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Atlantic Puffin

Status Uncommon transient, rare in winter and summer. Breeds. It is common in summer in Nova Scotia only around its remaining breeding colonies, which, at the time of the 1971 Canadian Wildlife Service survey, were located on Bird Islands, Victoria County (50-70 pairs), and Pearl Island, Lunenburg County (where up to 12 pairs nested unsuccessfully in 1975). The Bird Islands are unusual because puffins there are forced to nest in holes in the sides of the cliffs, their preferred habitat in the turf on top of the islands having been taken over by gulls. During a visit to the Bird Islands on 27 June 1933 the breeding population was estimated at several hundred pairs (R.W. Tufts). On 3 July 1964 John R. Gallagher estimated it at 800-1000 individuals.

There can be little doubt that the decline in numbers is largely the result of predation by Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls. Puffins formerly bred on several islands off Yarmouth (Bryant 1857). Harold F. Tufts (1907) found "a few" nesting on Seal Island in mid-June 1907, and Harrison Lewis found only one pair there on 14 July 1912 but did not find their nest. On 19 June 1922 no puffins were breeding there, nor were any seen (R.W. Tufts); the many predatory house cats that roamed there unchecked in 1922 were probably responsible. Seven puffins off Brier Island on 24 May 1969 were possibly late transients, but summer birds occasionally reported near Sable Island and two birds seen by Thomas F.T. Morland on 8 July 1962 some 8 km off Sable River, Shelburne County, were probably non-breeding wanderers. During fall the species occurs as a transient along the coast but is less common there in winter and spring. The birds arrive at the end of September and remain at least until December.

Description Length: 29-34 cm. Adults in breeding plumage: Throat and upperparts glossy black; white below; face pale gray; its large and absurdly shaped bill, nearly as high as it is long and brightly coloured with red, blue and yellow, is most conspicuous; legs and feet reddish. Adults in winter: Most of the horny plates on the outside of the bill have been shed; sides of head are darker gray. Juveniles: Resemble adults in winter but their bills are even smaller.

Breeding Nest: At the end of a burrow in the ground or in a crevice among boulders, sometimes, if not usually, lined with soft nesting material. Eggs: 1; dull white, sometimes showing delicate traces of fine markings about the larger end. Laying begins in late May or early June.

Range Breeds along coasts from Greenland to Maine, and from Iceland and Spitsbergen to Brittany and northeastern Russia. The world centre for the Atlantic Puffin population is Iceland, where many millions breed. In our area it nests from the Maine-New Brunswick border north to southeastern Labrador, rarely in the Hudson Strait. The North American population is about 330,000 pairs, most of which occur in southeastern Newfoundland. In winter, some migrate along the coast as far south as Massachusetts.

Remarks The puffin or "sea parrot," as it is commonly called by fishermen, is readily identified by its parrot-like beak, its bright orange legs and its exceptionally rapid wing-beats. From a boat, I have watched them bringing in food for their young and, as they whirred by overhead, their orange legs conspicuously straddled far apart, have noted that the fare invariably consisted of small, slender eel-like fishes which trailed or dangled from their beaks. It seemed that these fishes were captured a considerable distance seaward from the colony, which suggests they were not available nearby.