Transplanted from Great Island, Newfoundland to Eastern Egg Rock, Maine on July 11, 1977 with 98 other pufffin chicks.

Fledged from Eastern Egg Rock, Maine on Aug. 8, 1977 during a mild, hazy night with a light south wind. She spent the next two years at sea.

Babs can usually be found loafing around by her Burrow #27 which she has occupied since 1981 with three different mates. For the past 15 years her mate has been "Puffy". However they do not always exhibit the pair-bonding behavior known as "billing" as other puffin pairs do. Babs has fledged a total of 21 chicks, 13 with Puffy!

Given the amount of time that both parents spent in the borrow together with their chick it's possible that the nest cavity is big enough to accommodate three puffins at once. Project Puffin hopes to obtain a tiny probing camera that will allow them to peak inside burrows with little or no disturbance to its occupants.

This photo was taken on a dreary, wet day; you can see small water drops beading up on Babs' feathers.

Transplanted from Great Island, Newfoundland to Eastern Egg Rock, Maine on July 11, 1977 with 98 other puffin chicks.

Fledged from Eastern Egg Rock, Maine on Aug. 12, 1977, an overcast evening with a southeasterly wind. He spent the next four years at sea.

Berry is among the islands oldest breeding puffins and has fathered 23 young puffins, several of which have returned to Egg Rock to join the breeding colony. This exceptional puffin was the first to breed on Egg Rock in over 100 years! He is now on his third mate - known as MR314 - who is only 10 years old. It is suspected that his long-life experience played a large part in MR314's decision to pair with him.

Berry is one of the most observed puffins on the island as he spends considerable time on its southern loafing ledges hanging out with other puffins. Though very gregarious when loafing on the ledges, Berry lingers much less near the entrance to his home of Burrow #3. This is likely a deliberate effort to draw less attention to the burrow and protect the chick inside.

Transplanted from Great Island, Newfoundland to Eastern Egg Rock, Maine on July 12, 1980 with 99 other puffin chicks.

Fledged from Eastern Egg Rock, Maine on Aug. 11, 1980 during a mild but overcast evening that preceded a foggy day. She spent the next two years at sea.

Chip returned to burrow #24 for her 20th consecutive nesting season. She is a frequent Internet star as her burrow is just a few feet from the "Puffin Cam". For 18 years her mate was EN70, but in 2003 Chip chose a new mate and then another new mate - U41 - in 2004.

Chip was seen mating near the burrow two weeks after she began feeding her chick. This is very unusual puffin behavior as puffins normally mate on the water after returning in April.

Chip and her mate delivered their chick its final meal on July 17th. Hopefully the pair will return to Egg Rock in 2005.

Transplanted from Great Island, Newfoundland to Eastern Egg Rock, Maine on July 12, 1978 with 99 other puffin chicks.

Fledged from Eastern Egg Rock, Maine on Aug. 24, 1978, a cool evening with an northeasterly breeze and rain. He spent the next three years at sea.

Cinnamon has helped researchers in understanding puffin relationships. Cinnamon has had at least seven mates in 26 years. At the beginning 2003, he had an unbanded mate. She was eventually banded and became AI-26. It was presumed that AI-26 was the same unbanded puffin he nested with the previous year. If this presumption is correct, Cinnamon waited four years after the loss of previous mate U11 before he attempted to breed again.

Cinnamon was successfully tracked in 2004 and it was determined that he successfully raised a chick with an unbanded and thus unknown mate. Cinnamon was also observed engaging in billing behavior with "Puffy", another male and the longtime mate of "Babs" - not typical puffin behavior!

Transplanted from Great Island, Newfoundland to Eastern Egg Rock, Maine on July 11, 1977 with 98 other puffin chicks.

Fledged from Eastern Egg Rock, Maine on Aug. 13, 1977, an overcast evening with an easterly wind that brought heavy fog the next morning. She spent the next four years at sea.

For the past 21 consecutive years, Honey has nested in Burrow #16. She has had three different mates over the years. While she uses the burrows "front door", her current mate, Al-12, prefers the crevices dubbed the "side door" and "back door".

Honey was not observed this past season until June 12, 10 days after observations began for the season and it was yet another 10 days before her mate was detected! Fish deliveries to their chick began on June 20, so both must have been present at least six weeks prior.

Honey and her mate rubbed breaks frequently, and as one researcher observed - passionately - the rest of the season.

It is hoped that the pair will return to Egg Rock next season.

Transplanted from Great Island, Newfoundland to Eastern Egg Rock, Maine on July 12, 1978 with 99 other puffin chicks.

Fledged from Eastern Egg Rock, Maine on Aug. 20, 1978 during a mild but overcast evening that preceded a full day of rain. He spent the next two years at sea.

For the tenth consecutive year, Peanut and U16 (an unknown age bird and Peanut's mate since 1995) paired and attended Burrow #17. It took longer to find him this year as his plastic ID band is now missing. In this case, observers have to read all eight digits of his US Fish & Wildlife Service metal band, which is difficult even with a high-powered spotting scope.

Although Peanut and mate were seen inspecting and entering Burrow #17, neither were seen bringing fish into the burrow. Their burrow is too deep to see inside and researchers don't know if an egg failed to hatch or they did not attempt to raise a chick. Peanut's age is not believed to be a factor because two other same-age puffins raised chicks this year.

Hatched in Burrow #3, Eastern Egg Rock Island on June 18, 1995.

Fledged from Eastern Egg Rock, Maine shortly after July 24th, 1995. He spent the next year at sea.

Since 2001 PJ and mate U47 have made their home in Burrow #44, located in an area known as the "Big Boulder Jumble" or BBJ. BBJ is a maze of crevices not visible from the surface and continues to attract more puffin pairs. More puffins are entering crevices once believed to have led to a single puffin nest.

After their fledged chick left the nest this year, PJ landed on atop a simple wooden "box trap". A researcher pulled the hatch and dropped PJ inside onto a soft cushion bed of pillows! He was weighed (415 grams) and measured. With his larger beak he is tentatively declared a male. Hopefully next season comparison measurements can be taken and more details gathered.

Transplanted from Great Island, Newfoundland to Eastern Egg Rock, Maine on July 12, 1978 with 98 other puffin chicks.

Fledged from Eastern Egg Rock, Maine on Aug. 20, 1978 during a mild, but overcast evening. He spent the next three years at sea.

Puffy and Babs celebrated their 16th anniversary and have produced a totoal of 14 chicks! They make their home in Burrow #27, a crevice within a cluster of granite boulders where many breeding pairs choose to nest.

During one year, Puffy was seen entering his burrow with an unbanded puffin. It is a mystery to whether the unbanded puffin was a close neighbor using the same doorway to access the burrow or was the mystery bird visiting Puffy's chick.

Puffy and Babs are good parents and Puffy takes his turns incubating the yearly egg.

Puffy was seen this year "billing" with male Cinnamon. This atypical behavior may suggest that billing has more functions than just courtship!