Celebrate Mother’s Day with Puffins

Puffins are among the best bird mothers.  They feed their chick, preen its feathers and cuddle it. Their behavior is closely monitored by Audubon’s Project Puffin team, working off the Maine coast. Led by Audubon’s Dr. Steve Kress, researchers find that more than 90% of the chicks successfully leave the nest in late summer.  After about 6 weeks of providing food, warmth, and companionship, puffin parents become empty nesters when their chick leaves the safety of the burrow to begin a life on the open ocean, all by itself. Compare this to the 16 years + your mom devoted to you before you fledged.

To express gratitude to your mother, here are three terrific gifts to help celebrate Mother’s Day and support Audubon’s puffin conservation work on the Maine coast.

Adopt-A-Puffin for Mom     Mother’s day is a perfect day to adopt a Puffin in honor of Mom.  She will receive a biography, certificate of adoption, photo and option of a book about Project Puffin.  The deadline for a Mother’s day puffin adoption to arrive in time for Mother’s Day is Monday, May 7.  Click to adopt a puffin.

Shop for Mom     Celebrate moms everywhere with puffin yoga pants, socks, earrings, pendants by visiting Project Puffin’s on-line store.  To receive gifts by Mother’s day, place your order by May 7.     

Send Mom to Camp   A few places remain in the June 2012 Hog Island ‘Joy of Birding’ and ‘Field Ornithology’ sessions.  See the Egg Rock puffins with Audubon naturalists and learn about more than one hundred other Maine birds from dynamic leaders at Audubon’s legendary Hog Island.

Since 1936, the Audubon Camp in Maine has offered environmental education programs for adults, teens, families and conservation leaders on Hog Island in Muscongus Bay, Maine.

“I have been to many places all over the USA. I have attended many bird outings, conferences, and conventions in the last 25 years. This was the best...5 stars!" wrote one student.  The sessions are taught by some of the country’s leading birders, scientists, authors and environmental educators. See instructor photos and bios. Group sizes of 10 to 15 participants ensure personalized instruction.  Accommodations at Hog Island are in authentic early-20th-century buildings at the edge of the sea. Our renowned chef, Janii Laberge, serves extraordinary meals in an historic farmhouse that looks out onto Muscongus Bay.

More at www.projectpuffin.org

Video by David Brown/Cornell http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqAUUii44BU&feature=autoplay&list=UUqwkTu9QFXNAvuuKdms9Lsg&playnext=1