LIVE WEBCAM WITH PUFFINS AT SEAL ISLAND

More info: The Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is a 65-acre offshore island located in outer Penobscot Bay, 22 miles southeast of Rockland, Knox County, Maine.

The southeastern side of the island has spectacular sea cliffs whilst the northwest slopes from high points to an inner tidal zone with two distinct coves with both rock and pebble beaches.

Seal Island NWR is owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Maine Coastal Islands NWR (MCINWR) and is cooperatively managed by the National Audubon Society and MCINWR.

Restoration of the seabird colony began in 1984 with management of the gull population and the translocation of nearly 1,000 young puffins from Newfoundland, alonh with social attraction for puffins and terns (using decoys and mirror boxes). The island is now home to puffins, razorbills and terns.

Seal Island NWR supports a diverse seabird colony with nesting Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills, Black Guillemots, Leach's Storm-petrels, Arctic, Common and occasionally Roseate Terns, Common Eiders, Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls, and Double-crested and Great Cormorants. Common Murres are also present, though not breeding on the island. Spring and fall migration with up to 224 species (including breeding birds) have been recorded on the island since 2000, including several Maine rarities such as Yellow-nosed Albatross, Red-billed Tropicbird, Ash-throated Flycatcher and Prothonotary Warbler.