Emily sits with Dr. Stephen Kress, world-renowned ornithologist and founder of National Audubon Society’s Project Puffin, for a conversation while overlooking the waters of Muscongus Bay, Maine. This special two-part episode shares a chronicle spanning half of a century. In Part 2, listen to Dr. Kress recount memories of steady progress and major milestones of his revolutionary idea: Project Puffin ~ an attempt to restore a lost colony of Atlantic Puffins to their southernmost habitat in the United States. Discover how wild card elements couldn’t deter what amounted to an improbable and uplifting outcome that continues to thrive and captivate the world today, while informing us about the health of our great oceans.

Links

Visit the Project Puffin & Seabird Institute website for: a map of the research islands with detailed info on Eastern Egg Rock, info on Hog Island Audubon Camp, the Project Puffin Visitor Center, how to adopt-a-puffin & more:

https://projectpuffin.audubon.org/

Puffin FAQ’s:

https://projectpuffin.audubon.org/birds/puffin-faqs

Hardy Boat/National Audubon Puffin Watch Cruise:

https://hardyboat.com/cruises/puffin-watch-national-audubon/

Watch: Project Puffin Live-Cams in Maine:

https://explore.org/livecams/puffins/puffin-boulder-berm-cam

Watch: Steve in 1979’s “Return of the Puffin” from Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom television show (23 min.):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPbpSRHJPGE

Read: Maine Magazine article from 2016 about Steve & the history of Project Puffin

(medium length):

https://www.themainemag.com/hope-thing-feathers/#close

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TMC’s theme song “Hearts as Full as the Moon” is courtesy of Oshima Brothers:

https://www.oshimabrothers.com/

Visit TMC’s website to discover more about the podcast:

https://www.themaineconversation.com/