Before The Puffin Swam

Long, long ago, before the puffin swam,
neither sun nor sail bewildered those
who, simple in their sleep, walked to a day
of golden trees and apples in the air,
and quiet tilted villages.

The men flailed and the women wove
and when the eyes of heaven closed
they rested by fin-fairy fires
and watched the smoke climb upright to the stars.

Here the peace of an eternal autumn passed,
still leaves endured, and for the steeple doves
time kissed lightly underneath the moon;
the stones of ancient masons sang
the pale language of the livng dead,
the wall-chants of the spirit of the race
who left his talismans at eventide
lonely in the grey home shade.

Here lay the axe, once sun-slanted and crossed
before ripe muscles on a summer morning
and the old stones sing back two thousand years
to the skin-belted body which turned inthe sun,
and twisted and struck, one lever of flesh
at the tree on the forest floor.

Only the blue flints know of the heavy dead
fibre-bare in the deep midnight earth,
under the dumb centuries of cloven hooves,
and of souls’ last kisses before they fled
like shadows on the arms of some star-white god.

Forever beneath the high moon clouds
the red-haired cattle stray,
meeting and passing like porcelain
upon a waxen way.

Sires of their sires by hecatomb
had writhed beneath the sun;
some new man-woman would bleed
the calves of their calves by gun.
And one dozen paces from their skulls
would meet in temples on the shale
- with hassocks at their feet.

Eric Ratcliffe

Pondering a Puffin

by Brian A. Hartford

What a strange product of Nature,

the Puffin, is to what I refer.

Large orange beaked,

attached to a small head.

The body isn’t much of which to
speak,

black plumage, and not much more.

What miracle that such a design,

will support such a structure.

The white breast,

orange webbed feet,

such a clownish appearance.

The eyes highlight the costume,

small dots in a white feather field.

Is this costume for camouflage or,

for a darker spirit?

In Nature, it is not wise to guess,

it is uniqueness.

Fisherman by design,

to swim natural as it’s flight.

A source of amasement to me,

sheer joy to know he exists.

He returns to the cliffs of his
birth,

guards the nest.

protecting his unborn from the snare,

hazard of being a gastronomic
delight.

What a joy to know the puffin,

It is good to know he exists.

I am amused to think that,

the joke is on me.

BAH

Puffin!

Underwater, a premier danseur,
his turns a blur,
his orange feet steer

through the orchestra
of seaweed and tide,
this sea parrot, this clown

of the Atlantic, harlequin-billed
with jester’s eyes;
take one for your own

and the dance of life
takes a turn. The one I choose,
Nureyev,

is on his fifth mate,
despite the fact that puffins
are monogamous: no guilt

on Eastern Egg Rock!
What’s important
is the burrow

lined with grass and sticks,
that he was seen
approaching the nest

with a half dozen fish in his bill.
While his wings spin
like a windmill at sea,

on land he hops awkwardly
across rocks, wings tucked
under the tail of his tuxedo.

In spring, he’s genius
of the thermals,
the sun whispers stage directions,

gravity reveals its secrets
as he flies toward his island
without map or compass
from far across the sea.

— Suellen Wedmore

There Once Was a Puffin

Oh, there once was a Puffin
Just the shape of a muffin,
And he lived on an island
In the bright blue sea!

He ate little fishes,
That were most delicious,
And he had them for supper
And he had them for tea.

But this poor little Puffin,
He couldn’t play nothin’,
For he hadn’t anybody
To play with at all.

So he sat on his island,
And he cried for awhile, and
He felt very lonely,
And he felt very small.

Then along came the fishes,
And they said, “If you wishes,
You can have us for playmates,
Instead of for tea!”

So they now play together,
In all sorts of weather,
And the Puffin eats pancakes,
Like you and like me.

by Florence Page Jaques

2009 Schedule

Puffin Cruises
Glacier Spirit

Saturdays, 6 to 9 pm

July 11, 18, 25 and August 1 & 8, 2009

Protection Island, at the mouth of Discovery Bay, is a very special; place in the summer. Dry, brown and lonely, it looks like a most inhospitable place. But it is alive with thousands of nesting birds – rhinocerous auklets, glaucous-winged gulls, pigeon guillemots, double-crested and pelagic cormorants, black oystercatchers, and even a few pairs of tufted puffins. It is for a glimpse of the elusive tufted puffin that many visitors make the trip. As every birder knows, no guarantee can be made that they will be sighted on every outing, but chances are very good that they will be spotted especially on the south side of the island. Like rhinocerous auklets, for which Protection Island is the major nesting site, the puffin use burrows in the cliffs and uplands to raise one or sometimes two chicks. The chance to see them carrying many small fish at one time in their bills, or even swimming, flying, or diving, is exciting.

Reservations: Tickets are $55 per person ($50 for PTMSC, Audubon, Burke Museum or Washington Ornithological Society members) and child or group rates may be arranged. Proceeds go to support educational programs at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center.

Protection Island Cruises are offered in collaboration with Puget Sound Express.
For reservations: (800) 566-3932 ~ (360) 385-5582 ~ e-mail: cruises@ptmsc.org

Predators are a natural part of life. And while uber adorable puffins also have predators. Each puffin has its own set of predators.

