Atlantic Puffins (“the clowns of the sea”) are striking little birds less than a foot tall with large, colorful, orange and black bills.

The puffin is an amazing animal. It can carry up to 60 fish in its beak at once and hydrates itself while out at sea by drinking saltwater.

Its waterproof feathers insulate it from the freezing water found 200 feet below the surface, the depth to which it dives in search of food. Individuals can live to be up to 30 years old. Puffins spend winters in the icy waters of the North Atlantic, but when the weather becomes warm, they flock to the rocky islands off the coast of Maine to breed and raise their young.

However, Maine hasn’t always been a haven for puffins. During the 1900s the American puffin population was hunted nearly into extinction due to a huge increase in demand for the birds’ feathers, meat and eggs. Many feared that the species was destined to become a Canadian and European phenomenon.

The precarious status of the Atlantic Puffin has since stabilized under the watchful eye of the Audubon Society’s Project Puffin led by naturalist Stephen Kress. The project’s goal is to restore Maine’s once-thriving puffin population.

Because all puffins return to breed in the place where they are born, the most significant challenge initially confronting Kress was establishing a population of juveniles off the coast of Maine that identified the area as their home. To accomplish this, Kress transplanted a group of baby Atlantic Puffins from Europe.

Once in Maine, he placed them in underground burrows similar to those their parents normally dig and cared for them until they were old enough to fend for themselves. To convince the puffins to return, Kress placed fake birds and mirrors on the islands and played recordings of puffin calls (to mimic a flock atmosphere).

Kress also thinned the nesting sites’ populations of aggressive gulls who prey on puffin chicks and eggs. His efforts proved extremely successful.

Although the species remains on the state’s threatened list, coastal Maine is now home to 600 nesting pairs of puffins. Nevertheless, puffin restoration is far from complete, and there are many ways in which ordinary citizens can further aid the recovery of Maine’s Atlantic Puffin population.

A variety of summer tour services offer fun and informative guided boat rides near islands inhabited by puffins. Supporting these tours creates a substantial economic incentive for local communities to protect puffins.

Another way to support Atlantic Puffins is by participating in Barbara’s cereal company’s box top collection program to raise funds for puffin conservation. Atlantic Puffins are an important part of Maine’s unique ecological system. Mainers can’t afford to allow them to slip through the cracks again.

To learn more visit: http://projectpuffin.audubon.org or http://www.barbarasbakery.com/adoptapuffin/.

MADELINE COWAN is a junior at Brunswick High School.