21-7-2024 VIGUR ISLAND, ICELAND - ATLANTIC PUFFIN (Fratercula arctica)

The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) is a colorful seabird that belongs to the auk family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean. Although it has a large population and a wide range, the species has declined rapidly, at least in parts of its range. Colonies of Atlantic puffins occur mostly on islands with no terrestrial predators, but adult birds and newly fledged chicks are at risk of attacks from the air by gulls and skuas. Sometimes, when a puffin arrives at its nest with a beak full of fish, a bird such as an Arctic skua or Black back gull can cause the puffin to drop all the fish it was holding in its mouth.

The Atlantic puffin has a black crown and back, pale grey cheek patches, and white underparts. Its broad boldly marked red and black beak and orange legs contrast with its plumage. It molts while at sea in the winter and some of the bright-colored facial characteristics are lost, with color returning again during the spring. The juvenile has similar plumage, but its cheek patches are dark grey. The juvenile does not have brightly colored head ornamentation, its bill is narrower and is dark grey with a yellowish-brown tip, and its legs and feet are also dark. Puffins from northern populations are typically larger than in the south and these populations are generally considered a different subspecies.

Atlantic puffins are birds of the colder waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. They breed on the coasts of northwest Europe, the Arctic fringes, and eastern North America. While at sea, puffins range widely across the North Atlantic Ocean, including the North Sea, and may enter the Arctic Circle. In the summer, their southern limit stretches from northern France to Maine and in the winter, the birds may range as far south as the Mediterranean Sea and North Carolina. Atlantic puffins spend autumn and winter out in the open ocean and breed on grassy coastal slopes and rocky cliffs.

Atlantic puffins spend most of the year far from land in the open ocean and only visit coastal areas to breed. They are sociable birds and they usually breed in large colonies. However, when out at sea, they prefer to stay solitary and bob about like a cork, propelling themselves through the water with powerful thrusts of their feet. When fishing, puffins swim underwater using their wings as paddles to "fly" through the water and their feet as a rudder. They swim fast and can reach considerable depths and stay submerged for up to a minute. They fish by sight and can swallow small fish while submerged, but larger specimens are brought to the surface. In the spring, mature birds return to land, usually to the colony where they were hatched. Each large puffin colony is divided into subcolonies by physical boundaries such as stands of bracken or gorse. On the ground, they spend much time preening, spreading oil from their preen gland, and setting each feather in its correct position with beak or claw. They also spend time standing by their burrow entrances and interacting with passing birds. The colony is most active in the evening, with birds standing outside their burrows, resting on the turf, or strolling around. Then, the slopes empty for the night as puffins fly out to sea to roost, often choosing to do so at fishing grounds ready for early-morning fishing. 

Atlantic puffins are monogamous and mate for life. The male spends more time guarding and maintaining the nest, while the female is more involved in incubation and feeding the chick. Upon returning to breeding grounds Atlantic puffins soon start to excavate burrows on grassy clifftops or may reuse existing holes, and on occasion may nest in crevices and among rocks and scree. Often, one stands outside the entrance while the other excavates, kicking out quantities of soil and grit. Apart from nest-building, the other way in which the birds restore their bond is by billing; the pair approaches each other, each wagging their heads from side to side, and then rattling their beaks together. Egg-laying starts in April in more southerly colonies but seldom occurs before June in Greenland. The female lays a single white egg and both parents incubate it for about 39-45 days. The first evidence that hatching has taken place is the arrival of an adult with a beak-load of fish. The chick is covered in fluffy black down and its eyes are open and it can stand as soon as it is hatched. The chick sleeps much of the time and also moves around the burrow rearranging nesting material, picks up and drops small stones, flaps its immature wings, and pulls at protruding root ends. The chick takes from 34 to 50 days to fledge and usually leaves the nest for the first time at night when the risk of predation is at its lowest. When the moment arrives, it emerges from the burrow and walks, runs, and flaps its way to the sea. When it reaches the water, it paddles out to sea and may be 3 km (2 mi) away from the shore by daybreak. It does not congregate with other puffins and does not return to land for 2-3 years. At the age of 4-5 years, it will become reproductively mature and will be able to breed.

