{"id":33,"date":"2007-08-20T10:13:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-20T14:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/2007\/08\/20\/33\/"},"modified":"2007-08-20T10:13:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-20T14:13:00","slug":"33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/2007\/08\/20\/33\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Maine Bird Tour – III
<\/span>
On June 21, we drove from our B&B in Lubec to the dock in Cutler for a 7 AM departure on a puffin cruise aboard the Barb\"\"<\/a>ara Frost to Machias Seal Island, part of the province of New Brunswick. A thick fog that so often besets the coast here at the lower portion of the Bay of Fundy delayed us for a bit but soon enough we were wending our way out of the harbor for the ten mile cruise to the island.<\/p>\n

The fog had lifted enough along the way to allow us to see quite a few Northern Gannets and the occasional Wilson\u2019s Storm-Petrel. Machias Seal Island was shrouded in fog but we knew we were getting close because of the many Atlantic Puffins and Razorbills that began flying by the boat.<\/p>\n

Fifteen of us were ferried ashore in a small dinghy and scrambled up the rocks to the lighthouse on the island. A\"\"<\/a> Canadian Wildlife Service biologist gave us the do\u2019s and don\u2019t\u2019s about the island. We then divided into four groups, each group going to one of the four photographic blinds right on the rocky shore. The fog was lifting and soon we were enjoying blue skies and great visibility.<\/div>\n

These blinds provide an unbelievable opportunity to observe and photograph the Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills and Common Murres that nest on the island. The birds are literally only a few feet away. The puffins often land right on top of the blind. It\u2019s pretty neat to hear puffins doing the two-step right above your head!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We had over an hour in the blinds until another tour group arrived. We could have stayed twice as long.<\/p>\n

The 20-acre island is mostly vegetated by short grasses. A few Song Sparrows and Savannah Sparrows were singing from the meadow. An unexpected find was a Black-billed Cuckoo.<\/p>\n

Historically, several thousand Arctic Terns have nested on the island. These aggressive birds dive-bombed human visitors as they walked to and from the blinds. This year the terns abandoned the nesting site for unknown reasons. Only a few terns were flying around.<\/p>\n

Although there are four Maine islands where you can see puffins (Seal Island, Petit Manan, Matinicus Rock and Eastern Egg Rock), landing is not permitted. Two Maine companies offer cruises to Machias Seal Island, the Bold Coast Charter Company out of Cutler and Norton Tours out of Jonesport. If you call to make a reservation, be aware that a maximum of 15 passengers are allowed on the island. The other passengers get to see the puffins at arms-length from the boat but the blind experience simply can\u2019t be beat.<\/p>\n

Back aboard the Barbara Frost, we circled around the island, getting great looks at many Harbor Seals and one large Gray Seal with its horse-like head.<\/p>\n

One of the many attractions of the Cobscook Bay region is the large amount of land with public access. Around the Bay, there are several state parks, Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge (a unit in Edmunds and another in Baring), and several state wildlife management areas. The Quoddy Regional Land Trust and the Maine Coast Heritage Trust have preserved a number of properties and maintain trails for public access.<\/p>\n

The Baring unit of Moosehorn NWR boasts the most easily observed Bald Eagle nest in the state. The nesting platform is only 300 yards from the road that runs through the middle of the refuge.<\/p>\n

At Moosehorn, we walked along an abandoned railroad track just north of Route 1 through an extensive marsh. Swamp Sparrows were abundant. A Wilson\u2019s Snipe called unseen from the marsh vegetation. We saw a couple of turtles laying eggs in the sand along the old railroad track. Unfortunately, predators had discovered a number of nests and eaten the eggs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Boot Cove Preserve in Lubec is a fairly easy hike through spruce-fir forest to a rocky headland. A bog with a short boardwalk along the way provides different habitat. We had great looks at Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, Nashville Warblers, both kinglets and tons of Magnolia Warblers and Black-throated Green Warblers. Sometimes, Spruce Grouse can be seen right along the trail here but we were not so fortunate. A few Blackpoll Warblers were in the stunted red spruce along the exposed headland.<\/p>\n

West Quoddy Head State Park produced spectacular views of the rocky coast as well as Boreal Chickadees, Yellow-bellied Flycatche\"\"<\/a>rs, Alder Flycatchers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Hermit Thrushes and Dark-eyed Juncos.<\/p>\n

[Originally published on July 27, 2007]<\/p>\n\n

\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maine Bird Tour – IIIOn June 21, we drove from our B&B in Lubec to the dock in Cutler for a 7 AM departure on a puffin cruise aboard the Barbara Frost to Machias Seal Island, part of the province of New Brunswick. A thick fog that so often besets the coast here at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}