Puffins- Hebridean Birds
Western Isles Birds - Puffins - Hebridean Birds Sightings.
Puffins are striking looking birds with their deep triangular bill, patterned blue grey, orange, yellow and red, The puffins are stocky, short-winged and short-tailed birds.
Although the puffins are vocal at their breeding colonies, they are silent at sea. Puffins form long-term pair bonds or relationships
| |
| |
|
|
|
| Bird Overview - Puffin |
| Family |
|
Latin name |
|
Population |
With half of the UK population at only a few sites it is an Amber List species. |
|
Similar Species |
Little Auk
Razorbill
Guillemot |
|
| Description |
Puffins are striking looking birds with their deep triangular bill, patterned blue grey, orange, yellow and red, The puffins are stocky, short-winged and short-tailed birds. They have a dark eye and disc like grey white to the sides of the faces, black underparts and neck with a white underside. In the summer the legs are a really vivid orange, in the winter the adults have a more dusky grey face - as have juveniles. .
|
|
| Size |
| Length 26 - 29cm, weight is 11 - 18oz |
|
| Habitat |
Coasts and islands where there are grassy slopes sometimes
|
|
| Food |
This birds dive from the water surface to catch fish and squid. Puffins are distinct in their ability to hold several (sometimes over a dozen) small fish at a time, crosswise in their bill, rather than regurgitating swallowed fish - especially sand eels
|
| Voice |
At the nest the puffin makes a cooing growl, aaarr, karr,oo,arr
|
|
| Breeding |
Puffins form long-term pair bonds or relationships. These birds , the puffins require quite a bit of earth as they burrow or have cavities in the rocks.
The female lays a single egg, and both parents incubate the egg and feed the chick . They occupy ready made burrows, or find their cavities between boulders. They have one egg - and just the one brood between May - June.
After fledging, the chicks spend the first few years of their lives at sea, returning to breed about five years later
|
|
| Misc. Info |
The grooves on the bill increase with age.
THeir lifespan is ten to twenty years. They shed the colourful outer parts of their bills after the breeding season, leaving a smaller and duller beak. Although the puffins are vocal at their breeding colonies, they are silent at sea |
|
|