21-7-2024 VIGUR ISLAND, ICELAND - ATLANTIC PUFFIN (Fratercula arctica)

Like most seabirds, Atlantic puffins get all of their food from marine sources but nest on land. Their preferred prey includes forage fishes, including herrings, capelins, sprat, and others. While nesting, they generally feed close to their nesting sites but may go on longer feeding trips during other seasons. Atlantic puffins are pursuit divers – they “duck dive” from the sea surface and chase prey, using their wings like flippers. Using this method, they can dive as deep as 200 feet (60 m). When on long foraging trips, Atlantic puffins rest (and even sleep) on the sea surface rather than on the wing. Unlike most seabirds, their wings are relatively small, and they are unable to glide.

Atlantic puffins are typically solitary while foraging, so most of scientists’ knowledge of this species is a result of studying nesting birds. During the nesting season (spring), these birds return to their natal colonies (the places where they hatched) and form pair bonds that allow them to raise chicks to maturity in the harsh north Atlantic Ocean. During the nesting season, Atlantic puffins remain monogamous, and some pair bonds are consistent from year to year. Colony size is limited by availability of nest sites, and late returning birds may not be able to find a suitable area and therefore not be able to reproduce.

Atlantic puffins were historically hunted heavily and populations have declined. In most places, this species now has some or complete legal protection, but populations continue to trend downward, perhaps as a result of changes to north Atlantic food webs. Fortunately, these negative trends are not threatening the species, and scientists recently determined that it is one of least concern. However, it is important to continue to monitor populations to ensure that declines do not become more severe.

Atlantic puffins are birds that live at sea most of their lives. They fly through the air like most birds, but they also "fly" through the water, using their wings as paddles. As they swim, they use their webbed feet to steer, much as a boat uses a rudder. 

Puffins eat small fish—such as sand eels and herring—which they hunt underwater. They generally stay underwater for 30 seconds or less, but are able to dive 200 feet deep and stay down for up to a minute.

Well adapted for their home in the water, puffins are also speedy in the air. They flap their wings up to 400 times a minute, speeding along in the air at 55 miles an hour—as fast as a car on a highway. (How many times can you flap your arms in one minute?) 

As a puffin matures, its beak and feet change from a dull gray color to bright orange.

In the spring and summer, thousands of puffins gather in colonies on the coasts and islands of the North Atlantic Ocean. They stay in colonies to limit their chances of being eaten by the herring gulls that fly overhead. At the ages of 4-6, pairs of puffins often become mates for life, finding each other at their breeding colony year after year. They show affection by rubbing and tapping beaks. The pair often uses the same burrow they used the year before.

Using their beaks and claws, puffins build their burrows between two boulders or in a rocky crevice. They line the burrow with feathers and grass before laying the egg that will incubate for 42 days.

A baby puffin is known as a chick or puffling. When it first hatches, it looks like a furry ball of feathers. As it gets older, it will grow sturdy and smooth feathers to help it swim and fly.

Born on North Atlantic islands, pufflings leave their burrows after 45 days. They won’t return until it is their turn to lay eggs.

A puffling eats so much food that both the mother and father have to supply it with fish. In one day a parent may dive 276 times, bringing back 10 fish each time. The puffling swallows the fish head first and whole. By the time the puffling leaves its burrow, each parent will have dove 12,420 times. 

21-7-2024 VIGUR ISLAND, ICELAND - ATLANTIC PUFFIN (Fratercula arctica)

A sharply dressed black-and-white seabird with a huge, multicolored bill, the Atlantic Puffin is often called the clown of the sea. It breeds in burrows on islands in the North Atlantic, and winters at sea. In flight, puffins flap their small wings frantically to stay aloft—but underwater those wings become powerful flippers that allow the birds to catch small fish one by one until they have a beak full. This long-lived bird, once widely hunted, is reestablishing its small range in the U.S., although warming ocean waters are causing breeding failures in other parts of the North Atlantic.

Puffin chicks are known as “pufflings.”

Atlantic Puffins occur across the North Atlantic from Canada to Norway and south to Spain.

Like many seabirds, the Atlantic Puffin is long-lived, averaging 30 plus years. And like other birds with long lifespans, the young take several years to mature. Puffins do not breed until they are 3–6 years old.

The Atlantic Puffin is the official bird of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Half of North America’s Atlantic Puffins breed in one location: Witless Bay, Newfoundland, Canada.

The oldest recorded Atlantic Puffin was banded as a chick in Norway and lived to be 41 years old. But it’s likely puffins can live even longer than that; it’s only relatively recently that bands durable enough to last 40 years have come into wide use.

