Puffins

Puffins

By Sophie Brooks

Appearance

Puffins are 11-12 inches tall, they weigh 13oz-17oz.They have thick black, gray, and white feathers and they have black necks .Their beak can change colors to bright orange in breeding season.The male  puffins are a little bit taller than the female puffins.  Did you know that a puffins wingspan is a high of 47cm- 63cm . A puffin’s underparts and sides of its face are white. A puffin’s legs are dull yellow in the colder season and bright orange in the breeding season.

Diet and Prey

Did you know that a puffin can be a omnivore, but it choses to only eat meat. A puffin’s normal appetite is sandeels, capelin, herring and sprat.  Sometimes they eat, squid, mollusks or crustaceans.  The puffin’s tongue has a lot of spikes so when it goes to catch the fish, the fish get stuck on the spikes.  This keeps the puffin from dropping fish and helps it to get a lot of fish at one time to feed its baby.

Habitat

Puffins are from the Northern Hemisphere in the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and the Arctic Circle. They live in the sea and when its breeding season they go to the shore.  Puffins nest on the cliffs near the sea.  The nests are underground.  The puffins go back to the same nest every year.

Predators

On land the puffins’ predators are gulls, hawks, eagles and foxes. Also on land cats,dogs and rats can harm puffins’ eggs.

In the sea a puffins’ predators are skua and large gulls.  Humans are also a danger to puffins.  If there is an oil spill it could kill the puffins.

I thought learning about puffins was interesting because they have a different kind of habitat.  They live in two different places every year.