Puffins!

Some of my birding trips are literally just walks in the park. The most I usually have to exert myself is a few hours of early morning driving to get to the place. Nothing more inconvenient than an extra cup of coffee.

This trip was a real adventure. To see Atlantic Puffins, my friends and I booked a boat tour half a year in advance, in January. The tour operates from Cutler, Maine - which is only 30 minutes south of the Canadian border. To get there, we booked a week's vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine. On the day of the trip, we got up at 4:30am and drove for two hours through the fog on local roads to Cutler in time for our 7am departure. We barely made it.

The tour takes you on what is basically a tourist-ized lobster boat to Machias Seal Island, 11 miles offshore. The island is actually claimed by both Canada and US - it's a disputed territory (I didn't know Canada and US were still disputing any of their borders, but there we go.) When on the island, the guests have to obey both sets of laws (which means that you can both emigrate to Cuba and are prohibited from doing it - Schrodinger would have been proud). The puffins don't have to obey any laws - they just live there. The island is their southern-most colony and the only one in the US territorial waters (if you are a Canadian, feel free to dispute this). The park service has installed bird blinds, and allows up to 15 people a day to visit them and observe the birds.

Of course, the day we chose back in January turned out to be the only really rainy day of the week. The rain held off - but only until we actually got to the island. We had ponchos and waterproof bags, but it was a long way from comfort. We got to spend about 45 minutes in the blinds before the captain pulled us back because the tide was getting dangerously high. (Factoid: Maine's Bay of Fundy tides are some of the highest in the world, with 12 foot difference between low and high tides. In New York, it's only 6 feet. When we were there, it was about 15 feet due to the full moon.) The trip back was made in driving rain.

But the puffins were absolutely amazing!

This guy brought some lunch home. In case you can't see it here, he caught a squid and a fish:

(Photo by Luke Cabading)

(Photo by Luke Cabading)

While we were there, we saw several other pelagic birds - some Razorbills and Common Murres:

This is a Razobill (I love that name!):

And this is a Common Murre: