Puffin - Breeding

Puffins return to their breeding colonies in March and April, with southerly colonies being reoccupied earlier in the spring, whilst more northerly colonies are occupied later. To prepare for the return to land, puffins gather in tightly-packed 'rafts' offshore. Here the pairs display to each other, rubbing bills and cooing, before mating and coming ashore to the grassy slopes of their breeding ground. By now, their beaks have become brightly coloured and they have developed a whiter face with a horny blue patch above and below the eye.

A puffin colony sometimes has several thousand pairs. The birds usually pair for life, though they are not necessarily together all year round. The puffins may dig a shallow burrow, about 1 to 2 metres long, in the soft turf on cliff tops and islands, or use an old rabbit burrow. They return to the same burrow every year. Burrows often include a nest chamber lined with feathers and a side chamber for waste. On land, the pairs strengthen their bond by preening each other and tossing their heads. The males often present the females with gifts of grass or feathers.

Eggs are usually laid in May and hatch in June to July. A single egg is laid in a chamber at the end of the burrow and both parents take turns to incubate it which take 39 days. The newly hatched chick (or puffling) is covered in dark brown down and has a small black bill. Its parents share the task of feeding it, flying out to sea to catch beakfuls of sand eels. After about six weeks, the chick is deserted and stays in it burrow for 6-9 days, without food, whilst its adult feathers develop. During this time it loses around 25% of its body weight.

Leaving the burrow is a dangerous time for a young puffin, so they emerge at night to avoid hungry gulls. Artificial light can disorientate the newly-emerged fledglings. They cannot yet fly, so they tumble down the cliff face and swim as far out to sea as possible before daybreak. They then starts learning to fly and fish. The following year, the young puffin returns to the colony, although it does not breed until it is four or five years old.

Off the United Kingdom, there are large puffin colonies on Skomer and Skokholm Islands (Wales), Farne Islands (Northumberland), Treshnish Isles, Shetland, the Isle of May and St Kilda (Scotland)

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