Puffins in Maine have had a normal, successful year.
Don Lyons, the director of conservation science at Audubon's Seabird Institute, says that's noteworthy given the challenges the population has faced in recent years, including scarce food and extreme weather which can lead to low chick survival.
"Too many bad years stacked together will eventually cause a population decline, but we're not there yet," Lyons says. We're still seeing healthy numbers of puffins, and this year, even a record high at Seal Island."
Lyons says this has been a good food year for puffins. Though a favorite food source of herring remains low, he says a higher proportion of puffins' diet was devoted to invertebrates, such as krill.
