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a picture of two puffins bobbing on the water like bathtub rubber ducks

It was the last Flora and Fauna (FnF) meeting for Winter '24, and the few of us who had shown up despite finals being mere days away were sitting in Robo's basement (Robinson Hall, aka Robo, is where most DOC subclubs hold their weekly meetings). That evening, Wyatt '24, one of FnF's founders and multiple times FnF chair, shared his ideas for future trips; he was graduating in the spring, so he had LOADS of trip ideas, and since we were throwing ideas out there anyways, I thought to myself, "Why not?"

"Wyatt," I said, "I've got this CRAZY idea… I know it's probably impossible to organize, but I read online that you could see puffins in Maine… And Maine isn't too far away, is it…?"


a picture of Wyatt, Kate and Kalina in a harbour in Maine
Wyatt '24, Kate Singer '24, and I - getting ready to see puffins

To this day, I remember how Wyatt turned to me, a big smile hidden in his ginger beard, and said, "Actually, we've been planning such a trip since last year!"

And just like that, it turned out that my dream to see these exotic northern birds—which kind of remind you of penguins—wasn't impossible at all. Wyatt already knew about the Atlantic Puffins nesting near Maine; additionally, he and Brooke '26 had been thinking about organizing a puffin-watching trip since the previous year.

Fast-forward to the end of the spring term (here we skip over all of the arduous planning Wyatt put into this): it was 4:30 in the morning, the last Sunday of May, and I texted my friend Diana '23+1 (also a People Places Pines blogger) to check if she's awake. She was up and excited to see puffins!


a picture of Diana and Kalina on a boat with the ocean and the american flag in the background
Diana and I on the boat (it was a little chilly)

We drove four hours, from Hanover to Boothbay Harbour, Maine, in a van full of puffin and bird-watching enthusiasts. Beside me sat Diana, who shared with me her determination to be more adventurous now that she's graduating; her ambition to explore took her to Utah, where we met on a break-trip, and also led her to emailing Wyatt screenshots of our texts, proof that she was truly committed to seeing puffins (That's how Diana interpreted my sheepish shrug, "I don't know how you can get on the puffin trip. You gotta show your interest").


a picture of a puffin caught mid-flight
The ballet dancer.

Four and a half hours later, we parked the van and boarded a boat that took us an hour into the ocean to a small island that's home to a colony of Atlantic puffins, black guillemots, common terns, dovekies, loads of gulls and several researchers. The rocks were white with guano, and the bird cries were louder than the waves, but there–in the dark blue water, among the gulls and the common eiders—we could see pairs of puffins, bobbing on the waves "like bathtub rubber ducks" (to quote Diana).


a picture of a puffin in flight, gliding over the ocean surface
Puffin in flight.

a picture of a dovekie flying over the water
A dovekie - biologically speaking, nearly a cousin to the puffins. Now, that one really looks like a penguin.

This was my last DOC trip for the school year; it involved 8 hours of driving, two hours on a boat, and one of the cutest birds I've ever seen. It was also one of the last times I saw so many friendly faces that have now graduated: Wyatt, Diana, Kate... It was the loveliest end to my freshman year, and I can't wait to go back to campus. I'm still coming to terms with the idea that I won't see Wyatt and Diana walking across campus any more, but I'm looking forward to meeting new puffin enthusiasts.


a picture of a seal in the ocean
I forgot to mention that we also saw a couple of seals and harbor porpoises.

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