Greetings from Petit Manan Island!
Bradford and I have been on PMI for two weeks now, and yesterday we were joined by Kelby and Jenna so now our island crew is complete!
A lot of the work so far has depended on whether or not the birds are around and if the weather is nice, but one constant effort has been the daily tower counts. We have been climbing up the 134 steps of the lighthouse once in the morning at 7:00AM and once in the evening at 5:00PM to count the number of Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills, Black Guillemots, Common Murres, and Common Eiders in the water and around the island. In the morning, we usually see around 70 puffins, 50 razorbill, 150 guillemots, 90 eiders and there is a pair of murres that are seen from time to time. This morning, we had our highest counts of the season for puffins, at 121, and for razorbills, at 63. In the evenings, we have been counting fewer birds overall as many have ventured further out to sea to forage for food.

PMI Lighthouse

Steps leading up to the top of the tower

The view of the grounds from the top of the tower

View of Green Island and the boat house from the top of the tower
I have really enjoyed doing these tower counts daily. The view from the top of the lighthouse of the grounds and surrounding islands is beautiful. It is also amazing to be able to observe all of the birds that are hanging out on and around the island. Plus climbing up and down all those steps is great exercise:)
That’s all for now!
~Micaela