Name: Atlantic puffin, common puffin, sea parrot
Scientific Name: Fratercula arctica (Linnaeus, 1759)
Family: Alcidae
Group: Birds
Class: Birds
Size: 26-50 cm.
These birds spend most of the year in the sea and only head to land during strong storms or in the summer to breed. At this time, the adult's beaks acquire bright colours and the puffins are seen in large colonies on grassy slopes. They lay one egg in nests dug into the ground, which they line with feathers, leaves and branches. The parents incubate the egg for 40 days and afterwards feed the chick with fish that they find as far away as 130 km from the coast! However, sometimes on their return, opportunistic birds like thrush and seagulls steal the fish. When they are about 50 days old, the young birds accompany the adults and spend the rest of the year at sea.
Photo by:
Mafalda Frade
North Atlantic
