The Atlantic Puffins of Machias Seal Island
By Mary Doo (July 2007)

Aren't they adorable?  Wearing those black and white tuxedos on their little bodies, carrying a silver-toned white face adorned with mascara eyes, with bright orange beaks and webbed orange feet, they look part penguin and part clown.  Their appearance exudes a charming yet slightly arrogant attitude: When they face toward you, it looks as if they are relaxing with their hands folded behind the back – is this a classic Prince Charles pose for a bird colony?  When they fly, they flap those stubby wings with vigor to lift their little bodies and webbed feet up in the air. It is a sight to behold.

The puffins are smallish at about 11½ to 13½ inches long, weighing in at just over one pound each. Being migratory seabirds, they spend most of the year living out in the ocean. Yet they come back to Machias Seal Island in the summer to breed their young. It is estimated that there are about 6,000 of them that live in Machias from May through August of each year. 


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Photography by Mary Doo