![]() The parents then take turns flying out to catch multiple fish to bring back to the baby, which is known as a “puffling.” Puffins are one of the few birds that bring food back whole instead of eating it and then regurgitating it into the baby’s mouth. The egg hatches somewhere between 36 and 45 days. The eggs are white, and both parents take turns incubating it with their brood patch – a patch of featherless skin on their underside that allows heat to be transferred. If that initial egg is lost early enough in the breeding season, then sometimes a couple will produce another. The male and female will rub their beaks together, a practice known as “billing.” Egg-laying season starts as early as April in more southern colonies, lasting into June for more northern groups. In some cases puffins have been known to commandeer rabbit burrows. The burrows are dug into soft soil, or are made from pre-existing holes in rocky shorelines. Once paired off, puffins will generally stay with the same mate for life, returning to the burrow they dug together for subsequent mating seasons. The puffins’ famous brightly coloured beaks come into play during breeding season (April to August), then is shed after the season is over, revealing the duller “real” bill underneath. Puffins mature sexually around 4 or 5 years old. They can achieve flying speeds of nearly 90km an hour. Puffins flap their wings up to 400 times a minute when flying, making the wings a blur. This allows it to join the community and not be chased off of solid ground after a long flight. When a puffin first lands after flight it will often display another “I don’t want any trouble” stance – this time with one foot in front of the other and its wings wide open. The puffin guarding its burrow will often have a soldier-like stance, standing erect, with its head down, making slow and exaggerated movements with its feet. In order to display that they don’t want to cause any trouble, a puffin passing a fellow puffin’s burrow will duck its beak down to its chest, moving rapidly past, indicating that it’s just passing through. In an actual fight, the two opponents will lock beaks and then beat at each other with their wings and feet. When aggravated, a puffin will puff itself up, spreading its wings and opening its beak and stamping its feet to make itself look more fearsome. ![]() In 2009 scientists estimated there were 4 million individual birds, with 1 million nests between them. The largest documented colony is made up of Atlantic Puffins, located in the Westmann Isles, part of Iceland. Puffins are very social birds, forming immense colonies together. They can dive as deep as 60 metres.Ī group of puffins is known by a range of names – a colony, a puffinry, a circus, a burrow, a gathering, or an improbability. While underwater, they steer themselves with outstretched wings, almost appearing to fly, while its feet act as a rudder. The puffin’s rough tongue can hold the fish against the spine of the bird’s palate, while it opens its beak to catch more fish.Ī puffin can dive for up to a minute, although they generally stay under for only about 30 seconds. Puffins are one of the few birds able to carry multiple small fish crosswise in their beaks, thanks to a unique hinge to their beaks, which allows the top half and the bottom half to meet at different angles, instead of slicing only straight up. They have white faces with colourful (red, yellow, and orange) beaks. Location: North Atlantic shorelines, moves as far south as Morocco and New York in the winterĪppearance: The Atlantic puffin has a black body with a white belly.
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