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- Horned Puffin

Ways to identify this species: black body, white breast, bill yellow towards base, red at tip, hardened flesh that rises above eyes in vertical line towards crown

Biology

Spread across the Pacific, the Horned Puffin, cousin of the Tufted Puffin, breeds along the Bering Peninsula, in the Aleutian Islands and along the Southwestern Coast of Alaska. They spend winter farther south at sea. It eats mostly fish and invertebrates.

These social birds build their nests in colonies, usually in between rocks or in underground burrows. Each couple, who usually mate for life, have one egg at a time and share responsibility for their chick.

Puffins are more adept at swimming than flying. Their takeoffs can often be wobbly while they have no trouble standing on land or swimming with their webbed feet.

Threats

There is a large population but it has declined due to pollution and competition for food with fisheries.

They are particularly threatened by oil pollution because they spend so much time in the water.

Human disturbances of nests can cause puffins to abandon them.

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