Location:  This 35-acre island is located in Saco Bay approximately 1 1/2 miles off Prout's Neck, York County.  (Approx. 1 1/2 hour drive south of Bremen.)  Stratton and nearby Bluff Island are owned by National Audubon Society.

Access:  Qualified research staff provide travel from the mainland by motorized Avon docking at Prout's Neck Yacht Club or aboard the project’s 19’ boat Lunda II.  When all staff are on the island, the Avon stays at the island tied to a mooring buoy.  Island staff are responsible for securing their own supplies and groceries as needed when no one is scheduled to arrive from the Audubon base camp in Bremen.  Stratton is one of only two of Audubon’s seabird sanctuaries where visitors are permitted to land their boat.  Their access is restricted to the viewing platform and “visitor beach.”

Accommodations:  A large tent houses the island supervisor and the research equipment.  An outdoor covered kitchen area has a propane camp stove, light and tiny propane-powered refrigerator. Volunteers and interns must bring their own tent, sleeping bag and ground pad.  An outdoor solar shower and a composting toilet are near the camp. A cassette player is wired to a 12-volt battery charged by solar panels.

Duties:  The Island supervisors will outline the specific projects underway when you arrive on the island.  Duties may include: daily bird counts, 3-hour blind observation stints to observe tern feeding ecology, bird banding and censusing.  Staff also greet and share natural history information with the public landing on the beach.  Public interaction may include restricting visitor access to sensitive nesting areas.

Wildlife:  Maine's most diverse heronry (Glossy Ibis, Snowy Egret & Little Blue Heron), Common Terns, Roseate Terns, waterfowl, cormorants and gulls abound.  Maine's first successful breeding by American Oystercatchers occurred on Stratton Island in 1995.  Harbor seals haul out in large numbers on Little Stratton, which is connected to Stratton Island at low tide.  Early summer brings a large number of migrant songbirds to the island while late July and August days are excellent for migrating shorebirds and many staging terns.  Bluff Island (Stratton's sister island) is the breeding site for Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls, Common Eiders and Double-crested Cormorants.

Study Projects:  Monitor a restored tern colony; tern chick feeding study; Roseate Tern productivity and feeding study.

General information for research assistants and volunteers

For General Information and Questions: puffin@audubon.org

Mailing Address: Project Puffin 159 Sapsucker Woods Road Ithaca, New York 14850 (607)257-7308