Marine Chart of Lobster Bay
On July 21 up to 78 Puffins were seen at the Noddy I., Round I., Flat I. in the Mud Island group of islands, bringing the total number of Puffins in the Lobster Bay area to a minimum of 125. I have yet to see a Puffin chick, though I have many times seen adults bringing in fish to feed their young during the summer.
May 29, 1999 - Green Rock (a.k.a. Green Island) - We counted 40 Puffins. Many Common Eiders, Black Guillemots and Great Black-backed Gulls nesting there also. On a small islet to the south of the main island we found two Double-crested Cormorant nests. Puffins may be nesting there also. Crew - Lester, Andrew and Josette D'Eon, Jean-Bernard d'Entremont, and my daughter, Ingrid.
June 5, 1999We saw 1 Puffin at Round Island and about 25 at Noddy I. There were 20 Arctic Tern Nests on Flat I. No hatched tern eggs yet. Some Common Eider nests on Flat I. had hatched. Crew: - Raewyn and Mark (visiting fron New Zealand), Celine LeBlanc, Anna-Claire and Tanya Nickerson.
July 6, 1999 Department of Fisheries Officer, André Cottreau, reported finding 20 to 30 Puffins on Green Rock. He also reported one Gannet there with some gulls.
July 12, 1999 We managed to Gannet Rock for a battery change after too many days of rough weather. My crew on this day was Jean-Bernard d'Entremont, Raymond S. d'Entremont, Rémi d'Entremont and his brother Laurent. I feel we are getting closer to pay dirt with the Gannet Rock Recolonization Project!
Rémi and Raymond carried the charged battery to the top of the Rock while I was busy photographing a young Harbour Seal at very close range. As Raymond placed the battery down he looked around at the Gannet decoys. One of the heads appeared to be moving, looking around. It was a mature Gannet in the midst of our decoys! It stayed there for several minutes while they were trying to get my attention, however, before I could get to the top of the Rock, it had flown away.
The sound system had run the battery dry and was off, so it seems the Gannet was not deterred by the silent decoys. This was a milestone for the project!
Other noteworthy discoveries: We found three 2.5 week old Arctic Tern chicks and 7 other nests with Arctic Tern eggs. We also found 2 Black Guillemot chicks (about 10 days old) in one nest site and a single egg in another. Three Puffins also flew by Gannet Rock while we were there.
We then went to Green Rock where we counted about 46 Puffins, 2 Razorbill Auks, about 65 Black Guillemots. One immature Gannet flew by. On the way back to Abbott's Harbour we went by an Ocean Sunfish which we observed at close range, and saw several Harbour Porpoises. Of course, there were many Harbour Seals around Gannet Rock, but especially at Green Rock.
July 21, 1999 - Trip to Mud Island group of islands. 7 or 8 Puffins were seen at Round I., 50 to 60 Puffins at Noddy I., 3 more on the way to Flat I., and another 10 or so at Flat I.! We saw a pod of Harbour Porpoises on the way there and a single 2 or 3 year old Gannet on the way back to Abbott's Harbour. Crew: Anne Dewar, Normand Boule, my sister, Mariette, and her husband, Cecil d'Entremont.
September 1, 1999 - Another battery change on Gannet Rock. The sound system was off. No Gannets, no Puffins, and no Black Guillemots were seen on this trip. We even went to Green Rock to see if we could find a Puffin, but to no avail.
My crew on this day: Rémi d'Entremont, Jean-Bernard d'Entremont with Kirk and Shirleen Atkinson and their children, Andrea and Adam.
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