Puffin

Scientific name

Fratercula arctica

Gaelic name

Fachach

I'm sure you know them, Puffins are one of the world's favourite birds. People call them Sea Parrot or Clown of the Sea because of their multicouloured beak.

Physical Description

Puffins have a small and rounded body with a large head. In summer, they have while cheeks and a multicoloured beak (orange, yellow and dark blue)./ In winter, their face is grayish and their beak is smaller and duller. The rest of the body is black and white.

Most of people only know them with their "summer clothes" and would hardly recognize them in their "winter clothes".

These clowns weigh 320 to 550 g (= 10 tennis balls) and can stand 26 to 30 cm tall.

Feeding

Puffins eat fish especially sand eels.

Behaviour

In the spring, Puffins come ashore (sea cliffs) in groups to court and breed during the summer. The rest of the year, they live at sea.

Puffins mate for life, splitting up during the winter and meeting each spring, returning to the same burrows, under boulders.

They can walk and sometimes run. They have short wings, good for swimming and less for flying.

Threats

Puffins are threatened by oil spills and climate change.

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