Shortly after leaving Maple Juice Cove, we took a detour by Eastern Egg Rock. This small island is one of three in Maine with surviving colonies of Atlantic Puffins. Although this bird is emblematic of Maine, it was was hunted to near extinction in the early 20th century. Thankfully, benefactors transplanted eggs from Newfoundland and established colonies on these islands. We circumnavigated the island, full of many species of birds, and were about to give up when Sandy noticed some characteristic red beaks through the binoculars. They were floating in shallow water, but I moved Fregata in as close as possible to observe them. That made our day! The photos aren’t great because of the distance we needed to maintain.
We sailed on to South Freeport, close to Freeport, the home of LL Bean, the famous outdoor store. We picked up a mooring ball at Brewer Marine and the dockmaster, Kurt, kindly offered us a ride into town, about 3 miles up a steep road. After wandering around shops, we had a drink at a bar where Jordan Wood was holding a campaign meeting. He’s running for the US Senate against Susan Collins.
We capped the day off at the Harraseeket lobster shack and watched the sun go down from Fregata’s poop deck. A great day overall!
Want to hear the Atlantic Puffin mating call? No wonder they get all the cute girl puffins!
9 Responses
Cute birds! Funny mating call however.
What beautiful birds!
I’ll have to try that and see if Donna responds
Vous avez du pot !on a pu faire 3 semaines en Islande sans voir la queue d’un seul un seul macareux !
Fascinating photos and sound recording.
Nous, on appelle cela des macareux, non ? Les puffins n’ont pas cette tête à ma connaissance (une espèce de mouette grise à ventre blanc). Variation de la traduction ?
Ce sont bien des puffins mais il y a plusieurs versions (atlantique, pacifique, etc.). Ce sont bien des puffins édition atlantique.
The audio recording will keep me laughing all day. Thank you!
Yes, opera quality voices!