The Peninsula Daily News reported that Protection Island is seeing what may be the last breeding pair of Tufted Puffins. Smith and Protection Islands were what state officials believe to be the last islands with nesting pairs.
According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, in 1909, there were an estimated 25,000 Tufted Puffins across 44 nesting sites on the coast of Washington and in the interior Salish Sea. By 2009, the population had plummeted to less than 3,000, with only 19 nesting sites remaining and only two in the Salish Sea.
Tufted Puffins are still thriving in Alaskan waters, however …”a troubling mass die-off event on St. Paul Island in 2016 raises significant concern for the species’ future. Over 350 severely emaciated carcasses washed ashore, underscoring the urgency for further research and conservation efforts to safeguard these remarkable birds.” (as reported in https://www.adventuresnw.com/rare-birds-the-endangered-puffins-of-the-salish-sea/)
The loss of Puffins may be from a wide variety of causes, including habitat loss and the loss of species of fish they eat.
Salish Sea on cusp of losing tufted puffins
also check out “Dispatch from the Last Colony”
https://www.eopugetsound.org/magazine/field-dispatch-last-colony