Seal Island was once the largest puffin colony in mid-coast Maine until hunters killed the last of the breeding puffins for meat and feathers in 1887. One hundred and five years passed until 1992 when puffins recolonized the island-the culmination of an eight-year effort to re-establish this important colony. In 1984, the National Audubon Society, Canadian Wildlife Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formed a partnership to bring puffins and terns back to this 100-acre island. Although it was protected as a National Wildlife Refuge, without an active restoration effort, it's likely that puffins and terns would not have pioneered new colonies at this important historic nesting place.

Between 1984 and 1989, a total of 950 puffin chicks ranging in age from 2 to 40 days old (most were 10 to 14 days old) were reared in artificial burrows, banded and then released. Wooden decoys helped to encourage these birds to land, congregate and eventually nest. Most of the first breeders at Seal Island NWR were translocated puffins (young brought to the island where they were hand reared and released). These pioneers in turn helped to attract additional puffins from other colonies. The sources for most of the new nests are unknown, but of the 40 breeders, leg bands prove that three hatched at nearby Matinicus Rock (six miles south), one bird hatched at Petit Manan Island (49 miles east), and three hatched at Machias Seal Island (85 miles east).

For General Information and Questions: puffin@audubon.org

Mailing Address: Project Puffin 159 Sapsucker Woods Road Ithaca, New York 14850 (607)257-7308