MACHIAS SEAL ISLAND, N.B.—Barely more than a tenth of puffin chicks born on the barren landscape of Machias Seal Island this year survived, and scientists suggest climate change may be to blame. “Just 12 per cent of eggs that were laid resulted in a chick fledgling,” said Diamond, of the University of New Brunswick. “All the chicks that fledged, or most of them, were in really bad condition. We recorded the lowest weight of fledgling chicks that we have ever seen.”Oddly, the success rate for the chicks was 44 per cent in 2014, and 75 per cent in 2015. He said everything was fine this summer until the second week of July, when the food supply seemed to run out.

Source: thestar September 27, 2016 21:40 UTC