Atlantic Puffins: Habitat, Behaviour, Population Trends, and Threats

By Eman Abdalah Kamel

This article covers the Atlantic puffin population, habitat, breeding, behavior, food, distribution, physical characteristics, threats, and conservation.

Introduction

The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) is a species of seabird belonging to the auk family, and it is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic puffin is a stout, medium-sized seabird with striking black-and-white plumage, a colorful bill, and bright-orange legs. It breeds on offshore islands, laying one egg in a burrow or rocky crevice. Although clumsy on land, it dives agilely and mainly feeds on small fish. Puffins can live into their 30s and begin breeding at 3–6 years. Outside the breeding season, they remain offshore in the open sea.

Despite its large population and wide range, rapid declines in some areas have led the IUCN to classify it as Vulnerable.

Population

The world population is estimated at 5.8 million (3.8–8.2 million), with about half breeding in Iceland. North America has approximately 350,000–400,000 breeding pairs, mainly in Newfoundland and Labrador (250,000–300,000 and 70,000–90,000, respectively). Major colonies include Great Island (123,000 ± 7,000 pairs), Gull Island (71,000), Gannet Islands (34,600 ± 2,900), and Baccalieu Island (30,000). Smaller colonies occur in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and peripheral areas, with fewer than 2,000 pairs in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, and the eastern Arctic.

Geographical Distribution and Winter Range

Breeding range: Offshore islands from 43°N (Gulf of Maine) to 79°N (Jones Sound).
Near shore: Rarely seen close to shore except during the breeding season near colonies.
Greenland: West coast from Qaanaaq/Thule to Upernavik–Qaqortoq/Juliane-håb; east coast at Appalik/Rafles Ø.
Europe: Iceland, Jan Mayen, Faroe Islands, Ireland, Great Britain, NW France (Brittany), Norway, Russia (Kola Peninsula), Spitsbergen, Bjørnøya, and Novaya Zemlya.
Franz Josef Land: Observed, but no confirmed breeding.
Winter range: From most breeding areas southward to the Atlantic islands, NW Africa, the western Mediterranean, and southern Europe.

Physical Characteristics

1. Size

Medium-sized; approximately 26–29 cm long; 310–550 g.

2. Plumage

The head, neck, and upper parts are black.
Large dull-white patch around the eye.
Underwing lining dark.

Did You Know?

Male and female puffin plumage is similar; the male is slightly larger than the female.

3. Bill

Large, triangular, and laterally compressed; the most distinctive feature.
Breeding season: yellow-orange, blue base, and ≥1 groove parallel to the bill base.
Bill size and groove number increase with age.
After breeding: colorful plates are lost; the bill becomes smaller, less triangular, and duller. The white head patch becomes dark grey.

Habitat and Breeding

Primarily pelagic, except during breeding.
Breeds mainly on islands with soil suitable for nesting burrows.
Also nests on rocky coasts, using cliff crevices.
Western North Atlantic: breeds near the low Arctic zone where August sea temperature is 4–10°C and salinity is 31–34‰.
Eastern North Atlantic: breeds near the boreal zone where August sea temperature is 10–19°C and salinity is 31–35‰.

Main Foods

Mainly small- to medium-sized schooling midwater fish (5–15 cm).
Other prey: 24 fish species are uncommon; rare records of small squid and shrimp.
Far north: Also takes crustaceans and pelagic worms.
North America: Mainly capelin, herring, white hake, and sandlance.
UK: Common species include:

Sandlance,
Capelin,
Whiting,
Saithe,
Haddock,
Redfish,
Rocklings.

Behaviour

Movement: Walking, hopping, and climbing; distinctive “rolling” gait. Some displays involve stylised walking.
Wings: Adapted for both air and underwater flight.
Flight: Rapid, 300–400 wingbeats/min, up to 77–82 km/h.
Swimming/Diving: Wing-propelled diving; morphological adaptations for underwater flight, with feet acting as rudders.
On land/water: raises forebody, flaps wings, and shakes tail; feathers ruffled, eyes partly closed. Wing-flapping indicates comfort/displacement, showing readiness or reluctance to fly.
Roosting: Usually at sea; sometimes on land near colonies. Rests with head withdrawn/bill forward or tucked into scapulars.
Sleeping/loafing: On land, sits on tarsi with breast touching ground.
Feeding: Adult visits to burrows with young pecking early and late in the day.

