September 2023 – Discover-Nature

Puffins are part of the Alcidae family of seabirds along with murres, guillemots, auklets, murrelets, and 25 recently extinct species. All members of the family can fly and are excellent divers and swimmers. Three species are found in the North Pacific Ocean including the tufted puffin, Fratercula cirrhata, horned puffin, Fratercula corniculata, and rhinoceros auklet, cerorhinca monocerata. The Atlantic puffin, Fratercula arctica, is the only species found in the North Atlantic Ocean.

^{Images clockwise: Atlantic puffin, Fratercula arctica, portrait by stockomotion, Getty Images Signature; Horned puffin, Fratercula corniculata, showing horns over eye by webguzs, Getty Images; Tufted puffin, Fratercula cirrhata, on the water by Bruce Block, Getty Images Signature; Rhinoceros auklet, Cerorhinca monocerata, by nikkigensert, Getty Images}

The rhinoceros auklet was thought to have been misidentified when it was first discovered and named. However, DNA testing has shown that all four puffin species have a common auklet ancestor. Puffin species have short, stocky wings and tails, with darker gray-to-black plumage on top of their heads and backs and lighter whitish-to-brown plumage on their faces and underparts. Their bills change color during breeding seasons to display several stripes of red, orange, yellow, and black.

Tufted puffin, *Fratercula cirrhata*, breeding coloration by MrDaz, Getty Images Signature

Short wings require the birds to beat them quite fast to fly, about 400 beats a minute, but they achieve speeds of 45 to 55 mph in flight. Short wings are used as powerful flippers underwater along with feet used as rudders. Puffins can dive to 200 feet or more catching a dozen or more small fish and invertebrates as they swim through the water. A uniquely designed hinge on their bill allows the top and bottom bill to meet at several different angles so the bird can add more fish without losing its grip on any that are already caught.

^{Images clockwise: Horned puffin, Fratercula corniculata, with fish catch in Alaska by Gerald Corsi, Getty Images; Atlantic puffin, Fratercula arctica, with catch by Daniel Jara, Getty Images; Rhinoceros auklet, Cerorhinca monocerata, with seven fish Andrew Reding, Jul 2010}

Puffins spend winters at sea, far from land, floating on the surface or pursuing prey. Breeding season occurs in late spring, and most adult birds come together, forming large colonies containing breeding and non-breeding individuals. Non-breeding birds spend hours each day exhibiting a behavior called wheeling flight – flying figure eights over the cliffs where the colony is located. After finding a mate, puffins form long-term pair bonds. After breeding, pairs may split up when out at sea, but often return the next breeding season to find the same mate and nesting site. Puffins breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs of offshore islands. Only one egg is laid and both parents incubate the egg and feed the chick. Chicks fledge at night, and juveniles spend the first five years out at sea before returning to the breeding colonies.

^{Horned puffin, Fratercula corniculata, nesting on Latrabjarg Cape, Vestfirdir, Iceland by Nikolay Tsuguliev, Getty Images}

^{Atlantic puffin roost by Shankar S., May 2016}

Puffins are not considered endangered, but are starting to encounter trends affecting the continuity of their successful breeding. Warming waters in the oceans are reducing populations of fish that breed and live in cold water areas, that are the favorite prey of the auk family. Threats on the mainland of Iceland, historically one of the largest breeding colonies, include being hunted by mink introduced in the 1930s, so most colonies are now located on offshore islands. Hunting for feathers, eggs, and meat has been sustainable on island ranges for hundreds of years. However, hunting on the American mainland during the late 1800s and early 1900s eradicated the population at one point. In the last 50 years, about 50,000 birds have returned to protected areas in Maine. Their biggest natural predator is the great black-backed gull which dive-bombs and picks off birds near shore during breeding periods.

^{Tufted puffin, Fratercula cirrhata, spreading its wings by TiannaChantal, Getty Images}

Puffins have an average lifespan of over thirty years, spending most of their lives out at sea. Reproduction rates are low with only one chick born each year to a pair of puffins, but a breeding pair may produce twenty chicks in their lifetimes and threats from natural predators are small. Puffins are favorite species in many zoos and some aquariums. Learn more by visiting a local institution or take a virtual tour from a live webcam at: https://explore.org/livecams/puffins/puffin-loafing-ledge-cam.

Plants and insects have myriad relationships to one another. Some are mutually beneficial, as when plants offer nectar to feed insects which in turn pollinate the plants. Other relationships only benefit the insects when they feed on leaves, stems, and roots. For carnivorous plants, preying on insects to fulfill their need for nitrogen and other nutrients benefits only the plants.

^{Venus flytrap, Dionaea muscipula by Len Worthington, Aug, 2016}

Pitcher plants are carnivorous, living in bogs and fens found in warm weather areas. In North America, most species are found along the southeastern coastal states from Texas to West Virginia. Bogs are depressions filled with rain or melted snow, while fens are similar but get their water from surface or groundwater. Both types of wetlands are low in oxygen and nitrogen, very acidic, and often quite cold. These characteristics slow down the rate of decay in the vegetation of the wetland, further reducing the availability of nitrogen which is a vital component of chlorophyll, the compound used by plants, along with water, carbon dioxide, and energy, to photosynthesize sugar for food.

^{Tracy’s sundew, Drocera tracyi by Matthew Paulson, May 2022; Venus flytrap, Dionaea muscipula by Judy Gallagher, Jun 2022; White-topped pitcher plant, Sarracenia leucophylla, showing downward hairs by Aaron Carlson, Sep 2013}

Carnivorous plants use several strategies to attract and trap insects. Pitfall traps have slippery faced leaves forming a funnel with a pool of digestive enzymes waiting at the bottom. Downward facing hairs on the leaves make it harder for insects to climb out. Some plants use an opposite strategy and cover their leaf surfaces with a sticky secretion, trapping any insects that land on them. Still others have a leaf-like structure made of two halves that snap together when an insect lands on an inner surface, trapping the insect inside. In both of the last two instances, digestive enzymes are then released to cover, kill, and break down the insect body for absorption by the plant.

^{White-topped pitcher plant, Sarracenia leucophylla, traps separated from flowers by NC Orchid, Apr 2016}

^{Two-spotted bumblebee, Bombus bimaculatus by Judy Gallagher, Jun 2022}

Carnivorous plants are insect pollinated and must be able to attract pollinators without trapping them. All of the plant species go through a dormant period as seasonal temperatures get cooler. Traps die back and are regrown when warmer weather returns. In several species, flowers bloom and attract pollinators with nectar, completing fertilization before traps develop. Other plants separate the flowers and traps by a physical distance. Traps usually lie close to ground level to attract crawling insects, and flowers are grown on top of tall stalks to attract flying insects. A third method is to make the flowers less attractive to potential prey, and make the traps less attractive to potential pollinators. This is achieved by using different colors, patterns, and scents on flowers and traps.

^{Metallic green sweat bee, Agapostemon sericeus by Dann Thombs, Aug 2008}

^{Cobra lily, Darlingtonia californica by Charles Peterson, Mar 2018}

Whether you are growing these unique plants at home or viewing them in a botanical garden or out in the wild, some of the plants and their pollinators to watch for include the white-topped pitcher plant, Sarracenia leucophylla and the two-spotted bumblebee, Bombus bimaculatus; the cobra lily, Darlingtonia californica and the mining bee, Andrena nigrihirta, Tracy’s sundew, Drosera tracyi and the metallic green sweat bee, Agapostemon sericeus, and the Venus flytrap, Dionaea muscipula and any of the hoverfly species, Toxomerus sp.

Month: September 2023

Puffins

Carnivorous Plants