Explore.org has expanded their live HD camera program to include two cameras that are following the lives of Atlantic Puffins or Fratercula arctica which means “little brother of the north” -which is probably how Peyton Manning refers to his brother Eli.

This is a chance to see Atlantic Puffins without having to leave your house via the magic of the Internet. One camera is providing a live feed of a Puffin Burrow or nest with a puffling and the second camera is the Puffin Loafing Ledge where the puffins hang out with other birds on a rocky plateau. The puffins live at the Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge 21 miles off the coast of Maine in the Atlantic Ocean.

The cameras were made possible through a partnership with The National Audubon Society and the program is led by ornithologist Dr. Stephen Kress the Audubon’s Vice President for Bird Conservation. 28 years ago Kress spearheaded the reintroduction of puffins on Seal Island. The island was once used as a bombing range by the Navy and the activity, along with puffin hunting for their eggs, meat, and feathers almost wiped out the Maine puffin population.

Kress’s reintroduction strategy included the use of mirrors, sound recordings, and decoys that encouraged the puffins to nest. The methods have been successful and this year over 550 pairs are nesting -the largest Maine puffin colony to date. If you watch the  Puffing Loafing Ledge you can see a decoy in action or inaction when puffins come up to engage in billing, a courting ritual or habit of established puffin mates that consists of gentle beak rubbing.

The methods have been replicated at 13 seabird nesting sanctuaries on Maine’s coast  to help restore their populations and 14 other countries have used Kress’s work as inspiration to help almost 50 other species of seabirds.

There are now three cameras solely dedicated to birdwatching: Audubon and explore.org recently launched a live camera of an Osprey nest.  Three Osprey chicks have hatched on Hog Island, Maine and are being cared for by their mother named Rachel.

"The Puffin Cams have a mesmerizing effect that we believe will help people escape the stresses of everyday life and provide a positive benefit that will carry over when they return to their daily obligations," Charles Annenberg Weingarten, founder of explore.org and VP of the Annenberg Foundation, said in a statement about the project.

You can catch all the action here and post comments or ask questions about what you are seeing on camera.