Each year, pairs reestablish their bonds on their breeding grounds through ritualized behaviors including billing, when a couple rubs beaks together. Photo by Joanne Jean/Shutterstock Burrowed TimeĪtlantic Puffins are monogamous. These tiny structures allow them to hold dozens of slippery fish in place while they pursue and capture more.Ītlantic Puffin returning to burrow with food. Puffins have backward-pointing spines inside their bills, on their tongues and on the roofs of their mouths. Puffins swallow their catch underwater unless they're feeding young then, they use their specialized bills to carry mouthfuls of fish back to the nest burrow. Unlike penguins, puffins can fly, although their short wings usually preclude the graceful gliding of other seabird species such as the Laysan Albatross. This puffin will also take mollusks and crustaceans, diving as deep as 200 feet while foraging. Accessible at Fish by the MouthfulĪtlantic Puffins are excellent swimmers and, like others in their group (the family of auks and murres), and Galapagos and King Penguins, use their wings as flippers to dive and swim underwater while chasing prey, usually small forage fish such as herring, sand eels, and capelin. A colony can sound like herd of cattle lowing, or a bunch of chainsaws revving up. Three subspecies of Atlantic Puffin are recognized, varying mainly in size.Ītlantic Puffins make loud growling calls, usually from their burrows. Atlantic Puffins nest in larger numbers in Canada, Scotland, Greenland, Norway, and especially Iceland, which is home to more than half of the global population. In the United States, the best way to see these small seabirds is to take a boat trip to the rocky islands off Maine where they nest from late April through August. The Atlantic Puffin is a seabird of cold waters, found outside nesting season in the North Atlantic from eastern North America to Iceland and the coasts of northwestern Europe south to Spain. Many offshore islands are named after their puffin inhabitants the bird appears on the stamps of many countries and there is even a popular book publishing house named for this bird. Puffins are a popular motif in popular culture. The Atlantic Puffin's clownish looks endear them to humankind, and thriving tourism industries are built around boat trips to view puffin nesting colonies. Gray, fluffy juvenile puffins have their own endearing nickname -"pufflings." Pufflings and PressesĪ colony of puffins is known as a "burrow" (after their favored nesting sites) a "circus” (continuing the sea clown theme) or an "improbability" (anyone's guess). The post-breeding molt also grays their distinctive white faces to the color of soot. Post-breeding, the bill's colorful outer layers molt off, leaving adults with half-grayish, half-red-orange bills during their winter at sea. From roughly March to August, adults sport bold white faces and a blue-gray triangle at the bill's base that is outlined in bold yellow. These birds wear their most eye-catching colors during breeding season. Its most distinctive feature - a colorful, triangular, and laterally flattened bill - gives this bird the nickname "sea clown" or "sea parrot." The Atlantic Puffin's genus name Fratercula means “little brother” or “friar,” probably a reference to its black-and-white plumage and upright posture when perched on nesting islands. It's the only puffin species found in the Atlantic Ocean its close relatives the Tufted Puffin and Horned Puffin occur only in the Pacific. The Atlantic Puffin is a small seabird, only a bit larger than a Mourning Dove, but it's heavy for its size, weighing just over a pound - about the same weight as a full beverage can. Throughout range, prefers treeless islands.Atlantic Puffin range map by American Bird Conservancy Nests on islands, primarily on grassy steep slopes or cliff tops (steep dropoff may help birds take flight). Even during breeding season, may be at sea far from nesting colonies. Ranges widely at sea, from fairly near shore to far out of sight of land. Ocean, nesting colonially in burrows on sea cliffs. Still, Alaska population estimated at over 1 million pairs in late 1970s. Farther north, some island populations probably reduced by introduced foxes or rats. Conservation statusĭisappeared from former nesting sites off southern California decades ago numbers nesting off northern California much lower than historical levels. The colorful tufts of feathers on the head are present mostly in summer. Although it flies strongly, it must work hard to take off from the water, thrashing along the surface before becoming airborne. This dark-bodied puffin is common along the northern Pacific Coast, nesting on islands offshore, where it may be seen sitting on rocks in an upright posture.
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