Summer is fast approaching. Anyone wanting to get photos of puffins should be planning! A few years ago I had the pleasure to go out to Machias Seal Island with Bold Coast Charters out of Cutler ( http://boldcoast.com/ ). It was a spectacular day - even ten miles out the ocean was like glass. We were easily able to take the skiff and land on the island so we could spend several hours in the blinds. The lighthouse is automated, but there are scientists living there in the summer studying the puffin colony and the small breeding colony of arctic terns. The blinds offer a VERY close-up view - the puffins even sit on the blinds.

FYI: when I went the puffins were still sitting on their eggs, so they were not returning with fish for the young, as seen in many famous photos.