They shed the colorful outer parts of their bills after the breeding season, leaving a smaller and duller beak.
Two species, the tufted puffin and horned puffin, are found in the North Pacific Ocean, while the Atlantic puffin is found in the North Atlantic Ocean.Īll puffin species have predominantly black or black and white plumage, a stocky build, and large beaks that get brightly colored during the breeding season. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among rocks or in burrows in the soil. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. In 2016, the last year for which data are readily available, 2639 pufflings were brought into the Vestmannaeyjar Fish and Natural History Museum to be examined and then released.Puffins are any of three species of small alcids ( auks) in the bird genus Fratercula. Residents of the main village on Heimaey island, the only inhabited island in the group, have formed a puffin patrol to help rescue pufflings who wander into town and to provide an estimate of the year’s new chicks. Each April, thousands of birds return from the open ocean to breed. Iceland is home to more than half of the world’s puffin population, and its Vestmannaeyjar archipelago hosts the country’s largest puffin colony.
A puffin patrol helps rescue pufflings in Iceland’s largest puffin colony. In fact, it’s hard to track which puffins were ever banded at all. The species’ maximum age is difficult to gauge because dated leg bands often corrode in the puffins’ salty habitat, or become illegible as the puffins nest in rocky environments. Puffins lead long lives for birds-often more than two decades. They will also find protected spots between rocks on steep cliffs, which protect young birds from predators. Instead, they burrow into the ground, digging to a depth of about 3 feet with their beaks and feet. Puffins don’t construct the typical cup-shaped nest to raise their puffling. Despite their stout bodies and short wings, puffins can fly as fast as 55 mph, but not without some serious effort: They have to flap their wings 300 to 400 times per minute to stay aloft. Puffins might resemble the black and white Antarctic birds, but they are definitely not flightless. When spring arrives, though, their beaks return to their bright form, just in time for mating season. Puffins’ beaks are known for their technicolor orange hue, but just before winter the birds shed the outer layer of their bills, leaving them smaller and duller. The auklets live along the western coast of North America from Alaska to central California. The rhinoceros auklet, in the genus Cerorhinca, is somewhat different in its appearance but still qualifies as a puffin, anatomically speaking. The first three belong to the genus Fratercula and live in the northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. There are four species of puffin: Atlantic puffin, horned puffin, tufted puffin, and rhinoceros auklet.
The Atlantic puffin’s Latin name, Fratercula arctica, translates to “little brother of the north,” which may allude to the Atlantic puffin’s plumage resembling a friar’s robe. Puffins have also been referred to as the clowns of the ocean or sea parrots thanks to their amusing expression and colorful beak. Puffin is thought to come from the word puff, meaning swollen, because the fluffy pufflings do appear rather round. Puffins are called several names based on their appearance. The name puffin refers to the young birds' roly-poly look. Read on for more about the birds' diet, their chicks-called pufflings!-and habitat. With their black and white plumage and large orange beaks, Atlantic puffins and their cousins may look like a clownish cross between a duck and penguin, but these birds are their own cool kind. Puffins are widely regarded as the cutest birds on Earth.
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