The natural history professor at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor travels to the island to study seabirds – gulls, guillemots and Leach’s storm petrels.
This year, some of what he saw was distressing. While gathered on the top of the lighthouse on this island, observers witnessed an aerial attack on seabirds there every 45 minutes.
W.H. Drury Jr. Chair in Evolution, Ecology, and Natural History Dr. John AndersonBald eagles, their majestic wings spread wide, distinctive white heads and razor-sharp talons, soared in repeatedly to hunt small seabirds. The recovery success of eagles, according to Anderson, is increasingly becoming a threat to seabirds.
These predators, once nearly wiped out in Maine, have made a comeback. “They are having an immediate affect on the decline of seabirds,” Anderson said.
