Researchers Discover Where Maine Puffins Spend the Winter

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY

BARNSTABLE – Researchers have finally solved the mystery of where Maine’s Atlantic puffins spend their winters.

Puffins are the colorful seabirds of the auk family that are awkward in the land and air and graceful in the water.

The birds spend the spring breeding season and summer in coastal areas before heading out to the open ocean in the autumn and winter.

The National Audubon Society says that locators recovered from 19 puffins in recent years show the area most frequented by the puffins in the winter was about 200 miles southeast of Cape Cod.

A map showing the location of the the Puffins in the winter.

The data shows the location where the puffins winter are over the area known as New England’s “coral canyons and seamounts.”

Audubon officials said this is the first time the winter grounds of the birds have been mapped and that the discovery is important because the species is threatened.

Data about their movements will be useful in future conservation efforts.

Atlantic puffins have an estimated population of more than 10 million but researchers say that population is declining.

Efforts have been made to conserve the bird in localized areas, including Maine, where there are about 1,000 pairs.