Table 14-4 . Seabirds Rare in Coastal Maine. 



Common name 



Taxonomic name 



Arctic loon 



Western grebe 



Eared grebe 



Yellow-nosed albatross 



Cory's shearwater 



British storm petrel 



Magnificient frigatebird 



Long-tailed jaeger 



Ivory gull 



Lesser black-backed gull 



Mew gull 



Franklin's gull 



Sabine's gull 



Forster's tern 



Royal tern 



Caspian tern 



Sooty tern 



Black skimmer 



Gavia arc tic a 



Aechmophorous occidentalis 

 Podiceps caspicus 

 Diomedea chlororhyncho s 

 Puf f inus diomedea 

 Hydrobates pelagicus 

 Fregata magnif icens 

 Stercorarius longicaudus 

 Pagophila eburnea 

 Larus fuscus 

 Larus canus 



Larus pipixcan 

 Xema sabini 

 Sterna forsteri 

 Thalasseus max imu s 

 Hydroprogne caspia 

 Sterna fuscata 

 Rynchops niger 



The coastal waters have been divided into the following four general physical 

 zones to describe the distribution and abundance of seabirds: 



1. 



Estuarine. Deepwater tidal habitats and adjacent wetlands which are 

 usually semienclosed by land but have access to open ocean (Cowardin 

 et al. 1979). 

 Inshore Marine. Marine waters within 6 miles (10 km) of land. 



Offshore Marine. Marine waters beyond 6 miles extending out to the 

 300-foot (91-m) depth contour. 

 Pelagic. Deep marine waters beyond the 300-foot depth contour. 



The distribution and abundance of seabirds in each of these 4 zones and in 

 inland lakes are presented in table 14-5. Most species show a preference for 

 one or two zones but may feed in all of them. 



These zones are not always distinct. For example, inshore waters overlap 

 offshore and pelagic waters if the 300-foot depth contour occurs within 6 

 miles of shore. This situation is common in region 6 and as a result many 

 pelagic and offshore species can be seen in inshore and estuarine waters such 

 as Machias, Passamaquoddy, and Cobscook Bays. 



14-7 



10-80 



