A puffin holds white hake in its beak after landing on Eastern Egg Rock in Muscongus Bay. During the "ocean heat wave" of 2012, small fish like the white hake and herring the puffins catch to feed to their chicks fled for deeper and cooler water. The puffins caught butterfish but their chicks couldn't fit the larger fish down their throats and many chicks ended up starving.
The puffins can travel up to 50 miles over the Gulf of Maine, looking for small fish to feed their chicks, who nest under large rocks on the shore of Eastern Egg Rock.
Numerous birds fly overhead as people leave a bird-watching blind on Eastern Egg Rock. The island is one of three islands in the Gulf of Maine where puffin breeding colonies have been established. The island is also home to arctic terns and laughing gulls.
A puffin flies over Eastern Egg Rock in Muscongus Bay while carrying white hake in its beak. During the 'ocean heat wave' of 2012, small fish like white hake, herring and sand lance the puffins catch to feed to their chicks fled for deeper and cooler water.
Stephen Kress, an ornithologist with Cornell University, stands on the shore of Eastern Egg Rock. Kress has spearheaded the 42-year effort to restore puffin breeding colonies to Eastern Egg Rock and two other midcoast Maine islands.
During the 'ocean heat wave' of 2012, small fish like white hake, herring and sand lance the puffins catch to feed to their chicks fled for deeper and cooler water. The puffins caught a larger butterfish instead but their chicks couldn't fit the larger fish down their throats and many chicks ended up starving. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
An arctic tern swoops down toward Kress as he leaves Eastern Egg Rock. The terns swoop threateningly at people when they travel through the birds' nesting areas on the island.
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