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Puffins are sea birds that can fly, swim, and dig burrows.
They have thick, waterproof feathers that protect them from the cold. Their
webbed feet help them swim. The huge, parrot-like bill stores fish as they hunt
underwater.
It
is wide in profile and narrow when viewed from
the front. In breeding season,
the bill becomes brightly coloured.
Puffins are carnivores (meat-eaters) that dive in
the sea for food. They eat
mostly small fish. A puffin can dive for up to a minute but most dives usually
last 20 to 30 seconds. While underwater,
the puffin swims by using its wings to push it along
under the water almost as if it were flying, while using its feet as rudders.
They dig a deep burrow in which the female lays a single egg. Both parents feed
the chick for about 6 weeks. The parents then abandon the chick who
will leave
the burrow after about a week without food. It will then go the sea and fish for
itself.
Puffins often mate for life.
A
puffin can fly 48 to 55 mph (77 to 88 km/hr).
The puffin beats its wings
rapidly to achieve this speed reaching up to 400 beats a minute.
The wings can
move so fast that they become a blur, giving a flying puffin the appearance of a
black and white football.
Puffin originally meant "fatling." The name was
used to describe the chubby
chicks of the Manx Shearwater, with which puffin chicks were confused. In the
last half of the 1800’s the puffin was given
the scientific name of Fratercula
arctica, which means "little brother of the north" in Latin. Little brother 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. A second connotation of
little friar may be drawn from the puffin’s sometime habit of holding it’s feet
together when taking off, suggestive of hands clasped together in prayer.
Regardless of the scientific name, local names still abound. These include such
colourful names as "clown of the ocean" and "sea parrot." People used to claim
that a puffin was actually a cross between a bird and a fish because
of its
superb ability to swim underwater
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