We have now added a Teacher Resource Page with worksheets you can print out and use in your classrooms. We intend on updating this often. Please let us know what you think by contacting us below.
CLICK HERE to visit the new Teacher Resource Page
A group of puffins is called a gathering.
Here are some past covers of the Puffin Post, a magazine for children.
I gathered some songs about puffins and puffin sounds to share with you. If you want to listen to them—Look to the right and find the small black music player. Simply click play in the middle and enjoy. If you know other puffin songs you’d like to share, please contact me (below).
In case you would like to get these puffin songs / sounds for yourself I have included a play list below with links to the songs. =)
Title: The Puffin
Artist: Terri Thurman Finck
Title: A Puffin
Artist: Port O’Brien
Title: The Puffin
Artist: Hank Davis
Title: Puffin
Artist: John Neville
Title: Lulie the Iceberg/”The clown-faced Puffins had a ride…”
Artist: Yo-Yo Ma; Paul Winter; Pamela Frank; SamWaterston; Derrick Inouye
I couldn’t find the following song but here are the lyrics.
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.
You can see Puffins at Skomer Island in Wales. There you will spot guillemots, razorbills and puffins and if you visit in May could catch a glimpse of hatching puffin chicks on a carpet of indigo bluebells. Walk to the rocks at Garland Stone and hang out with the Atlantic grey seals or take a closer look at the nesting seabirds at The Wick.
Researchers were shocked when they counted breeding tufted puffins along the Oregon coast last summer. The numbers showed the charismatic seabird with the comical mask had become alarmingly scarce. From 6,560 tufted puffins in 1979 to a rough count of 142 found on Oregon’s cliffsides and rock islands last year.
While the Tufted Puffin is not considered endangered by the officials, I would say going from 6,560 to 142 is in fact endangered. We are decimating our bird populations all over the world. When will we start to take the necessary steps to protect the other species on this planet? It makes me sad to think we might lose the Tufted Puffin, or any bird really.
Here are some of the small things recommended for us to do on a personal level:
If we want to protect the birds around us and preserve their future, we need to begin to conduct our lives with consciousness about how our actions affect the world around us—not only the people, but the wildlife, the air, the water, and the land. Below are a few things you can do to help ensure healthy bird populations for future generations.
Drink shade-grown coffee. Coffee produced from shade-loving varieties means wintering habitat can be preserved for key migrant species such as the Cerulean Warbler. Many coffee companies now provide a range of coffee products that are shade-grown and friendly for birds. Ask your local grocery or coffee shop to stock a shade-grown alternative.
Reduce your use of pesticides. Not only can they be toxic to birds, but they kill the insects that birds eat. Weed instead of spraying! If you must use pesticides, look for biopesticide alternatives. Prevent pests from entering your home by replacing worn weather stripping and screens, and filling in gaps in floors and around windows and plumbing fixtures.
Keep your cat indoors. Even well-fed, cats kill birds. Keep cats inside. Not only will the birds be safer, your cat will be healthier and safer, too.
Plan your yard for diversity. Instead of a lawn with no benefit to wildlife, plant a mixture of native grasses, flowers, and shrubs. Use native species—birds like these best and they are best adapted to where you live. Your state or local native
plant society can help you choose species that will work best for you.
Prevent window strikes. Hundreds of millions of birds die each year as a result of hitting windows on every type of building. To reduce night lighting that interferes with migration, ask your office or apartment building manager to turn off exterior and interior lights during spring and fall migration. Place bird feeders within three feet of your windows. Break up the reflections of habitat in your windows by covering the outside of them with taut screens or window film.
Donate your old binoculars to conservation. If you have any old birding equipment just lying around, not being used, you can help our long-distance migrants and rare Latin American endemics by donating your old gear to biologists across the hemisphere through the Birders Exchange program or the Optics for Tropics program.
