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Fratercula arctica |
Physical DescriptionThe Atlantic Puffin is similar with both sexes--11 1/2 to 13 1/2 tall. There wing span is 21-24 inches long. They are short and stocky with a white belly, black top, and white cheeks. Their bills have a rough triangular shape that turn bright orange, and yellow- bordered with a patch of blue in the back in mating season. Done with mating season the Atlantic Puffin loses some of there horny bill plates, and molt. In summer and winter the Atlantic Puffin has the same feathering apart from a darker head in winter.Diet and Feeding HabitsFor food Atlantic Puffins fly over the sea looking for small fish like herring, hake, capelin, or lance, also eating mollusks, and crustaceans. After spotting their pray the Puffin can dive down to 200 feet under water using its wings as a source of power to swim and their feet for direction. In mating season the Atlantic Puffin can hold 30 fish in there bill though the scoop record is 62, they then bring the fish back to the nest to feed there young. When not in mating season the Puffin will eat it on the spot after catching it.ReproductionIn mating season males fight on the water beak to beak to attract female Puffins. When the “ceremony” is over the male puffin makes a nest out of loose soil down to 2-4 ft deep all fairly close to one another. After the is nest made the couple can usually be spotted sitting in front of there nest when not out fishing. Between June and July the egg is laid, there is usually only one egg laid per pair. It is incubated by both male and female keeping it under there wing, for about 42 days. The eggs are round, white, and often have brown spots. The parents feed the chick small fish. 40 days after the egg has hatched the baby is abandoned by his parents who go back to sea. The chick fasts for a week, after that week when it is dark the Puffin dives in the water for food, and at 49 days the puffin fly's to sea to join his colony.HabitatIn the winter Atlantic Puffins go out to sea and for several months they reside there in the water and are rarely seen within sight of land. In March when they come back from sea they stay on the rocky cliffs of the north Atlantic and Northern Europe. Some examples are Maine and Iceland. The Atlantic Puffin is on no endangered, or threatened list. The Atlantic Puffin has global population of 5,850,000; and continental population of 1,132,500. The Audubon society created the “Project Puffin” in 1973 to help the Puffins historical nesting place in the golf of Maine. Though the Puffin is not endangered, after being hunted for meet and eggs there are only two different colonies left and both are vulnerable to mink and rats.Role in the EcosystemThe Atlantic Puffin lives in the Temperate Deciduous Forest biome, mostly keeping themselves on the northern coast of North America, and Europe, or in the winter out at sea not be seen for several months. In matting season for shelter the Atlantic Puffin male digs a hole 2-4 ft deep in loose soil, coasting the near sea for food for its family. The Atlantic Puffin is a prime predator only eaten by the Great Black Backed Gull who will attack a lonely Puffin in flight. Herring Gulls eat , young chicks and steel eggs but will never attack an adult puffin.Bibliographyhttp://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Fratercula_arctica.htmlhttp://web1.audubon.org/waterbirds/species.php?speciesCode=atlpuf |
Atlantic Puffin