Audio
Access Wayside: For the Birds
Transcript
A rail fence and lines of large rectangular stones define an overlook across from a parking lot along the Schooner Head Road. A wayside exhibit entitled "For the Birds" features an informational panel angled atop one of the stones. From this vantage point, visitors can locate Egg Rock Light on an island in Frenchman Bay and perhaps glimpse a few of the birds that make this area their home.
The exhibit's title appears over a clear blue sky above a view of Egg Rock, a small treeless island where seabirds perch on rough gray rocks. A small square tower sits atop the red tiled roof of a square white lighthouse one and a half stories tall with dormers on all four sides. Built in 1875, the lighthouse now has a solar-powered light and foghorn.
Text explains that Egg Rock is a haven for nesting seabirds. "During the spring and summer, double-crested cormorants, common eiders, herring gulls, and black guillemots nest on the rocky ledges and raise their young. Egg Rock's name dates back to the days when people traveled to coastal islands to collect sea bird eggs and feathers for their own use or to sell. By the 1900s most seabirds were on the brink of extinction in the Gulf of Maine. Today Egg Rock is protected as part of the Maine Coastal Islands national Wildlife Refuge, and seabird populations are rebounding."
A quote describes the birds' relationship to Egg Rock: "Birds arrive out of the skies...for their brief courtship with the land and each other. They choose islands that are treeless and small, offering refuge from forest predators and land-based threats." - Catherine Schmitt, A Coastal Companion: A Year in the Gulf of Maine from Cape Cod to Canada, 2008
An inset of four images features Egg Rock's wildlife:
The first image shows an adult white-feathered Herring gull and two brown chicks.
The second image shows a pair of common eiders - a white and black male and a brown female. The third image shows a chick in a nest, surrounded by a half-dozen unhatched eggs. "Since the early 1900s common eiders have made a great comeback. About 24,000 pairs nest on 340 islands in Maine."
The last image shows a torpedo-shaped harbor seal basking on a rock. "These mammals feed on herring, squid, cod, and flounder. Please do not disturb them."
The final line of text invites visitors to "take a boat trip to get closer views of Egg Rock and other seabird nesting islands, but please do not go ashore."
Description
Recorded audio description of a wayside, "For the Birds."
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