Puffin - Puffin Habits

Daily Life: for most of the year, when not breeding, which they do from late April to early August, puffins are to be found bobbing about on the waters of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, often hundreds of kilometres from land. They are found mostly singly or in pairs. The puffin is perfectly adapted to a marine environment; it keeps its feathers waterproof by applying oil, from a gland near its tail, as it preens. To catch food, the puffin dives from the water's surface, using its wings like paddles to 'fly' down to great depths to catch sand eels or other fish. Underwater, a puffin looks to be swimming in a silvery air bubble because the air in the feathers is partly forced out. Puffins can dive up to 60 metres (about 200 feet), though most dives are between 10 and 30 metres. Most dives last for 20 to 30 seconds, although puffins can hold their breath for around a minute.

The puffin's large beak and mouth has backward pointing spikes which enable it to catch as many as twelve small fish one after the other, without swallowing them, and hold them crosswise. They are also helped in this by their hinged upper jaw and spines on their tongue.

Puffins shed their brightly-coloured outer bill plats as part of the winter moult, meaning that their faces turn grey, which aids camouflage during the months spent at sea. The colourful plates return again in the spring, in readiness for the mating season, when the bright colours are useful for attracting a mate.