CONCLUSIONS 



Coastal islands of Maine provide nesting habitat for more kinds of water- 

 birds than are found in most other States along the Atlantic coast. Maine is 

 the only Atlantic State with breeding populations of comnon puffins, black 

 guillemots, razorbills. Leach's storm-petrels, and common eiders. Large 

 populations of great black-backed gulls, herring gulls, and double-crested 

 cormorants also are present. 



Data in this report will serve as baseline information from which numbers 

 and the geographical distribution of waterbirds in Maine can be evaluated in 

 the future. This inventory was conducted using techniques that provided the 

 most precise information feasible in the limited time available to cover a 

 large geographical area. Based on the 1976 and 1977 nesting seasons, the 

 locations of the major colonies of each species were found. The precision of 

 the population estimates for most species are believed to be relatively re- 

 liable. The nesting chronology, predation, renesting, and the logistics of 

 surveying all colonies in a short time will always preclude exact determina- 

 tions of breeding populations. 



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