Yesterday we took a boat tour to Eastern Egg Rock, an island just five miles from the mainland, that has had a breeding colony of Atlantic puffins restored to it via an Audubon Society sponsored effort called Project Puffin. The light was great but the tour boat was rolling a bit from swells. I was never positive I had my target in focus but I took lots and got a few decent ones. This one has a small fish in its beak. The name Egg Rock originated from the practice in the 1800s of people (called eggers) boating out to collect eggs for use or sale. This in part caused the decimation of the puffin population.

In 1973, Stephen W. Kress of the Audubon Society started Project Puffin, an effort to restore seabird colonies to the southern Maine area. Atlantic puffins from Newfoundland and terns were reintroduced to the island. Puffins had not been spotted on the island since 1885. Biologists from other countries joined the society to help coax the birds back to Maine's islands and control the population of predators. Techniques used for restoring the birds, such as playing recordings of puffin calls, were mostly effective, and Kress wrote a children's book about the success of the project.