Puffins at Bonavista (Newfoundland)

 

Finally, puffins! Almost two years ago, I reported on a trip to Iceland where I didn't see any puffins because I arrived three months too late, although I wasn't there specifically to observe them [1]. And it almost happened again this time, because they flew away the day after I saw them. But more on that in a moment.

I've been interested in puffins since childhood, because in Enid Blyton's book "The Sea of Adventure" [2], the illustrator Stuart Tresilian [3] drew pictures of these birds. And ever since, I've wanted to see them in the wild.

O.K. the season wasn't over yet, but a day later they would have been gone. It is known that the puffins arrive at the breeding sites by the end of April and fly out to sea in August [4]; so best period to watch them would be May to mid August. Otherwise, you cannot — as a matter of fact — watch them ashore. Lets have a look at puffin in other languages: Icelandic has lunda, German Lund, Swedish lunnefågel, Norwegian lundefugl and in Mi'kmaq it's keskisqunajit [5]. I hope you didn't yawn as the last one has been a hard one.

Puffins are seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water [6, where you may get more information than a non-ornithologist can ask for]. They breed on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among rocks or in burrows in the soil. Actually much like penguins in the southern hemisphere. Probably the popularity of penguins and puffins can be explained by the funny appearance of these little fellows. Only one of the three extant species is found in the North Atlantic Ocean, you might have guessed it: the Atlantic puffin. They have small wings, enabling swimming with a flying technique underwater, but have beat their wings rapidly when flying low over the ocean's surface.

My favorite picture is the first one, where a puffin boldly jumps over the cliff. And yes, feel free to look elsewhere for the really good pictures.

Links and Annotations:
[1] Puffins – Sightings out of Season?
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/01/puffings-sightings-out-of-season.html
[2] You can view Enid Blyton's book [2a], first published in 1948, as a PDF file [2b], but without the pictures. I did manage to find one of them though [2c].
[2a] Enid Mary Blyton (1897-1968) was an English children's writer.
[2a] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enid_Blyton
[2b] https://www.riceethiopia.com/wp-content/uploads/Adventure-04-The-Sea-of-Adventure-Enid-Blyton.pdf
[2c] https://www.bluebowl.co.uk/cdn/shop/products/TheSeaofAdventureBook-7_960x.jpg?v=1713370208
[3] Stuart Tresilian (1891-1974) was a British artist and illustrator.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Tresilian
[4] https://visitnewfoundlandlabrador.ca/when-is-the-best-time-of-year-to-see-puffins-in-newfoundland/?srsltid=AfmBOooZlA62GveY5zshMrmc9E41quRZYsxJWtfhB3z6cpwkZWk1mkQL
[5] https://www.firstnationhelp.com/ali/lexicon.pdf Google KI showed Pitu[g]q for puffin, but I couldn't find any reference.
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_puffin

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