Atlantic puffin on Seal Island. Credit: USFWS

Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge is a 65-acre rocky island located just six miles east of Matinicus Rock, in outer Penobscot Bay. Seal Island was once the largest Atlantic puffin colony in the Gulf of Maine. For over 200 years it was also a summer campsite for fishermen harvesting herring, groundfish, and lobster. The fishermen used their nets to harvest the nesting seabirds, which led to the demise of the colony by 1887.

The island was eventually recolonized by cormorants, gulls, and terns. By 1953 the growing gull population had completely displaced all nesting terns. The U.S. Navy used the island as a bombing target from the 1940s to the 1960s. The Service acquired the island in 1972. After six years of gull control and social attraction, 20 pairs of Arctic and common terns nested at Seal Island in 1989. Between 1984 and 1989, National Audubon Society translocated 950 puffin chicks from Newfoundland to Seal Island. Puffins first successfully bred on Seal Island in 1992. Prior to 2007, Seal Island was the largest tern colony in Maine.

This spring excessive gull predation on the island resulted in a 34 percent decrease in the tern colony. Seal Island supported 823 pairs of Arctic terns and 1,005 pairs of common terns nesting in 2007. We believe the majority of the terns relocated on Matinicus Rock. No roseate terns nested on the island. The razorbill colony increased to seven pairs this year. We did not conduct a census of nesting puffins this season. However, in 2006 the island supported 335 pairs of puffins.

The island continues to be cooperatively managed by National Audubon Society and the Service.

Recovery of Arctic and Common Terns on Matinicus Rock: 1996 – 2007