As the summer boating season gets underway, the Friends of Maine’s Seabird Islands is gearing up. First and foremost, part of our outreach involves communicating the closure of many seabird nesting islands along the coast of Maine. These islands, which belong to the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge, are closed during the seabird nesting season in order to protect the nesting birds and their young.
Human disturbance can be deadly to eggs and young birds. To ensure you know which islands are okay to land upon and which ones to avoid, look for these signs, posted on the critical islands where landing is not allowed. They include (but are not limited to) Metinic, Metinicus Rock, Seal, Little Spoon, Hart, Crane, and Franklin islands (all in Knox County). For a map of these islands, click here and zoom in to the mouth of Penobscot Bay in midcoast Maine.
If you would like to visit Refuge islands you may do so after August 31, or feel free to visit Cross, Scotch, Halifax, Bois Bubert, Abbott, Bar, or Malaga islands which are open year-round. Additionally, both Bois Bubert and Halifax islands are part of the Maine Island Trail Association, and thus have some overnight campsites on them.
Photos of Maine’s Wildest Islands Prepare for Summer
