COURTESY OF ISLE AU HAUT BOAT SERVICES
Few wildlife sightings on the Maine coast rival the excitement of seeing an Atlantic Puffin. With bright orange feet, colorful bills, and comically serious expressions, puffins have become one of the region’s most beloved seabirds. Yet many visitors don’t realize these birds nearly disappeared entirely from Maine.
By the late 1800s, hunting, egg collecting, and predators had wiped puffins off most Maine islands. Their comeback began in the 1970s through an ambitious restoration effort later known as Project Puffin. Researchers carefully relocated young puffins from Newfoundland to historic nesting islands in Maine, using decoys and recorded puffin calls to encourage the birds to return and breed.
Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge became one of the project’s most important restoration sites. Richard Podolsky, a naturalist who participated in this pioneering work and helped study the seabirds that returned to Maine’s offshore islands, leads Wednesday Puffin tours through Isle au Haut Boat Services. Visitors on those departures gain a rare firsthand perspective on one of North America’s great wildlife restoration stories.
The experience of approaching Seal Island remains unforgettable whether the day brings fog, bright sun, or rolling swells. Puffins skim low across the water carrying fish to hidden burrows while razorbills, guillemots, Arctic terns, and harbor seals animate the rocky ledges and surrounding waters. Because the nesting islands are carefully protected, visitors observe the birds respectfully from the water, preserving the fragile colonies while still allowing an extraordinary glimpse into Maine’s offshore ecosystem.
Today, puffins remain vulnerable to warming ocean temperatures and changes in forage fish populations, making ongoing conservation efforts critically important. Their continued presence on Seal Island stands as proof that patient conservation work can restore species once thought lost.
Seal Island Puffin Tours depart at 1:00 p.m. from 27 Seabreeze Avenue in Stonington on Wednesdays and Sundays from June 14 through August 12. Purchase tickets at www.isleauhaut.com.