ABOUT THE ATLANTIC PUFFIN
Atlantic puffins have penguin-like coloring but they sport a
colorful beak that has led some to dub them the sea parrot.
The beak fades to a drab gray during the winter and blooms with
color again in the springsuggesting that it may be attractive
to potential mates.
Swimming and Flying
These birds live most of their lives at sea, resting on the
waves when not swimming. They are excellent swimmers that use their
wings to stroke underwater with a flying motion. They steer with
rudderlike webbed feet and can dive to depths of 200 feet, though
they usually stay underwater for only 20 or 30 seconds. Puffins
typically hunt small fish like herring or sand eels.
In the air, puffins are surprisingly fleet flyers. By flapping
their wings up to 400 times per minute they can reach speeds of 55
miles an hour.
Puffin Colonies and Breeding
Atlantic puffins land on North Atlantic seacoasts and islands
to form breeding colonies each spring and summer. Iceland is the
breeding home of perhaps 60 percent of the world's Atlantic puffins.
The birds often select precipitous, rocky cliff tops to build their
nests, which they line with feathers or grass. Females lay a single
egg, and both parents take turns incubating it. When a chick hatches,
its parents take turns feeding it by carrying small fish back to
the nest in their relatively spacious bills. Puffin couples often
reunite at the same burrow site each year. It is unclear how these
birds navigate back to their home grounds. They may use visual reference
points, smells, sounds, the Earth's magnetic fieldsor perhaps
even the stars.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Breeding is the only reason puffins go on land.
- During the breeding season the male puffin's
bill turns bright yellow, blue, and orange.
- Puffins live an average of 30 years.
- Puffins burrow near cliff edges for quick access
to the sea.
- Puffins use their beak and webbed feet to dig
a burrow in soft earth.up to
- Puffin parents make up to 8 food runs a day.
Each bird can grip 20 or more fish in its beak
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Puffins
can not take off without a running start.
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When
courting, puffins rub and clack their beaks together.
It's called billing.
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Atlantic
Puffin with a meal.
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