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.

puffin chick

Originally uploaded by >*Jan*<

What an adorable picture! Doesn’t the mama or papa look like they are ready to pounce on the photographer? Protective parent! This little puffling is loved.

Here is what the caption reads:

This rather punky looking bird is a baby puffin. They are rarely seen as they live in the burrow and then shortly before flying out to sea they can be seen flapping furiously, stretching their wings before the first testing flight off the cliff.
I was so pleased to see this

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.

Here are some photos of puffin eggs.

Horned Puffin Egg

Atlantic Puffin Egg

Female puffins lay one egg and care for and protect it accordingly. If they only have one, it is important to ensure it survives. Both parents incubate the egg by holding it against a brood patch with their wings—one at a time. Once it hatches both parents also care for the young taking turns feeding it and watching it.