Interesting…how they fly and swim and sometimes both. =) Walking on water…

Shetland Postcards, originally uploaded by duncan.

How lovely…what a great picture? What bird is better to cover a postcard?

Puffin Fun, originally uploaded by saknicole.

Caption reads:

They had these funny stuffed animals all over down town Anchorage, and what can I say. “I am wild about Anchorage!”

How fun is this? A puffin golf club cover or officially, “Daphne’s Puffin Headcovers”! Well, I would so buy them for my favorite golfer but I think he’d protest just a bit.

TNCWC79., originally uploaded by stonefaction.

Caption reads:

A baby Puffin about to be released into the outer Firth of Forth between the Isle of May and Anstruther. The bird was attempting to reach the water in the dark last night and got disorientated. The SNH folk on the island rescued it from being predated by the resident gulls and released it from the May Princess.

Would you have imagined there was violence amongst puffins? I wouldn’t! But that is exactly what was happening in a puffin colony in Scotland. A puffin now dubbed, ‘Asbo’ was caught on camera attacking a puffling for no apparent reason. He would go in and peck and kick at the little baby puffin.

It lends to the argument that social systems within the animal kingdom are much more complex than we can really fathom. Perhaps that baby was born of another male puffin, an old flame? Who knows what the real reason is for this puffin bully but I am glad to read that the puffling is ok and will most likely survive.

You can read the original story here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-10884574

Guillemot at Fowlsheugh, originally uploaded by ShaunW (shandys_preston).

Caption reads:

This shot was taken at the RSPB seabird colony at Fowlsheugh which is a few miles south of Dunnotar castle.

The Common Guillemot or Common Murre (Uria aalge) is a large auk. It is also known as the Thin-billed Murre in North America. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring in low-Arctic and boreal waters in the North-Atlantic and North Pacific. It spends most of its time at sea, only coming to land to breed on rocky cliff shores or islands.

Common Guillemots have fast direct flight but are not very agile. They are more manoeuvrable underwater, typically diving to depths of 30–60 m (100–200 ft), and depths of up to 180 m (600 ft) have been recorded.

Farne Island: Puffins, originally uploaded by –CWH–.

The caption reads:

Text taken from Scotsih tourist board website:
An unmistakable seabird with its black back and white underparts, and distinctive black head with large pale cheeks and a tall, flattened, brightly-coloured bill. Its comical appearance is heightened by its red and black eye-markings and bright orange legs. Used as a symbol for books and other items, this clown among seabirds is one of the world’s favourite birds. Click here to view some facts about puffins.

Breeding
They prefer offshore islands and high seacliffs, and nest in burrows, under boulders or in cracks in cliffs where predators cannot easily reach them. They lay one egg and their young are called pufflings

OCP_9127.jpg, originally uploaded by JC81.

He/she was most likely calling out…

Tufted and Horned, originally uploaded by dcumminsusa.

The caption reads:

I have now seen and photographed 2 of 3 alcids. On the left is the Tufted Puffin and on the right is the Horned Puffin. They swim by moving their wings in a similar manner as they do when they are in flight. They flap their wings up to 400 times per minute so when combined with their stocky bodies it is somewhat comical to see them in flight.

I was fortunate to photograph them during mating season. Why is that? During mating season the beaks and feet become vibrant in color and the tufts grow to full size. The tufts molt off after mating season. The horned puffins retain their horns year round.

The horned puffin population is starting to decline due to rats appearing on the islands where they nest.