MAINE PUBLIC • September 27, 2021
Biologists say that puffin chicks that hatched on several of Maine's offshore islands this year struggled with storms, predation and food shortages, and most were unlikely to survive. After near-extirpation from the U.S. during the 1800s, Maine's puffin population is the only one that's been re-established in the continental U.S. Linda Welch, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says this year has been their toughest in recent memory. Welch says puffins can live and reproduce for decades, providing resilience against a single bad year. But bad years are becoming more frequent.