Atlantic Puffin
About
The puffin, or ‘sea parrot’, is instantly recognisable from its brightly coloured parrot-like bill. They shed this colourful outer part after the breeding season, leaving a smaller and duller beak. Having spent entire winters at sea, thousands of puffins return to the UK every year to nest in their little hobbit-like burrows in the ground. Puffins are loyal to one another, mating with the same bird every season and producing one chick. This one chick, known as a puffling, keeps its parents busy fishing to keep it well-fed and satisfied. Laying only a single egg means that the puffin’s survival as a species is delicately balanced. These are nervous birds, and continuous disturbance, such as increased boat traffic near puffin nesting and feeding grounds could have a catastrophic effect on their future. Although puffins are not currently endangered, tiny Mouls Island in Port Quin Bay is home to the last breeding group of puffins in the whole of Cornwall.
Quick Facts
Lifespan: 18 years
Habitat: Open ocean and coastal areas
Favourite Food: Sand eels and other small fish
Fun Fact: With its comical, waddling walk and brightly coloured beak, the puffin is sometimes known as the “clown of the sea”.
Did you know?
Puffins feed their young with fresh fish, rather than regurgitated food like most birds, this is possible due to the number of small fish they can carry in their large beaks. The record for sand eels in a single puffin’s beak is...82!
Puffins are excellent swimmers, using their wings to 'fly' underwater, while their feet work like a rudder, controlling direction. They can swim to depths of over 60 metres on the hunt for food. Puffins only come to land during the breeding season, flying, swimming or riding the ocean surface throughout the year, regardless of weather.
Conservation and Habitat
Prey Problems
Prey Problems
Prey Problems
A lack of prey near some puffin colonies in the Northeast Atlantic has a major impact on the breeding success of these colonies, ultimately leading to population declines. Climate change is at least partly responsible for this lack of prey, with changes in currents and sea temperatures affecting the abundance and availability of fish that the puffins rely on to rear their chick.
Plastic
Prey Problems
Prey Problems
It is estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastic in our seas than fish. Puffins, as with many other seabirds, have been seen feeding their chicks with pieces of plastic, believing it to be food. One way to lessen your impact on puffins and many other species is to stop using single-use plastics such as straws, plastic bottles and carrier bags.
Environment
Prey Problems
Environment
Whilst puffin populations are generally declining in most areas due to unsustainable fishing, climate change and other environmental pressures, in certain areas of the UK puffin populations are thriving. The presence of a successful breeding group of puffins is indicative of the health and vitality of the local coastal ecosystem.
Cornwall Birds
For more information about puffins, and all other birds seen throughout Cornwall, contact Cornwall Bird Watching and Preservation Society, better known as Cornwall Birds.