Reduce your carbon footprint. Do your part to help reduce our reliance on fossil fuels that cause global warming. Use an electric lawnmower; carpool, bicycle, or use public transport when possible; turn off lights when not in use; use low energy bulbs and Energy Star-rated appliances; call your power company and ask if you can buy your energy from renewable sources. Help organizations purchase conservation areas and forests that provide valuable habitat for birds, and helps lower atmospheric CO² levels.
Take action for birds and familiarize yourself with contemporary bird conservation issues. Knowing the issues will help you let your elected officials know which policy and programs can help bird conservation.
Participate in volunteer monitoring activities that help to document the status and trends of bird populations. There are many opportunities in this area, depending on your level of interest, ability to commit time, and level of expertise in bird identification.
Join a bird conservation organization. As individuals, there is only so much we can do for birds. But as a part of an organization with the expertise, broad reach, and partnership capacity of organization, you can make a difference for wild birds and their habitats locally, nationally, and internationally.
Source: http://www.stateofthebirds.org/home-page-documents/what-you-can-do-to-help-birds
Another puffin game… Puffin Putt — you play 18 holes of online golf through manicured grass and sand–all as a cute little puffin. Its pretty fun. Here are some screenshots:
Screenshot -- Puffin Putt Online Game
Ok, not bad…
Puffin Putt Online Game
Click HERE to play the Puffin Putt Game online.
The Rhinoceros Auklet, Cerorhinca monocerata, is a seabird considered, despite its name, a close relative of the puffins. It is the only living species of the genus Cerorhinca. Given its close relationship with the puffins the common name Rhinoceros Puffin has been proposed for the species.
It ranges widely across the North Pacific feeding on small fish and nesting in seabird colonies. Its name is derived from a horn-like extension of the beak. This horn is only present in breeding adults, and like the elaborate sheath on the bill of puffins is shed every year.
The Rhinoceros Auklet (also known as the Rhino Auklet, Horn-billed Puffin, or Unicorn Puffin), is a medium sized auk with a large, strong, orange/brown bill (with the ‘horn’ protruding from it). The plumage is dark on top, paler below, and the breeding adults, both male and females possess white plumes above the eyes and behind the bill. Males are slightly larger than females (about 10% in mass).
The Rhinoceros Auklet is a North Pacific auk that breeds from California (the Channel Islands) to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska in North America; and Hokkaidō and Honshū, Japan, as well as North Korea and Sakhalin Island in Asia. It winters both in offshore and inshore waters, exhibiting some migration.
The Rhinoceros Auklet nests in burrows dug into the soil or in natural caves and cavities between 1 to 5 m deep. It prefers nesting sites on slight inclines to aid take-off (as it is a poor flier). A single egg is incubated by both parents for 45 days, the semiprecocial chick is then fed each night with a bill full of fish (in the manner of puffins) for 50 days. The nocturnal behaviour is believed to be a response to predation and kleptoparasitism by gulls.
At sea Rhinoceros Auklets feed on fish, with some krill and squid taken also. They feed inshore during the breeding season in the midwater. To catch their prey, they dive to as deep as 57 meters (187 ft) for as long as 148 seconds.
Evolution and prehistoric species
The genus Cerorhinca evolved in the North Pacific, apparently in the mid-late Miocene. Although today only one species remains, it used to be much more diverse, both in number of species and in distribution; fossils have been found as far south as Baja California. Known prehistoric species are:
* Dubious Auklet, Cerorhinca dubia (Late Miocene of San Barbara County, USA)
* Cerorhinca minor (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Cedros Island, Mexico)
* Cerorhinca reai (San Diego Late Pliocene, SW USA)
(Above information from Wikipedia)…
If you want to see the Rhinoceros Auklet on webcam, you can see it at the California State Parks website. Click here, then scroll down — on the left side click on “HD Sealcam”. This is a camera set up to record the nighttime species. The Auklet takes care of its young and eggs at night. They burrow at night. =)
Puffins were made the official bird of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1992.
© 2012 Puffinpalooza - Entries (RSS) - Comments (RSS) - Log in
Powered by WordPress
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
