Atlantic Puffin

An iconic seabird often called the 'clown of the sea'. It is a small auk with a black back, white face patches, and a colorful bill. Puffins spend most of the year at sea in the Atlantic. They return to coastal cliffs and rocky islands only to breed. They form massive colonies numbering in the thousands.

Puffins are exceptional swimmers. They use their wings to 'fly' underwater to catch fish like sand eels. They nest in burrows dug into the grass or taken from rabbits. They can carry multiple fish in their bill at once—sometimes more than a dozen. Their flight is fast with very rapid wingbeats.