North Atlantic Puffins

Machias Seal Island, a small, mile-long rocky outpost, lies in disputed waters between Canada and the United States, near the border of Maine and New Brunswick. It’s one of the last strongholds for Atlantic Puffins in the North Atlantic, hosting a significant breeding colony. The island supports the most diverse seabird colony in the Canadian Maritimes and the broader Gulf of Maine ecosystem, with approximately 8,600 pairs of Atlantic Puffins recorded in 2023 by the Atlantic Laboratory for Avian Research (ALAR).