̽����ѡ

Atlantic puffins, those 10-inch-tall, fish-eating sea clowns, come in all different shapes and sizes, as photographer Sandy Flint shows. For four years Flint, a retired convenience store owner, has taken portraits of individual birds for Project Puffin’s Adopt-a-Puffin program, which offers avian admirers the chance to acquaint themselves with one of these auks. In addition to the photo, sponsors—who pay $100—receive biographical stats, including the bird’s age, mate, nesting spot, and number of chicks. “People come to Maine from around the world hoping to see their puffin,” says Steve Kress, ̽����ѡ’s vice president of bird conservation and the program’s director. “Some of these birds have these remarkable histories.” Like 34-year-old Y33, a female transplanted from Newfoundland in 1977 to Egg Rock and one of the first of her species to breed at the site in more than a century. All told, 15 puffins are up for adoption; since the program started in 1983, more than $1.2 million in donations has gone back to protecting their island home (projectpuffin.org/AdoptAPuffin.html).