusk- timing that helps them avoid gull predation.
Project Puffin Visitor Center: Now in its 2nd year, Project
Puffin Visitor Center, located at 311 Main Street in Rockland, is open daily
from 10-5 PM. The Center is featuring a new photographic exhibit titled ‘Puffins and Penguins-converging on Cold Oceans.” The
exhibit opened on June 27th, when Steve Kress presented on his recent visit to
South Georgia Island and the Antarctic Peninsula.
Visitors to the center will also find the live-streaming video of puffins, terns, and the puffin chick in its burrow.
July 7th was the Second Annual Seabird Celebration. The event this year was
highlighted by a reading and book signing by noted children’s author Gail Gibbons. Author of more than 150 books for children, Gibbons specializes in writing books in collaboration with scientists. She read her book about puffins to a packed audience of local families. Visitors at the Center also viewed presentations by staff of Project Puffin, Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge and Maine Audubon Society about the varied projects in place to protect island and beach nesting seabirds in Maine. About 150 people attended the event. Children especially enjoyed seabird face painting and seabird theme games with prizes provided by Barbara’s
Bakery and Downeast Energy. Project Puffin Visitor Center is sponsored in partnership
with the Maine Audubon Society.
Overview:
Thirty-two staff and volunteers met at Hog Island June 1-3 for summer training.
The group included 16 summer research assistant interns and two education
interns from 10 states and Mexico. The weather was unusually balmy for
mid-coast Maine in June, but this changed quickly as tropical storm Barry
raced toward Maine, arriving the day after training. Thirty mile per hour
winds whipped up 9-12 foot seas that hammered the islands on June 4 and
5, stalling the departure of the interns and marooning the temporary island
caretakers that were protecting the islands during training. A cold front
from the northwest pushed the stormy weather offshore on June 6th permitting
the interns to establish their summer camps on seven of Maine’s most
important seabird nesting islands.
You
can support Project Puffin through our Adopt-a-Puffin program. By adopting
a Puffin, you contribute to insuring the future of Puffins on Maine's
Coast...and now
you can do it ONLINE!
puffin@audubon.org
Mailing Address:
Project Puffin
159 Sapsucker Woods Road
Ithaca, New York 14850
607-257-7308