Overview

• Daniel Oliker located the plastic-banded bird from 1992 and assigned it the new identifier JG18 after replacing the faded band with metal.
• Now aged 33, JG18 is successfully rearing a chick despite reports of egg failures and puffling mortality linked to scarce food.
• Machias Seal Island hosts about 8,600 breeding pairs and provides critical longitudinal data through decades of banding.
• Studies have recorded a decline in adult puffin survival, a troubling trend as the Gulf of Maine warms faster than most global seas.
• Continued tracking of JG18 and others is informing conservation efforts for vulnerable Atlantic puffin populations under climate stress.