From a bird blind on Seal Island, I watched as puffins zoomed in from the sea with a rainbow of fish drooping from their beaks. They carried copper and golden juvenile haddock, redfish and white hake.

Pair your island journey with a longer sea birding trip. Take our quiz: How many shorebirds can you identify? Be one of the lucky few to watch puffins at arm’s length on Machias Seal Island.

The islands have no long-term inhabitants other than a colony of Puffins and a Canadian who ... "Our long-standing position is that the Machias Seal Island belongs to the United States by virtue ...