Atlantic Puffin

Other Names

Common puffin

Atlantic Puffin Description

• The Atlantic puffin is silent above ground.
• Atlantic puffins breed in colonies on rocky islands in the North Atlantic and winters at sea.
• They nest in burrows.
• Atlantic puffins dive for food and use their wings to swim underwater.
• They are thought to nest in cliff-top colonies.

Size & Weight

Adults:

• TOTAL LENGTH: 28 to 30 cm (11 to 12 in)
• WINGSPAN: 47 to 63 cm (19 to 25 in)
• HEIGHT: 20 cm (8 in)

Hatchlings

• WEIGHT: 42 grams (1.5 oz)

Subspecies

• Ratercula arctica arctica
• Fratercula arctica grabae
• Fratercula arctica naumanni

Habitat

Ocean

Range

Norway, Faroe Islands, Orkney Islands, Greenland, Newfoundland, Labrador, Russia, Shetland, North Sea, northern France, Maine

Diet

Small fish, crustaceans, mollusks, shrimps, sprats, sand eels, herring, capelin

Reproduction

1 egg

Incubation Period

39–45 days

Egg-laying Period

April and June

Fledging Period

34 to 50 days

Egg Size

• LENGTH: 61 mm (2.4 in)
• WIDTH: 42 mm (1.7 in)
• WEIGHT: 62 grams (2.2 oz)

Sexual Maturity

3 – 6 years

Population

750,000 and 760,000

Lifespan

33 years

Home Range

1,620,000 sq km (630,000 sq mi)

Predators

Seals, foxes, weasels, stoats, dogs, cats, rats, great black-backed gull, great skua, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull

Sounds

Chainsaw buzzing

Behavior

Solitary

Conservation Status

Vulnerable