ROCKLAND (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it has documented the first case of a Manx Shearwater seabird of fledgling age in the United States.

Officials say they discovered the chick last week on Matinicus Rock, a small remote island 25 miles off the Maine coast. The crow-sized birds typically nest on the eastern side of the North Atlantic, especially in the United Kingdom.

Fish and Wildlife officials said Manx Shearwaters were discovered on Matinicus Rock 12 years ago, but the chick found last week was the first known case of one of the birds reaching fledgling age in the U.S.

Matinicus Rock is Maine’s most diverse seabird nesting island and is cooperatively managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Audubon Society.


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