Never before had I been pecked on the head by a tern. Never before had I seen a murre, or a razorbill, or more than one or two puffins. Never before had I held a newly-hatched tern chick in my hand, or seen tern eggs and eider duck eggs on a nest.

I don’t remember ever seeing a laughing gull (although I might have and had no idea what it was), let alone see one harass a tern into dropping a fish from its mouth and catch a free meal in midair. Seeing a flock of laughing gulls on nests, obviously had never been in the cards.

And never before in my life had I ever seen as many birds nesting in one place as I did Wednesday on Petit Manan Island, part of the National Wildlife Refuge system. There were common, roseate and Arctic terns, eiders, puffins, black guillemots, razorbills, murres and laughing gulls by the dozens – more, actually, refuge biologist Linda Welch told me. This year’s nest count revealed 2,012 pairs off terns (30 pairs of roseate, and I saw one), 1,123 laughing gull pairs, 20 puffin pairs and 157 pairs of eiders.

The island hatchery is off-limits to the public, and after spending a few hours there with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife folks, I can see why. Without someone’s guidance I’d have squashed eggs and chicks galore. They are hard to see in the rocks and grasses.

I’ve got to express my thanks to Dennis Shultz, a member of Friends of Maine Seabird Islands, for arranging the trip. And thanks also go to Brian Bennedict, deputy refuge manager; Stan Skutek, refuge manager; biologist Linda Welch and a great crew on Petit Manan for showing me their “workshop.”

Even before we left the town dock in Milbridge on Wednesday morning we saw two eagles, four great blue heron, a couple of osprey and numerous gulls and cormorants.

It was a day full of firsts for me and it all happened only a few miles from where my parents spend much of their free time in the summer.

I’ve paddled the waters of Narraguagus Bay around Dyer, Trafton, Foster and Strout islands. And I’ve seen my share of gulls, eagles and ospreys, pipers, loons and sea ducks in this area. But I never imagined that just beyond that little world lay another so rich and flourishing with bird life. I’ve grown up hearing about Petit Manan (“That island out there beyond ‘Titmanan Point where the light house is…”).

The lighthouse is a landmark with a history dating back to 1817. The current granite block tower, which replaced the original in 1855, is 119 feet tall (with a housing atop that puts the lens at 123 feet). It is the second-tallest light on the coast (Boon Island light near York is the tallest at 137 feet).

The lighthouse has always been a distant part of my travels Down East.

So it came as a surprise to me not too many years ago (OK, maybe a decade or two ago) that there was a wildlife refuge out there as well. I’d been aware of Petit Manan Point, and even hiked its trails looking for shore birds. But I was woefully uninformed about Petit Manan Island and the refuge in general.

Then last fall I was invited by kayaking friends Dave and Deb Morrill, avid birders, to go to a meeting of Friends of Maine Seabird Islands where I began to grasp the extent of the Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge. It extends much of the length of the coast of Maine and is home or part-time home to more than 325 species of birds, more than any other refuge in the country. It is the northern range of some species, and the southern range of others. You could say it’s where north meets south.

Skutek told me 310 species have been seen in the area of Petit Manan Island. What makes this island all the more special is the fact that most of the historic nesting colonial seabird population had all but vanished at one point. Historically, the 16-acre island (including adjacent Green Island) was one of the most important seabird nesting islands in the Gulf of Maine. Gull populations were kept in check by human presence and terns flourished. (Gulls eat tern chicks.) When the lighthouse was automated in 1972 and human presence diminished, the gull population began growing to the point it excluded all terns on the island in 1983.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initiated gull control in 1984 and within a week terns began returning to the island. Similar success stories have been told on all 10 of the USFWS islands where gull populations are “discouraged.”

It isn’t the first time the hand of man has manipulated the seabird population. According to information Welch gave me, in the late 1800s tern populations were decimated by hunting, egging for food and bait and feather collection for the millinery trade. When these were halted in the early 1900s tern populations rebounded, “reaching 14,775 pairs in 1931 (including Machias Seal Island).” This island is one claimed by both the United States and Canada.

Then the gull population began to flourish, thanks to the increase in the number of landfills along the coast. (I’m sure many of you can remember a trip to the local dump and having to fight your way through the gulls.)

Anyway, more landfills meant more gull food year-round, then more gull reproduction and more gulls meant more tern eggs were gobbled up by hungry gulls. Since gulls nest earlier in the season they pushed the terns to less desirable nesting sites where predation and the sea did their work.

By 1977 the tern population had dropped to 5,321 pairs. Since then the Gulf of Maine Seabird Working Group (USFWS, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, College of the Atlantic, Audubon and Canadian Wildlife Service) has worked to turn that decline around. Since 1984 common terns have increased 136 percent to 6,024 pairs), Arctic terns have increased 73 percent to 2,975 pairs, and roseate terns have increased 276 percent to 285 pairs. Additionally, there are 3,551 pairs of terns, both Arctic and common, nesting on Machias Seal Island.

While progress has been made, more is needed: Roseate terns still are listed as an endangered species by the federal and state governments; puffins, razorbills and Arctic terns are listed in Maine as threatened; and Leach’s storm petrels, laughing gulls and common terns are listed as special concern species in Maine.

The day for me was enlightening. I felt like a kid in a candy shop. Every time I turned around I was seeing new life and learning something new – like these few factoids I’ll leave you with concerning the Arctic tern. Some live to be 34 years old or older (there’s one 34 years old that was banded on Green Island; and they follow summer throughout the world, breeding in this area in June, crossing to western Europe later this summer, then flying south to Antarctica for summer down there before returning to the North Atlantic in the spring, a trip of 24,000-plus miles!

And one last salute. Happy 100th birthday to the National Wildlife Refuge System! On March 14, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt established the first National Wildlife Refuge at Pelican Island, Fla., to help protect a colony of brown pelicans. During the past 100 years, the National Wildlife Refuge System has grown to include Petit Manan and 540 other refuges covering 95 million acres. National Wildlife Refuges are special places where the needs of fish, wildlife and plants come first. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.

Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1974, contains 43 offshore islands and three coastal parcels, totaling more than 7,000 acres. The refuge spans more than 200 miles of Maine coastline. Colonial seabird restoration and management is the primary focus of the refuge. In addition to Petit Manan, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service administers five other federal refuges in Maine: Moosehorn, Sunkhaze Meadows, Umbagog, Rachel Carson and Aroostook

Jeff Strout can be reached at 990-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net.