Puffins on Orkney

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Puffins in Orkney http://www.heygo.com

Lorna our heygo virtual guide was on one spot on the clifftop on the Island of Westray, it was quite windy but we did manage to spot just a few puffins resting on the cliff edge.

Interesting facts we learnt

Atlantic Puffins from the auk family, they are black with a white belly and face, have a wingspan of 47cm to 63cm, a short tail, large strong orange feet (for landing and digging) and stand with an upright posture at 20cm tall. Puffins are distinctive because of their big colourful beaks. These are very large to enable puffins to catch many small fish (up to 10) at a time.

With birds, usually the male is more eye-catching than the female, however both male and female puffins are almost identical in appearance (though the male is slightly larger).



Although humans usually find them on seabird cliffs, puffins spend most of their time swimming on surface of the sea. Here, their black markings and white belly act as camouflage. Predators from above struggle to see the black puffins against the deep blue of the water and predators from beneath the waves struggle to see their white belly against the sky.



During mating season, adult puffins usually return to the same cliffs where they hatched and will nest in burrows on grassy slopes. Though puffins will dig their own burrows, very often puffins will occupy rabbit burrows, pecking and chasing the previous occupant out!

When you see a puffin on a seabird cliff you may be surprised to hear the noise they make, which is a little like a cow’s moo.



Puffins mate with the same partner for life, which is a romantic notion, but it really has more to do with their habit of returning to the same nest year after year! They reinstate their bond with a unique courtship behaviour, known as billing. This involves two puffins repeatedly turning their heads from side to side and clattering their bills together!



A puffin chick is called a puffling.

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