BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 1, 2024
Eastern Egg Rock, a tiny, seemingly nondescript, barren atoll located in outer Muscongus Bay, is one of a handful of locations along the Maine coast where Atlantic puffins come to nest. But it hasn’t always been that way. The colorful seabirds stopped returning to the rock around 1890. A variety of circumstances had driven them from their natural roosting habitat. In 1973, a team led by Stephen Kress began a painstaking effort to bring puffins back. For more than a decade, Project Puffin relocated chicks from Newfoundland and raised them on Eastern Egg Rock. The goal was to instill an instinctive desire to return to breed. Despite their diligent efforts, 12 years passed before puffin pairs returned. Today, around 150 puffin parents raise their chicks on the rock each year.