Atlantic puffin off Montauk pelagic
— — the small black bird the open ocean carries north again.
Not only on a wall.
“In winter the Atlantic puffins that nest on Maine's outer islands drift south along the cold side of the Gulf Stream, and a few are found on day-long pelagic trips out of Montauk between December and February. The boats leave the dock before dawn and run thirty or forty miles offshore for gannets, dovekies, and the occasional puffin riding a swell with its black-and-white winter plumage and dark winter bill. Nobody onboard says much when one lifts. from the studio
Atlantic puffin off Montauk pelagic, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
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The place, in three passes.
Montauk sits at the eastern tip of Long Island, about 120 miles from Manhattan, where the South Fork narrows to a point and the shelf falls off toward deeper water. Winter pelagic trips run by See Life Paulagics and others depart Montauk Harbor and head south and east into the shelf-break zone, sometimes as far as the Hudson Canyon. The boats target wintering seabirds that follow cold-water currents down from Maine, Atlantic Canada, and the Arctic.
Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) is a rare-to-uncommon winter visitor off Long Island, most often recorded on January and February pelagic trips. In winter the bird sheds the bright orange plates from its bill and the face darkens; the famous parrot-coloured summer face belongs to the breeding season on land. The Gulf of Maine population, which puffins research at Eastern Egg Rock has tracked since 1973, scatters offshore from October through March before returning to colonies in April.
Winter pelagics out of Montauk are day-long trips, typically twelve to fourteen hours, leaving the dock between 4 and 6 a.m. and returning after dark. Boats are open ocean vessels in the 60 to 100 foot range; the run to the shelf edge takes three to four hours each way. Trips are weather-dependent and often booked months in advance. Cold-water gear, motion preparation, and a thermos of something warm are standard. The two main operators are See Life Paulagics and Brookhaven Town's seasonal charters.