This is a hatched puffin egg. The beauty of it is mostly in tact. A beautiful speckled puffin egg:

(Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28190483@N07/3650595298/)

Both parents take care of the puffin eggs. The male puffins build a nest for the female. Then the female lays generally 1-5 eggs. Puffin parents are very protective guarding their puffin eggs diligently until they hatch approximately 40-43 days later.

I wrote about Nintendo’s Puffins Island Adventure awhile back and linked to a pretty thorough review. Now I’ve found three Nintendo DSi Mini-Games you can download that are in addition to the Puffins Island Adventure…

Screenshots from all three mini games

Puffins: Let’s Fish

Chomp your way to victory in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean! Dive into the deep blue sea and load up your beak with delicious fish, but watch out! The ocean can be a dangerous place and you’re not the only one hunting for food. Sharks, jellyfish and other fearsome sea creatures are just waiting to take a chomp out of you. Avoid the predators and use a “Quick Catch” to gulp as many fish as you can while you explore sunken ships and underwater tunnels in this fast paced, old school arcade-style action game. It’s an All-You-Can-Eat feast in two different exciting gameplay modes across 18 underwater stages. So take a deep breath, jump in and come up with a full belly, but remember to look out for those sharks!¹

Puffins: Let’s Roll

Baby Puffins need your help! They’re just about to hatch from their eggs, but the eggs have been misplaced! Try not to crack up as you reunite the missing Puffin eggs with their mothers using our innovative new control scheme to roll the eggs in two thrilling game modes (Egg Roll and Capelin Catch) over 20 levels of fiendish puzzles. Watch out for rocks, trees, ice and other hazards as you face challenges from all new obstacles never before seen in Puffins: Island Adventure. Don’t take too long or bump into too many obstacles though, or you’ll have a cranky baby Puffin on your hands!²

Puffins: Let’s Race

Get ready to challenge the speediest puffins on the island for the title of Fastest Flyer! Go beak-to-beak with your opponents in a race to the finish line or go solo against the clock. Use strategically placed power-ups like the “Squawk Shot” to get ahead of the pack and win the race. Speed through four different game modes on eight different tracks to prove your flight skill or challenge up to three of your friends in local wireless play. Do you have what it takes to become the race champion of Puffin Island or will you be left behind with the rest of the flock?³

1. http://www.puffinsislandadventure.com/sitemap.php?page=dsigames [↩]
2. http://www.puffinsislandadventure.com/sitemap.php?page=dsigames [↩]
3. http://www.puffinsislandadventure.com/sitemap.php?page=dsigames [↩]

NATIONAL WILDLIFE MAGAZINE Aug/Sep 1994, vol. 32 no. 5 The Puffins Keep Their Secrets By Les Line These small seabirds delight human visitors to rocky islands in north seas, yet remain biological mysteries.

The lore of the Atlantic puffin, a species that ranks among everyone’s favorite seabirds, includes an enduring story about how parent birds starve their single nearly grown chicks until hunger motivates the youngsters to leave the security of clifftop burrows and, in the dark of night, leap to the pounding sea.

A famous Welsh birdman, Ronald Lockley, discovered this behavior in the 1930s while studying puffins on the island of Skokholm off Wales. When matchsticks that he lodged…

Read the rest of this article (IT IS WORTH THE READ REALLY!!!) and more National Wildlife Magazine features online.