Atlantic puffin
| Atlantic Puffin | |
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| Adults in breeding plumage, Lunga (Treshnish Isles, Scotland) | |
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| Species: | F. arctica
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| Binomial name | |
| Fratercula arctica (Linnaeus, 1758)
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Alca arctica Linnaeus, 1758 | |
The Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) is a seabird species in the auk family. It is a pelagic bird that feeds primarily by diving for fish, but also eats other sea creatures, such as squid and crustaceans. Its most obvious characteristic is its brightly colored beak during the breeding seasons. Also known as the Common Puffin, it is the only puffin species which is found in the Atlantic Ocean. The curious appearance of the bird, with its colorful huge bill and its striking piebald plumage, has given rise to nicknames such as "clown of the ocean" and "sea parrot".
Description
The Atlantic Puffin is 28–34 cm (11-13.5 in) in length, with a 50–60 cm (20-24 in) wingspan. The male is generally slightly larger than the female, but they are colored alike. This bird is mainly black above and white below, with gray to white cheeks and red-orange legs. The bill is large and triangular, and during the breeding season is bright orange with a patch of blue bordered by yellow at the rear.[1] The characteristic bright orange bill plates grow before the breeding season and are shed after breeding. The bills are used in courtship rituals, such as the pair tapping their bills together.[2] During flight, it appears to have grey round underwings and a white body; it has a direct flight low over the water. The related Horned Puffin (Fratercula corniculata) from the North Pacific looks very similar but has slightly different head ornaments.
The Atlantic Puffin is typically silent at sea, except for soft purring sounds it sometimes makes in flight. At the breeding colonies the birds make a deep growl
Distribution and ecology
This species breeds on the coasts of northern Europe, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and eastern North America, from well within the Arctic Circle to northern France and Maine. The winter months are spent at sea far from land - in Europe as far south as the Mediterranean, and in North America to North Carolina.
About 95% of the Atlantic puffins in North America breed around Newfoundland's coastlines. The largest puffin colony in the western Atlantic (estimated at more than 260,000 pairs) can be found at the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, south of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.[3]
Predators of the Atlantic Puffin include the Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus), the Great Skua (Stercorarius skua), and similar-sized species, which can catch a puffin in flight, or pick off one separated from the colony. Smaller gull species like the Herring Gull (L. argentatus) which are hardly able to bring down a healthy adult puffin, take eggs or recently hatched chicks, and will also steal fish.
Diet
Feeding areas are often located 100 km (60 mi) offshore from the nest or more, though when provisioning young the birds venture out only half that distance.[4] Atlantic Puffins can dive for distances of up to 70 m (200 ft) and are propelled by their powerful wings, which are adapted for swimming. They use their webbed feet as a rudder while submerged. Puffins collect several small fish, such as herring, sprats and sand eels, when hunting. They use their tongues to hold the fish against spines in their palate, leaving their beaks free to open and catch more fish. A popular, but untrue, story claims that puffins neatly line up the fish in their bills with the heads facing alternate ways. Additional components of their diet are crustaceans and mollusks. A puffin can sometimes have a dozen or more fish in its beak at once.
Reproduction
Atlantic Puffins are colonial nesters, using burrows on grassy cliffs. They will also nest amongst rocks and scree. Male puffins perform most of the work of clearing out the nest area, which is sometimes lined with grass, feathers or seaweed. The only time spent on land is to nest, and mates are found prior to arriving at the colonies.
The Atlantic Puffin is sexually mature at the age of 4–5 years. The species is monogamous and has biparental care. A single-egg clutch is produced each year, and incubation responsibilities are shared between both parents. Total incubation time is around 39–45 days, and the chick takes about 49 days to fledge. At fledging, the chick leaves the burrow alone, and flies/swims out to sea, usually during the evening. Contrary to popular belief, young puffins are not abandoned by their parents (although this does occur in some other seabirds, such as shearwaters). Synchronous laying of eggs is found in Atlantic Puffins in adjacent burrows.[5]
THEY ARE THE BEST BIRDS EVER. THEY ARE CUTE AND SEXY
Gallery
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Adult in nest cavity, Machias Seal Island, Gulf of Maine -
On Machias Seal Island, Gulf of Maine -
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At Látrabjarg, Iceland
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On Machias Seal Island, Gulf of Maine -
Breeding grounds on Lunga, Treshnish Isles
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On Mykines, Faroe Islands
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Adult in flight
Footnotes
- ^ Street & Emily (1999)
- ^ Project Puffin: Puffin videos. Retrieved 2008-JAN-13.
- ^ Government of Newfoundland and Labrador: Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. Retrieved 2008-JAN-13.
- ^ Lilliendahl et al. (2003)
- ^ Ehrlich et al. (1988)
References
- Alsop, Fred J. III (2001): Atlantic Puffin. In: Smithsonian Birds of North America, Western Region: 451[verification needed]. DK Publishing, Inc., New York City. ISBN 0-7894-7157-4
- Ehrlich, P.; Dobkin, D. & Wheye, D. (1988): Atlantic Puffin. In: The Birder's Handbook: A Field Guide to The Natural History of North American Birds: 207, 209-214. New York.
- Template:IUCN2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Churchill, Wendy; Dalziel, Alex & Rice, Vanessa (1998): Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Emblems. Version of August 1998. Retrieved 2008-JAN-13.
- Harrison, Peter (1988): Seabirds (2nd ed.). Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7470-1410-8
- Ladd, C.; Jahncke, J.; Hunt, G.L.; Coyle, K.O. & Stabeno, P.J. (2005): Hydrographic features and seabird foraging in Aleutian Passes. Fisheries Oceanography 14(s1): 178-190. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2419.2005.00374.x (HTML abstract)
- Lilliendahl, K.; Solmundsson, J.; Gudmundsson, G.A. & Taylor, L. (2003): Can surveillance radar be used to monitor the foraging distribution of colonially breeding alcids? [English with Spanish abstract] Condor 105(1): 145–150. DOI: 10.1650/0010-5422(2003)105[145:CSRBUT]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract
- Mitchell, P.I.; Newton, S.F.; Ratcliffe, N.; Dunn, T.E. (2004): Seabird Populations of Britain and Ireland: Results of the Seabird 2000 Census (1998–2002). T. & A.D. Poyser, London. ISBN 0-7136-6901-2
- Perez-Lopez, M.; Cid, F.; Oropesa, A.; Fidalgo, L.; Beceiro, A. & Soler, F. (2006): Heavy metal and arsenic content in seabirds affected by the Prestige oil spill on the Galician coast (NW Spain). Science of The Total Environment 359(1-3): 209-220. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.04.006 (HTML abstract)
- Street, R. & Emily, A. (1999): Animal Diversity Web - Fratercula arctica. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
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