Eastern Egg Rock Island

{{Infobox islands

| name = Eastern Egg Rock

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| image_name = Puffins on Eastern Egg Rock.jpg

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| image_caption = Puffins on the island

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| location = Muscongus Bay, Atlantic Ocean

| coordinates = {{Coord|43.8606389|N|69.3819911|W|type:isle_region:US-ME|display=inline,title|notes={{cite gnis|id=565717|name=Eastern Egg Rock|entrydate=September 30, 1980|access-date=December 18, 2010}}}}

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| area_sqmi = 0.011

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| elevation_ft = 20

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| country = United States

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| population = 0

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Eastern Egg Rock Island is an island in the Town of St. George in Knox County in the U.S. state of Maine. It is owned by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW), and it is located off the southern Atlantic Coast of the state. Project Puffin, a restoration effort by the Audubon Society, is implemented on Eastern Egg Rock through a contract with the MDIFW.[http://web4.audubon.org/bird/puffin/EasternEggRock.html "Project Puffin: Eastern Egg Rock."] Audubon Society. Retrieved September 6, 2010.

Geography

The island is by the mouth of Maine's Muscongus Bay, about {{convert|6|mi|km}} off Pemaquid Point.{{cite web |url=http://www.mainebirding.net/news/stories/15 |title=Puffins that summer on mid-coast Maine island |author=Garrity, Paul |date=July 29, 2005 |publisher=Mainebirding.net |access-date=August 1, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717011341/http://www.mainebirding.net/news/stories/15 |archive-date=July 17, 2011 |url-status=dead }} It is treeless and is {{convert|7|acre|ha}} in size.{{cite news |title=Trying to export the success of a Maine seabird program |first=Murray |last=Carpenter |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 29, 2006 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0CEEDE113EF93AA1575BC0A9609C8B63&scp=1&sq=Trying%20to%20export%20the%20success%20of%20a%20Maine%20seabird%20program&st=cse |access-date=August 1, 2010}}

Project Puffin

In 1973, Stephen W. Kress of the Audubon Society started Project Puffin, an effort to restore seabird colonies to the southern Maine area. Atlantic puffins from Newfoundland and terns were reintroduced to the island. Puffins had not been spotted on the island since 1885. Biologists from other countries joined the society to help coax the birds back to Maine's islands and control the population of predators. Techniques used for restoring the birds, such as playing recordings of puffin calls, were mostly effective.Meara, Emmett (December 3, 1981). [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AwM0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=YyMIAAAAIBAJ&dq=eastern%20egg%20rock&pg=5251%2C1098489 "Eastern Egg Rock puffins return"]. The Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine). p. 28. Retrieved October 23, 2010.

With the help of fish delivered to Eastern Egg Rock, 69 percent of Maine's roseate terns were nesting there by 2004.{{cite web|author=Rothschadl, Ron |url=http://www.fws.gov/northeast/petitmanan/endanger.html |title=Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge |publisher=U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |date=June 22, 2005 |access-date=September 21, 2010}} Now the island is the southern limit of puffin habitat in North America. To protect the birds, the island is closed to visitors for the breeding season, which runs from April through August.