Technology may help save the puffins of Farne Isles. We must first understand the puffins and their habits completely before we can help rectify the strains that are leading to decling numbers. This is exactly what they are doing at the National Trust Farnes Isles. Led by Dr Richard Bevan from Newcastle University researchers used up-to-date GPS Logging equipment to track 12 birds,¹

“…birds to follow their fishing expeditions out from the islands and back. Results reveal that they now appear to be travelling about 20 miles out from the islands – whereas they were previously thought to head anything up to 60 miles away.”

This information is vital to scientist and researchers in helping preserve the much-needed feeding areas and helping puffin populations thrive.

1. http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/press/feeding-flight-paths,1377651.html [↩]

According to the 2010 State of the Birds:

Oceanic birds are among the most vulnerable species because they don’t raise many young each year; they face challenges from a rapidly changing marine ecosystem; and they nest on islands that may be flooded as sea levels rise. All 67 oceanic bird species, such as petrels and albatrosses, are among the most vulnerable birds on Earth to climate change.

Puffins are at risk because they are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Read more on their website.

Talking to the Zookeepers pays off!! Next time you visit a zoo—say hello and don’t be afraid to ask questions!

Tufted puffin couple at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, WA

Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium currently has 20 tufted puffins in its exhibit, 9 males and 11 females. The tufted puffins range in age from 1 to 31. They currently have the oldest living puffin in captivity at 31 years of age!! He is only 3 years younger than me! =) Not only is he the oldest living puffin in captivity but tufted puffins are thought to only be capable of producing and raising chicks until their mid-twenties but this 31-year-old tufted puffin is a proud papa this year! The Pt. Defiance Zoo and Aquarium also has the oldest living female in captivity at 27 years old. And if all this isn’t enough to make you get excited they also have 3 tufted puffin pairs that they believe are raising chicks this year. I wrote ‘they believe’ because the zookeepers try to let the tufted puffins raise the chicks as naturally as possible so the zookeepers do not check on their progress. They wait and are surprised by the little ones in the exhibit. How fun is that?!?

This is one of the tufted puffin mothers who had a chick this year

The youngest tufted puffin chick at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium as of August 2009!

The Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium is currently in the middle of some intensive training with their puffins as well. In the past year they have been training them to eat from the zookeepers’ hands so that they can better deliver any vitamins and medications the puffins may need. The training has been extremely successful so far. Part of this training for the last 6 months included working on scale training the puffins (training the puffins to step on a scale in order to get more frequent weights) instead of having to catch the puffins and hold them to get their weight. Catching them is extremely stressful for the puffins and so the the new weighing techniques has been very effective for both the zookeepers and the puffins. The Pt. Defiance Zoo now has weights on all birds except for about 4.

It is amazing what some hard work can produce! These quirky adorable little birds are definitely smarter than the zookeepers realized. I, for one, am looking forward to discovering more about the little pufflings and the progress of the training at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium!

For more information on the puffin exhibit (within the Rocky Shores exhibit) at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium—you can visit them online at their official website or in person at:

Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium
5400 N Pearl St # D Ruston, WA 98407-3296
(253) 591-5337

What are the hours and days of operation to see the puffins at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium? The zoo is open from 9:30-6:00 until September 7. After that the zoo is open from 9:30-5:00. The birds can be viewed any time during those hours, their exhibit is never closed.

When are the best times to go to see the puffins at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium if you have questions?
They feed their puffins 3 times a day during breeding season, twice a day during non-breeding season. As of right now, they are fed at approximately 8:00, 12:00-1:00, and 3:00-3:30. They will discontinue the last feeding during non-breeding season. This isn’t really definitive, but there is not a set schedule to when they feed their animals but this is a good guess. I will update you when I find out more…

Scientists are worried that puffins are getting underweight and dying because they haven’t got enough fish to eat in the North Sea.

The Firth of Forth in Scotland is home to one of the UK’s largest puffin colonies.

But experts who’ve been counting the seabirds there say their numbers have fallen by about a third in five years.

They think climate change could be to blame for the birds not having enough to eat.

Read more…

((Original Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7430000/newsid_7434900/7434966.stm))

An Atlantic puffin on Maine's on Eastern Egg Rock appears to imitate a decoy on July 9 by standing on one leg. Decoys were used to lure the gregarious birds ashore after they were re-introduced to the island following a 100-year absence. Photo by Robert F. Bukaty / AP

Hunted to extinction in state, they’re thriving thanks to human help Puffins, which resemble half-pint penguins except that they can fly, were heavily hunted along the Maine coast for their meat and feathers, and by 1901 only one pair remained, researchers said. Puffins are often confused with penguins. They have similar colors, and both swim under water using their wings as fins, but they are not related and live at opposite polar ends of the world.

In 1973, with backing from the National Audubon Society and help from the Canadian Wildlife Service, Kress began transplanting 2-week-old puffin chicks from Great Island off Newfoundland, 1,000 miles to the northeast.

These days there are 90 nesting pairs on Eastern Egg, among more than 700 nesting pairs on four Maine islands, Kress said.

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This is the story of a professor who went to visit the Tatoosh Island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca off the coast of Washington State. Here lives the tufted puffin. Read his story, see his photographs… you won’t be sorry you did.

Click here to read on.