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Atlantic Puffins spend most of their time at sea — coming to land each spring to breed in colonies on northern seacoasts and rocky islands, like Seal Island in Maine, home to the puffins visible on our live cam. These colorful pigeon-sized birds lay one egg in their burrow homes, with the male and female sharing incubation duties for approximately 39-43 days. After the chick hatches both parents feed it fish for approximately 45 days. After that the “puffling” is large enough to fledge (leave the nest.)

Puffins are excellent swimmers, using their wings to essentially ‘fly’ underwater while using their feet as rudders. They eat a variety of small fish including herring, hake, capelin and sand lance. Puffins do not come to land outside of the breeding season, flying, swimming or riding the ocean surface throughout the year regardless of weather. The Atlantic Puffin is the only species of puffin found on the Atlantic coast. The three other species of puffin are found only in the Pacific.

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location: Seal Island, Maine

best viewing hours: 24/7 (with infrared lighting)

time zone: Eastern Time

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migration / Puffins over-winter from August to early April on the open ocean far from land.

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migration / The mysteries of Puffin migration are being solved thanks to bird banding. “Geo-locators” show scientists the approximate location of the birds. One puffin named “Cabot” (after explorer John Cabot) flew to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, then to Labrador, then to the Bermuda plateau, and then back to Maine the following summer.

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migration / Puffin chicks leave a colony when they fledge and head off to the ocean without their parents. They remain in the open ocean until they are 2-3 years old. Some may return to the vicinity of the colony where they hatched and nest near the burrow where they hatched. Others join nearby colonies.

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migration / Scientists are unsure of how puffins find their way home and are still learning how birds migrate. They may use stars, the earth’s magnetic field, sounds, smells and the visual cues of the ocean.

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migration / Puffins can beat their wings 400 times per minute. This means they can achieve flying speeds of 55 mph.

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diet / Puffins mostly eat small fish. Herring and hake are favorite foods for Atlantic Puffins in Maine; in Newfoundland their favorite food is capelin.

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diet / Puffins are great swimmers. They can dive for 20-30 seconds at a time and sometimes up to a minute.

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diet / Puffins usually carry 6-10 fish per trip back to their burrow, but the record is a whopping 62 fish at once (from a Scottish puffin who retrieved very tiny fish)!

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diet / Puffin beaks are specialized to hold multiple fish. The puffin’s raspy tongue holds the fish against spines on the palate while it opens its beak to catch more fish.

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diet / The greatest predator of the puffin is the Great Black-backed Gull. This gull can catch adult puffins in mid-air. Herring gulls often steal puffins’ food. They also will pull puffin eggs or chicks from their nest.

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mating and courtship / The size and color of puffin beaks may serve as badges of experience and help birds assess the ‘quality’ of potential mates.

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mating and courtship / Puffins use body movements to communicate. In mating and courtship the puffins pair up before they come onto the island from the ocean. Once on land, the pair may perform billing behavior where they rub their beaks together. This display often draws a crowd of puffins to share in the excitement.

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nesting / In North America, Atlantic Puffins nest from Labrador to the Northeastern United States. In Europe, they nest along the Brittany Coast of France, northwards to Iceland, Greenland, and Northern Russia.

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nesting / Puffins breed in colonies from April to August.

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nesting / Puffins only lay 1 egg per year and nest for the first time when they are 5 years old.

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nesting / Puffins usually keep the same mate every season and use the same burrow for many years.

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nesting / The male and female puffins share the duties of incubating the egg and rearing the chick.

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lifespan / Puffins often live 20 years or more. The oldest known puffin lived to be 36.

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nesting / Puffins prefer to make their burrows in earth or between rocks on steep sea cliffs so predators cannot easily reach them. They use their bills to cut into soil and then shovel away loose material with their feet. They dig dog-like, shoveling dirt out behind themselves. Most burrows are 2-3 feet long.

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nesting / At the back of the burrow the parents build a soft nest of feathers and grass where they incubate the egg.

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nesting / The burrows often have a toilet area at the first bend. The young chick uses this area as a bathroom so it doesn’t soil its feathers. As it matures, the toilet is moved closer to the burrow entrance, helping to keep the chick clean. If the chick became too soiled, it may damage it’s waterproofing, a fatal circumstance once the chick takes to the sea.

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nesting / 60% of the world’s Atlantic Puffin population breeds in Iceland.

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nesting / Parents feed their chicks several times a day on fish they have carried in their bills. They may drop the fish on the burrow floor or pass them to the chick.

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population / There are an estimated 3-4 million pairs of Atlantic Puffins in the world.

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trivia / In the last half of the 1800’s the puffin was given the scientific name Fratercula arctica, which means “little brother of the north” in Latin. This may also be interpreted as ‘little friar’ an allusion to the puffin’s black and white plumage which is reminiscent of a friar’s robes.

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trivia / Colloquial nicknames for the puffin include, “clown of the ocean” and “sea parrot”.

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trivia / Puffins make loud growling calls usually from underground which sounds like a muffled chainsaw. The chicks “peep” for food from parents.

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trivia / Maine puffins were over-hunted by early settlers for food and feathers. By 1900 the puffins were gone from the Gulf of Maine except for 2 isolated colonies.
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Young puffin chick Petey begins to learn how to preen and arrange the nest, while his parents are out fishing.

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