You can hear the waves crashing onshore, the flapping of wings, and a sound the birds make that is much like the groaning of a heavy door with hinges in need of being oiled. You have about an hour inside the blinds to take pictures and observe the variety of birds. The puffins come right up to the blinds and often land with a "thud" on the roof, and as they walk around it sounds like a group of children wearing swim flippers. He said the puffins get all their food at sea, and only land on remote islands to breed. "They have this great, brightly coloured bill, a bit like a parrot's beak, that is very spectacular," said Tony Diamond, a recently retired research professor in wildlife ecology at the University of New Brunswick. The puffins, with their black backs, white bellies and orange webbed feet, waddle upright much like a penguin. These box-like huts have flat roofs and small openings to see out and use your camera or video camera without disrupting the birds. Once on the island, you're led in small groups to wooden blinds near the shore. I've heard it referred to as the 'Little Galapagos,"' he said. "It's very unique when you think that you can sail for 15 miles and all of a sudden you come across 30,000 birds on an island about a kilometre long and 300 metres wide. "This is my 32nd year," Wilcox said, adding that he never tires of visiting the island. Wilcox is allowed to take 15 people ashore, per day, six days a week. "Most people respect the rules and have a better respect for them when they're done."Īside from puffins, the island is also a breeding ground for razorbills, common murres, Arctic terns, common terns and more. "It's a privilege to land here and that privilege can be revoked by the Canadian Wildlife Service," Ingersoll said. They will escort you ashore and ensure you understand the strict regulations in place to protect the birds. There are a number of hotels, bed-and-breakfasts and campgrounds for lodging on Grand Manan.Įarly the next morning, you'll drive to Seal Cove to meet Peter Wilcox, who runs Sea Watch Tours and is the captain of the vessel "Day's Catch." He and mate Durlan Ingersoll will be your guides for the next 5 1/2 hours, starting with the 90-minute trip from Grand Manan to Machias Seal Island. First, you need to take a 90-minute ferry ride from Black's Harbour, N.B., to Grand Manan Island. Getting to the island is a bit of a challenge. "It was really amazing to see so many puffins and other birds in the same spot." "It's more than I ever expected," Holly said. He and his wife are both marine biologists who believe it's important for their children to visit such places. "To see so many puffins right here, two or three feet away. Taya, her sister Josie, 7, and parents Eric and Holly Robillard of Cape Cod, Mass., had just emerged from wooden blinds constructed to allow tourists to get a close-up look at the various breeds of birds that inhabit the sanctuary. There are more than 5,500 breeding pairs of the comical birds on the tiny island, accessible by only one tour operator in New Brunswick and one in Maine. "They were all very cute and they were everywhere," she said with glee. The face of 10-year-old Taya Robillard beams with excitement when asked to describe the thousands of colourful Atlantic puffins that populate the barren landscape of Machias Seal Island - located in disputed waters off the coasts of New Brunswick and Maine.
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