FALMOUTH — Western Maine Audubon is presenting a free online webinar for the general public on Wednesday, April 14th at 7:00 pm. The webinar is titled “Saving Seabirds: New Lessons from Puffins,” with Dr. Stephen Kress.

Stephen Kress

About one third of all seabird species worldwide are now globally threatened because of the effects of invasive predatory mammals, marine pollution, coastal development, and climate change. Against this grim background, Dr. Kress’s presentation about the restoration of Maine seabirds offers hope and inspiration that people have the capacity to help bring seabirds back to some of their historic nesting places, as well as the capacity to be better stewards of nesting islands and the essential forage fish which seabirds require. The methods used to bring puffins and terns back to Maine islands are now being used worldwide and Dr. Kress will share a few of these exciting restoration projects.

Dr. Kress will also discuss insights into the changing marine climate of the Gulf of Maine as revealed by Maine seabirds. His research has shown the connections between warm water and the plankton blooms that nourish forage fish, seabirds, and all other coastal life. He will also share the discovery of where the puffins that nest in Maine spend their winter and how this helped to establish the first marine national monument on the east coast: the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Marine Monument.

Stephen Kress is the founder of National Audubon Society’s Project Puffin and a Visiting Fellow of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. He previously served as Vice-President for Bird Conservation for the National Audubon Society and Director of the Hog Island Audubon Camps. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University. He is co-author with Derrick Z. Jackson of Project Puffin: The Improbable Quest to Bring a Beloved Seabird back to Egg Rock and the recently published ‘The Puffin Plan’, his biography for 12+ readers. He is also the author of many books on bird watching, gardening for birds, and online courses about birds as well as science.

To register for the webinar, please sign onto the Western Maine Audubon webpage at western.maineaudubon.org/events and click on the register button. This will then bring you to the Maine Audubon registration page. After registering, you will receive a confirmation by email with the necessary link to the talk.

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