Today is Puffin Arrival Day in Lovund, Norway. 10 things you might not know about puffins:
Puffins weigh between 320 and 480g, which is about the same as a can of coke. They are are 26-29cm long with a wingspan of 47-63cm.
Their plumage is Black and White. During the breeding season their bills and feet are bright Orange (the rest of the year their bills are Grey). It’s thought the colourful bills help attract mates.
This is why they are nicknamed sea Parrots or Clowns of the sea.
Puffins belong to the auk family and belong to the genus Fratercula. This name comes from the Latin for “friar” or “little brother” because their plumage resembles a monk’s habit. The common name, puffin, has a more grisly origin, originating from the carcasses of an unrelated bird called the Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus), formerly known as the "Manks puffin".
There are three species of puffin: Atlantic puffin, Horned puffin, and Tufted or crested puffin.
They are better at swimming than at flying. They use their wings to 'fly' underwater while using their feet like a rudder to control direction. They can dive up to 60 feet under water. To fly in air, however, they have to beat their wings 300-400 times a minute to stay in the air, and they often crash land, into the water, or onto other puffins. One source stated that puffins can only fly if they can see the sea, but since I only saw that fact once I can’t be sure it’s true!
Puffin chicks are called pufflings. A female puffin will lay just one egg per year, in the spring. Both parents help care for it. Puffins mate for life and dig holes with their feet rather than build nests. If there are Rabbits around their nesting site, they might use an abandoned rabbit burrow. They tend to return to the same burrow to breed year after year.
Puffins breed in colonies on coasts and islands. There are eight islands in the world called Puffin Island, because they are, or have been, the home to breeding colonies of these birds. The island of Lundy in the Bristol Channel might be named for puffins, too as Lundy is believed to come from the old Norse word for "puffin island".
Puffins are able to carry several fish in their beaks at a time back to their nests to feed their chicks rather than regurgitating swallowed fish like many other sea birds. Their beaks are serrated to allow this to happen. One puffin was recorded holding 83 small sandeels in its bill at once.
The Atlantic puffin is the provincial bird of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
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