What are the puffin predators? What preys on Puffins?

Predators of the Atlantic puffin include people; gulls and skuas including the Great Black-backed Gull, the Great Skua, the Herring Gull amongst others; rats; cats; dogs; and foxes. Puffins are also vulnerable to pollution, fishing nets, declining fish populations, and global warming.

Predators of the Tufted Puffins include people, unfortunately. Tufted Puffins have three major predators the Snowy Owl, Bald Eagles and Arctic Foxes. They are also vulnerable due to decreasing fish population, ocean pollution and oil spills.

Predators of the Horned Puffin include people as well. Horned Puffins also are preyed upon by gulls, foxes, larger predatory birds and rats. Traffic, oil spills, ocean pollution, over-fishing and the resulting declining fish population as well as global warming are also affecting their survival rate.

Puffins do have some unique abilities to protect themselves from predators. Their bill is very hard and colorful to warn other animals of the pain it can cause. For predators flying above puffins blend into the water while swimming which they do more often than not. This is due to their black backs, heads and sides. Underwater, the puffin also has an advantage. The underwater predators are fooled by the puffin’s white bellies mistaking them for glimpses of the sun.

I found yet another free Puffin Game online, Prodly the Puffin. It is not a graphics based game. It is a text adventure game, a ‘tale of one bravely puffin in search for his pitchfork’. You simply type in what you want to do next and then read what happens… etc. etc. Think about the first computer games—it is like them. It is still fun and cute. Try it here.
PARENTS this game does have weapons — you cannot see them as it is not a graphic-based game but it talks about them.

Another fun puffin game… because puffins are cute. =) It is family-friendly fun! Click on the game if you want it! =)

Here is what the publisher has to say about this game:

Have fun with some auk-cellent birds!

Enjoy fun games and discover fascinating facts about the playful puffin! Spot wild animals on safari, solve jigsaw puzzles, play fun matching games, watch informative video and challenge the multi-level slider puzzle to discover trivia about these unique seabirds. It’s non-stop entertainment for all ages!

Features:

• Multiple levels of difficulty
• 4 entertaining games: Animal Safari, Jigsaw Puzzle, Slider Challenge and Matching Puzzle
• Learn fun facts about puffins from a documentary video and a puffin storybook

You can get the game here.

After my find yesterday in the University of Washington archives—I did a search for more old puffin photographs. I found some! YAY! =) I love history and puffins and puffin history.

A Tufted Puffin guarding its egg at Three Arch Rocks while Finley and Bohlman capture the shot during a 1903 photography trip to the area.¹

Tufted Puffin at Three Arch Rocks -- 1903

Close up shot of a Tufted puffin at Three Arch Rocks, 1903. Hand painted glass slide by Finley and Bohlman.²

Close up shot of a Tufted puffin at Three Arch Rocks, 1903. Hand painted glass slide by Finley and Bohlman.

A hand painted glass slide of Tufted Puffins at Three Arch Rocks in 1903 by Finley and Bohlman.

((http://digitalrepository.fws.gov/u?/nctcdiglib,744))

A hand painted glass slide of Tufted Puffins at Three Arch Rocks in 1903 by Finley and Bohlman.

A hand painted glass slide of a tufted puffin taken by Finley and Bohlman at Three Arch Rocks during a 1903 vist. Three Arch Rocks would later become the west coast first bird refuge in 1907.³

A hand painted glass slide of a tufted puffin taken by Finley and Bohlman at Three Arch Rocks during a 1903 vist. Three Arch Rocks would later become the west coast first bird refuge in 1907.

A hand painted glass slide of a tufted puffin taken by Finley and Bohlman at Three Arch Rocks during a 1903 vist. Three Arch Rocks would later become the west coast first bird refuge in 1907. Under the Model Bird Law Finley was able to end sea bird shooting parties to the area in 1904.⁴

Tufted Puffin 1903 Finley and Bohlman b

A Tufted puffin guarding its egg at Three Arch Rocks, 1903. A hand painted glass slide by Finley and Bohlman. Thier photographs of Three Arch Rocks in 1903 would later help the area become a bird refuge in 1907.⁵

A Tufted puffin guarding its egg at Three Arch Rocks, 1903. A hand painted glass slide by Finley and Bohlman. Thier photographs of Three Arch Rocks in 1903 would later help the area become a bird refuge in 1907.

1. http://digitalrepository.fws.gov/u?/nctcdiglib,829 [↩]
2. http://digitalrepository.fws.gov/u?/nctcdiglib,742 [↩]
3. http://digitalrepository.fws.gov/u?/nctcdiglib,745 [↩]
4. http://digitalrepository.fws.gov/u?/nctcdiglib,746 [↩]
5. http://digitalrepository.fws.gov/u?/nctcdiglib,743 [↩]

While researching the Tufted Puffin I came across these wonderful Tufted Puffin photographs taken on Carroll Island, Washington State in June of 1907. This is an island in Clallam County. These photographs are part of the University of Washington archive. Sources cited below.¹²

1. http://content.lib.washington.edu/u?/wastate,1375 [↩]
2. http://content.lib.washington.edu/u?/wastate,1389 [↩]