The Maine I Love — Stacey Keefer

OUTER GREEN ISLAND, CASCO BAY: I consider myself privileged to be able to volunteer occasionally on some of Maine’s incredible seabird nesting preserves where human access is seasonally limited to authorized field staff. Each breeding season the Seabird Institute conducts an egg and nest census of common terns on Outer Green Island in Casco Bay. Many people would not consider a day of getting attacked by protective, parenting terns a special experience. But I appreciate the opportunity to experience the colony on their remote island, on their terms, as they defend against “intruders” the best they can. At the end of an extremely loud and exhausting census day, two island staff members went to the highest point of the island to count nests and eggs on an exposed ledge (these terns don’t usually have soft, cozy nests—they prefer open ledges). The setting sun cast a warming light on the raucous flurry of terns overhead. Maine is fortunate to have protected islands for seabird colonies, including habitat for some endangered and threatened species. Part of the beauty of being in the colony is to see their fragility contrasted against the rugged landscape that welcomes their next generation.

Stacey Keefer is the executive director of the Maine Marine Trades Association. These images were taken on seabird preserves with authorized access on islands without public access during most of the spring and summer.