The best time to find Atlantic Puffins is during the breeding season. From late April through August they come ashore to nest on islands—the rest of the year they’re far out at sea. In the U.S. the best bet is to take a boat trip to rocky islands off Maine. Elsewhere, puffins nest in larger numbers in Canada, Scotland, Greenland, Norway, and especially Iceland, which is home to about half the global population. In these countries, a visit to a puffin colony can provide great views of hundreds to thousands of the birds. Outside of the breeding season, you’ll likely need to take a pelagic birding trip well offshore to find one.

A lighthouse keeper on Iceland’s Westman Islands has been banding puffin chicks for more than 60 years. The islands are home to the largest puffin colony in the world, and the keeper, Oskar Sigurdsson, earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for his prolific banding: more than 90,000 birds in that time, including more than 55,000 puffins.

Atlantic Puffins occur across the North Atlantic from Canada to Norway and south to Spain.

Like many seabirds, the Atlantic Puffin is long-lived, averaging 30 plus years. And like other birds with long lifespans, the young take several years to mature. Puffins do not breed until they are 3–6 years old.

The Atlantic Puffin is the official bird of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Half of North America’s Atlantic Puffins breed in one location: Witless Bay, Newfoundland, Canada.

The oldest recorded Atlantic Puffin was banded as a chick in Norway and lived to be 41 years old. But it’s likely puffins can live even longer than that; it’s only relatively recently that bands durable enough to last 40 years have come into wide use.

21-7-2024 VIGUR ISLAND, ICELAND - ATLANTIC PUFFIN (Fratercula arctica)

The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica), also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin are found in the northeastern Pacific. The Atlantic puffin breeds in Russia, Iceland, Ireland, Britain, Norway, Greenland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and the Faroe Islands, and as far south as Maine in the west and France in the east. It is most commonly found in the Westman Islands, Iceland. Although it has a large population and a wide range, the species has declined rapidly, at least in parts of its range, resulting in it being rated as vulnerable by the IUCN. On land, it has the typical upright stance of an auk. At sea, it swims on the surface and feeds on zooplankton, small fish, and crabs, which it catches by diving underwater, using its wings for propulsion.

This puffin has a black crown and back, pale grey cheek patches, and a white body and underparts. Its broad, boldly marked red-and-black beak and orange legs contrast with its plumage. It moults while at sea in the winter, and some of the brightly coloured facial characteristics are lost, with colour returning during the spring. The external appearances of the adult male and female are identical, though the male is usually slightly larger. The juvenile has similar plumage, but its cheek patches are dark grey. The juvenile does not have brightly coloured head ornamentation, its bill is narrower and is dark grey with a yellowish-brown tip, and its legs and feet are also dark. Puffins from northern populations are typically larger than in the south and these populations are generally considered a different subspecies.

Spending the autumn and winter in the open ocean of the cold northern seas, the Atlantic puffin returns to coastal areas at the start of the breeding season in late spring. It nests in clifftop colonies, digging a burrow in which a single white egg is laid. Chicks mostly feed on whole fish and grow rapidly. After about 6 weeks, they are fully fledged and make their way at night to the sea. They swim away from the shore and do not return to land for several years.

Colonies are mostly on islands with no terrestrial predators, but adult birds and newly fledged chicks are at risk of attacks from the air by gulls and skuas. Sometimes, a bird such as an Arctic skua or blackback gull can cause a puffin arriving with a beak full of fish to drop all the fish the puffin was holding in its mouth. The puffin's striking appearance, large, colourful bill, waddling gait, and behaviour have given rise to nicknames such as "clown of the sea" or "sea parrot". It is the official bird of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. 

The Atlantic puffin is a bird of the colder waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. It breeds on the coasts of northwest Europe, the Arctic fringes, and eastern North America. More than 90% of the global population is found in Europe (4,770,000–5,780,000 pairs, equalling 9,550,000–11,600,000 adults) and colonies in Iceland alone are home to 60% of the world's Atlantic puffins. The largest colony in the western Atlantic (estimated at more than 260,000 pairs) can be found at the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, south of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Other major breeding locations include the north and west coasts of Norway, the Faroe Islands, Shetland and Orkney, the west coast of Greenland, and the coasts of Newfoundland. Smaller-sized colonies are also found elsewhere in the British Isles, the Murmansk area of Russia, Novaya Zemlya, Spitzbergen, Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Maine. Islands seem particularly attractive to the birds for breeding as compared to mainland sites, likely to avoid predators.

22-6-2020 MAINE, USA - ATLANTIC PUFFIN (Fratercula arctica) WEB CAM

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4504-Fratercula-arctica