Description
Book SynopsisFifty years ago, a young ornithologist named Steve Kress fell in love with puffin. After learning that hunting had eradicated their colonies on small, rocky islands off the coast of Maine, he resolved to bring them back. So began a decades-long quest that involved collecting chicks in Canada, flying them to Maine, raising them in coffee-can nests, transporting them to their new island home, watching over them as they grew, and then waiting—for years—to see if they would come back. This is the story of how the Puffin Project reclaimed a piece of our rich biological heritage, and how it inspired other groups around the world to help other species re-root in their native lands.
Trade Review" Project Puffin documents how one determined scientist with a real passion for the region, its ecology, its history, and its birdlife, can accomplish the reality of bringing back a species with a highly complex life history. It is exactly what lay readers and students need to read in order to begin to understand what conservation science actually is. And it is really fun (and I daresay inspiring) to read." John Kricher, author of The Balance of Nature and A Neotropical Companion
"A story of struggle and hope, and an inspiration to future wildlife stewards." Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle
"An inspiring book on Stephen Kress's dream of re-introducing puffins to an island where man had eradicated them. A brilliant case study of how drive and enthusiasm can overcome problems." Mike P. Harris, co-author of The Puffin
"The world needs more people like Steve Kress, whose singular commitment and passiona dedication to one bird at one islandhas had a global impact. This book brings his story wonderfully and personally to life. I'm sure it will inspire and encourage a new generation of caretakers of the natural world."David Sibley, author of The Sibley Guides
"Engaging. . . Here is one of the great success stories of conservation. The verdict: Of interest to birders, natural history buffs, New Englanders, conservationists, and environmentalists." Henry T. Armistead, Library Journal
"Restoring puffins to Maine has been a glorious, four-decades obsession for Steve Kressone underpinned by plenty of stubbornness and grit, as this frank retelling of Project Puffin's remarkable history makes clear. And thank goodness for that tenacity, because the techniques he pioneered on Eastern Egg Rock are today helping endangered seabirds around the world. This is the compelling story of the messy, uncertain, ultimately uplifting work of real conservation." Scott Weidensaul, author of Living on the Wind
"A well-told drama." Natural History magazine
"Readers who love the nitty-gritty of conservation will get a good flavor of it here." Bob Holmes, New Scientist
