- Fratercula arctica
Identification
28-34 cm
- Black crown and upperparts
- Greyish-white cheeks
- Black throat-band
- White underparts
- Orange legs
- Red orbital ring
- Bill: in breeding season is large and triangular, brightly coloured red, yellow and blue. It is smaller in winter with less red and more yellow
Confusion Species
Similar to the larger Horned Puffin which ranges in the North Pcific and which has a yellow base to its bill. Smaller than Common Murre (which has a longer thinner bill) and Razorbill. Larger than Dovekie. All these have wing bars, lacking in the Puffin.
Distribution
Breeds in colonies 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.
Pelagic in the winter months, usually further out to sea than other auks.
Taxonomy
Geographical variation is largely clinal, and boundaries between the named subspecies are somewhat arbitrary. This species is now treated as monotypic by most authorities following a recommendation by Sangster et al. (2005)[7]
Subspecies
There are three subspecies recognized by Clements et al. (2018)[1]:
- F. a. naumanni:
- F. a. arctica:
- Baffin Island to Maine, Scandinavia and southern Novaya Zemlya
- F. a. grabae:
- Faeroe Islands, southern Scandinavia and British Isles to north-western France
Habitat
Pelagic; breeds on coastal cliffs or offshore islands.
Behaviour
Flight
They fly with rapidly whirring wings.
Breeding
The breeding season is from May to June with 1 egg; 1 brood. The grooves on the bill increase with age. They use abandoned rabbit or shearwater burrows (sometimes small caves in a cliff face) on steep grassy slopes at the top of a cliff.
The lifespan of a Puffin is up to 36 years[2].
Diet
It is mainly Sandeels that are fed to the chick, these increase in size as the youngster grows. They have a semi-rigid rasping tongue which pushes already caught sandeels up onto spikes on the hard palate - this frees up the mandibles (especially the lower) to snap at the next victim!
Vocalisation
Call: A throaty growl
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- BTO BirdFacts: Puffin
- BirdLife International. 2017. Fratercula arctica. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T22694927A117606911. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22694927A117606911.en. Downloaded on 21 September 2018.
- Lowther, P. E., A. W. Diamond, S. W. Kress, G. J. Robertson, and K. Russell (2002). Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.709
- Nettleship, D.N., Kirwan, G.M., Christie, D.A., Sharpe, C.J., Garcia, E.F.J. & Boesman, P. (2018). Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/54078 on 21 September 2018).
- Provencher, Jennifer & Gaston, Anthony. (2012). A Specimen of the High Arctic Subspecies of Atlantic Puffin, Fratercula arctica naumanni, in Canada. Canadian Field Naturalist. 126. 50-54. 10.22621/cfn.v126i1.1297.
- Sangster, G., Collinson, J.M., Helbig, A.J., Knox, A.G. & Parkin, D.T. (2005) Taxonomic recommendations for British birds: third report. Ibis 147(4): 821–826.
- Wikipedia contributors. (2018, September 5). Atlantic puffin. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 09:17, September 21, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atlantic_puffin&oldid=858213599
- Collins Pocket Guide to British Birds 1966
- Collins Field Guide 5th Edition
- Collins Bird Guide ISBN 0 00 219728 6
- BirdForum Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Atlantic Puffin. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 28 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Atlantic_Puffin
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
