Puffins !!!

Puffins are one of the cutest birds you will ever see. They are small, colorful and awkward. My wife has always wanted to see them in the wild, but they are not easy to find as they mostly live at sea. The only time you easy see them is when they come to land to breed. There are rocky islands where they breed in Iceland, Newfoundland, Alaska, and Maine. The one in Maine was re-established in the 1980s. To get out to the island you have to take a tour from one of Maine's northern harbors. We chose Boothbay since was the closest to home and had one of the more highly rated cruises. It is also one of the prettiest places in Maine (Almost as pretty as Bar Harbor). We chose a hotel that was over the water.

The view from our balcony looked towards the mouth of the harbor so we could see the boats coming in and out of the bay and also watch the fog roll in and then clear. It was one of those calming views and for the two days we were there we spent a lot of the time out on the balcony enjoying the view. 

Besides the views the other reason we chose the hotel where we stayed was because the ship that took out to see the puffins was about 100 feet from our hotel. Boothbay like a lot of coastal towns in Maine consists of narrow winding streets with very few places to park and is just a hard place to drive around in general. So, you want to stay in the center of town within walking distance to not worry about having to get in the car and find place to park.

We left for Boothbay early Tuesday morning and were on the balcony enjoying the view by 5pm. The next day we got on an 60-foot boat to go out to Eastern Egg Island. It was a little cold and foggy when we left the harbor but by the time we got to the island most of the fog had lifted 

At the island there are at least a thousand puffins in the water and on the rocks around the island. Besides puffins there are also terns, different types of seagulls and few other sea birds. However, the star of the show is the star of the show are the puffins. They are small birds about 10 inches in size and are dense with stubby winds. When they fly they are very awkward and have to flap their wings very fast. They just look funny flying. Getting any good pictures of then is not easy because the boat has to stay a couple of hundred feet off the island and even with my 400mm lens it was hard to get a good picture. It also didn't help that you are on a boat that is rocking. So tracking a fast-moving bird on a rocking boat takes a lot of practice and luck. I mostly concentrated on the birds on the rocks of the island and the ones in the water closest to the boat. I also took a lot of pictures to improve my luck. I did manage to get a few good pictures. I tried to get a few of them flying but they are fast, and I did not have the type of lens or experience to get a good shot, but there was another serious photographer with a lens the size of a small cannon that got some great shots of them flying you can see one of them here. 

But even if I didn't get any good pictures, it was just a lot of fun watching the puffins fly around and play around on shore. The island also hosts a few researchers who catalog and document the puffins and other birds on the island. The island host hundreds of terns who tend to attack anybody who they think are trying to get the eggs from their nests. We were told that most of the researchers come back with a scar or two from a tern attack.

We got back from the cruise just before 1pm and then walked around town. The town is small but has some interesting restaurants and shops. 

We hung out on our balcony after dinner to enjoy the view before heading south for some beach time and a whale watch. I do have a couple of whale tales I will share in my next post.