Eastern Egg Rock
Puffins on the island
Geography
LocationMuscongus Bay, Atlantic Ocean
Coordinates43°51′38″N 69°22′55″W / 43.8606389°N 69.3819911°W / 43.8606389; -69.3819911[1]
Area0.011 sq mi (0.028 km2)
Highest elevation20 ft (6 m)
Administration
United States
Demographics
Population0
Additional information
Visited by biologists and tourists

Eastern Egg Rock Island is an island in the Town of St. George in Knox County in the U.S. state of Maine.[1] It is owned by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW), and it is located off the southern Atlantic Coast of the state.[2] Project Puffin, a restoration effort by the Audubon Society, is implemented on Eastern Egg Rock through a contract with the MDIFW.[3]

Geography

The island is by the mouth of Maine's Muscongus Bay, about 6 miles (9.7 km) off Pemaquid Point.[4] It is treeless and is 7 acres (2.8 ha) in size.[2]

Project Puffin

A common tern on Eastern Egg Rock

In 1973, Stephen W. Kress of the Audubon Society started Project Puffin, an effort to restore seabird colonies to the southern Maine area. Atlantic puffins from Newfoundland and terns were reintroduced to the island. Puffins had not been spotted on the island since 1885. Biologists from other countries joined the society to help coax the birds back to Maine's islands and control the population of predators. Techniques used for restoring the birds, such as playing recordings of puffin calls, were mostly effective,[2][5] and Kress wrote a children's book about the success of the project.

With the help of fish delivered to Eastern Egg Rock,[5] 69 percent of Maine's roseate terns were nesting there by 2004.[6] Now the island is the southern limit of puffin habitat in North America.[4] To protect the birds, the island is closed to visitors for the breeding season, which runs from April through August.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 "Eastern Egg Rock". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. September 30, 1980. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 Carpenter, Murray (August 29, 2006). "Trying to export the success of a Maine seabird program". The New York Times. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  3. 1 2 "Project Puffin: Eastern Egg Rock." Audubon Society. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
  4. 1 2 Garrity, Paul (July 29, 2005). "Puffins that summer on mid-coast Maine island". Mainebirding.net. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  5. 1 2 Meara, Emmett (December 3, 1981). "Eastern Egg Rock puffins return". The Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine). p. 28. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
  6. ↑ Rothschadl, Ron (June 22, 2005). "Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge". U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved September 21, 2010.

Further reading

  • Kress, Stephen W. (1999). Project Puffin: How We Brought Puffins Back to Egg Rock. Gardiner, Maine: Tilbury House Publishers, ISBN 978-0-88448-170-6.
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