The season has ended for this year's LIVE Puffin CAM, but we thought you might enjoy viewing a few video highlights from our 2006 Puffin Cam season.

A QUICK NOTE BEFORE YOU BEGIN: If for some reason the video clips below do not play properly on your machine, you may need to download the QuickTime (free) plugin for your web browser. Here are the web site addresses you will need:

Windows users: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html
Mac users: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/mac.html

BEST OF PUFFIN CAM 2006 (28 min.) NOTE: Clip MAY take up to 1 min. to download/play Puffin Cam is sponsored by BARBARA'S BAKERY, home of the deliciously crunchy, high-fiber PUFFINS cereal & snack bars. ASSORTED EXCERPTS FROM BEST OF PUFFIN CAM 2006 (Click on a picture to view a clip - times are as noted) Arctic Tern Chick (2:16 min.) Black Guillemot (0:15 min.) Puffin 1 (5:20 min.) Puffin 2 (6:08 min.) Puffin Chick 1 (3:17 min.) Puffin chick near fledging (3:42 min.) Razorbill (2:00 min.) Harbor and Gray Seals (2:12 min.) Common and Arctic Terns (3:47 min.) Researchers (0:45 min.) Video clips graciously edited by Colin White (thank you, Colin!) You are visitor number

The first clip, “Best of Puffin Cam 2006” is approx. 30 minutes of the best video recorded by Audubon's three puffin cams. Two of the puffin cams were positioned above ground in puffin and tern nesting habitat- the third cam was an underground burrow cam that followed the development of a puffin chick.

All of the video was filmed on Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge between early July and late August. “Best of Puffin Cam” features adult puffins interacting on a rocky puffin ledge among the wooden decoys used to lure the birds back to the island. The video also includes razorbills, guillemots and eiders as well as scenics of the magnificent shoreline of this remote island. Seal Island is named because it is a favorite habitat for Harbor and Gray Seals and these were also filmed by the Puffin Cams.

When the camera is live, the best time to see puffins is from early in the morning until about 1PM (Eastern Time). Although some puffins may linger at the island through the afternoon, most spend their afternoons at sea. They begin returning in late afternoon and evening and most sleep under boulders at night. Peak numbers of birds occur in July and early August.

Seal Island is part of the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge. It is located 20 miles south of Rockland, ME. The live cameras return to Seal Island in late May/early June each year, when the puffins and other seabirds return to the island.

From June through September, residents and visitors to the Maine coast are invited to stop in and see the live video on a large screen and operate the cameras at the Project Puffin Visitor Center, located at 311 Main Street in Rockland, Maine. The center is open daily from 10AM to 5PM from June 1st until October 31st.

Video cameras/technical support provided by:

Check out other nesting birds via Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Nest Box Cams:

About Project Puffin: The National Audubon Society started Project Puffin 33 years ago. The program has restored colonies of Atlantic Puffins to Eastern Egg Rock and Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge by translocating nearly 2000 puffin chicks from Newfoundland. Project Puffin began in 1973 in an effort to learn how to restore puffins to historic nesting islands in the Gulf of Maine. Techniques developed by the Project are now used worldwide, helping more than 40 other seabird species. Audubon is dedicated to protecting birds and other wildlife and the habitat that supports them. Our national network of community-based nature centers and chapters, scientific and educational programs, and advocacy on behalf of areas sustaining important bird populations, engage millions of people of all ages and backgrounds in positive conservation experiences.   By adopting a Puffin, you contribute to insuring the future of Puffins on Maine's Coast...Now you can do it online! For more information on adoptions, visit our Puffin Adoption Center.     Sponsors of Project Puffin: CLICK HERE FOR LIST OF CURRENT CONTRIBUTORS (PDF FILE)

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Since May 1, 2006