Breeding

Pairing: Most pairs re-form each year; at Skomer Island, pairs reformed in 131/142 pair-years.
Nest building: Burrow reclamation, repair, and excavation occur during the 2–3 weeks between arrival at the colony and egg laying.
Laying period: Generally April–July, varying by location.

New Brunswick: 3–18 May
Newfoundland: mainly 17–27 May; range 9 May–9 June
Wales: late April–late May
Norway: May
Murmansk: 24 May–10 June

Temperature effect: Lower air/sea temperatures can delay laying by 1–4 days per 1°C.
Nesting burrows: Mainly excavated in turf-covered coastal slopes and rocky islets.
At high latitudes, use rock crevices and talus gaps because of permafrost.
Colonies are densest on seaward grass slopes.
In the Gulf of Maine, most nests are under boulders, with some in earth burrows.
Egg shape: Rounded-oval; sub-elliptical.
Incubation period: It begins when the egg is laid. For example, on Skomer Island (Wales): 39 days (ranging from 36 to 43 days); and in Lofoten (Norway): 41.8 days (ranging from 40 to 45 days).
Parental care: Both sexes share in incubating the eggs.
Hatching condition: eyes open, down-covered, remains in the nest, and is fed by parents. The chick has long, slaty-black down dorsally, shorter white down ventrally, and a pale-tipped bill.
Brooding: Both parents brood chicks until ~9 days old, when chicks can thermoregulate and maintain near-adult body temperature.

Did You Know?

Both parents feed the young fish, which may still be alive when presented. When the chicks are less than four days old, the adult stands in the center of the nest and issues a lure call; the chick responds with a continuous begging call and takes the first three or four fish from the adult’s beak, while the adult drops the remaining fish onto the ground. For older chicks, the adult drops the food right at the burrow entrance and then leaves.

Threats

1. Human Activity

Shooting and trapping: People heavily hunted puffins for meat, eggs, and feathers. People caught birds using nets, nooses, and burrows and also collected their eggs.
Pesticides and contaminants: Mercury levels have increased, especially in Newfoundland puffin eggs.
Plastics and other materials: Puffins may ingest plastics, lead, elastic, plastic beads, and nylon thread, which can cause illness or death.
Habitat degradation: Declining fish stocks, especially herring, force puffins to travel farther for food, reducing chick growth and survival.
Oil spills: Major spills during breeding season can severely reduce puffin populations. The Torrey Canyon spill (1967) reduced one colony from 2,500 to 400 pairs, while the Amoco Cadiz spill (1978) killed 1,391 puffins.
Energy Production and Mining – Renewable Energy: wind farms can harm birds through collisions and habitat displacement, with impacts varying by region and potentially severe in areas such as the North Sea.

2. Climate Change

Climate change acts as a major stressor on the biological community; it alters patterns of food availability, forcing adults to travel greater distances in search of increasingly scarce prey—a shift that leads to reduced productivity and, in some cases, higher adult mortality rates.

Conversation

Most puffins now nest in protected sanctuaries, where shooting and trapping are prohibited.
Puffins winter far from land, reducing their exposure to hunting.
Law enforcement and public education have helped reduce shooting and hunting.
Most organochlorine levels have declined since the late 1960s and currently pose no apparent major threat to Atlantic Canadian puffin populations.
Puffin numbers in Wales are rising, and monitoring initiatives—such as the “Puffarazzi” project—are making concerted efforts to identify the reasons behind the decline in their populations.

Sources

About the author: Eman is a writer and engineer. She is interested in writing about birds and their facts.

Latest Posts

LongWayEducation

The Long Way Education provides informative knowledge on science, education, fiber, engineering, and religion for students, teachers, and users.