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.
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.
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.
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.
