Here is a great video of puffins eating at the Seattle Aquarium, it is a free-for-all. They swim so fast underwater!

Tufted Puffins are not found in the UK or possibly the whole of Europe. So imagine the surprise of the British people who saw one off the coast on September 16th at the Oare Marshes reserve in the Swale Estuary near Faversham about 1 1/2 hours east of London.

This little bird, the clown-of-the-sea, is definitely far from home in a place very different from the natural habitat of puffins which consists of rocky sea cliffs at the Oare Marshes. His unexpected appearance begs the question, how did the find his way to the UK?

It seems the sighting of the Tufted Puffin is as exciting for the British as it is for us puffin lovers—inspiring people to travel from hours away to see it for the first time in a place it never visits. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for people in the UK.

It reminds me how lucky I am to be living in a state where the Tufted Puffin feels at home, Washington State. But for how much longer? With global warming, natural predators and a lack of funds to really help protect them? I cringe at the thought of losing the Tufted Puffin and revel in the mishap chance of a wayward Tufted Puffin finding its way to the coast of the UK. Maybe he fancied a spot of tea. Maybe he was simply lost at sea.

M Wright (Photo)

Whatever brought the Tufted Puffin to the UK pales in comparison to the joy he will bring to the bird lovers who will visit him while he is there. We should all enjoy the Tufted Puffin while we can—near or far from its home—with its long, fuzzy eyebrows and quirky little walk before he moves on to a different place…due to climate change or worse due to neglect, habitat loss or natural predators.

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…

A friend is visiting New York and she went to the Central Park Zoo where she promptly sent me a photo from her cell phone.

Tufted Puffins at the NYC Central Park Zoo

According to the official Central Park Zoo they have approximately 15 Tufted Puffins at their location. =) YAY for puffins!

For now, here is the general information about the NYC Central Park Zoo in case you wish to visit:

Location: East Side between 63rd and 66th Streets

Detail:
- Hours: April – Oct. Monday – Friday 10 am – 5 pm, Weekends 10 am – 5:30 pm; Nov. – March Daily 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
- Admission to Wildlife Center includes admission to Children’s Zoo: Adults $10.00; Senior Citizens (65+) $7.00; Children 3-12 $5.00; Children under 3, Free
- General Information: 212-439-6500

Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata)

Originally uploaded by ConstantineD

Another fabulous photo of a Tufted Puffin by ConstantineD on flickr.

If you visit the Bandon Dunes along Oregon’s rocky coastline you will see the puffin adorning signs and entrances because puffins once crowded these shore cliffs. For awhile the tufted puffin population suffered and the birds were not as plentiful but as of late the vast numbers of Puffins on the Bandon Dunes have been growing again. This is a good story amongst the many sad ones about puffin populations disappearing, dwindling coast-after-coast.

There are reports of the Tufted Puffin coming in early spring and summer to Coquille Point which stretches the coastline between Sixth Street SW and 11th Street SW in Bandon, Oregon. It is one of the more accessible places to observe wildlife according to Jan Lee. You can part at the west end of 11th Street SW and there you will find a stairway to the beach. Bring binoculars and your camera!

But the puffin fun in Oregon doesn’t stop in Bandon. According to the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex in Oregon puffins can be found in various places along the Oregon coast. This is the paragraph their site had on Tufted Puffins:

Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) – The Tufted Puffin is found along the Pacific coast from Alaska to southern California. They nest along the entire Oregon coast on coastal rocks where soil topped islands exist. Two thirds of the birds in Oregon nest at Three Arch Rocks NWR. Tufted Puffins have the most extensive latitudinal distribution of all the alcids ranging from Japan, through the Aleutian Islands south to Oregon, and southern California. They are colonial nesters although they will nest singly. Tufted Puffins need enough of a slope to give them enough lift to take off into the air from the rock or nest site location. Although they are not the most graceful birds in the air they make up for it under the water where they can truly fly. Their nests are burrows in the soil that can be up to six feet long. The nest itself is at the end of the burrow, usually lined with dry grasses and feathers. In April, laying begins with a clutch of a single egg. Incubation is 44 days by both sexes. Young will fledge at forty-nine days but can leave the burrow before that time. Anchovies, smelt, sand lance, and herring make up most of their diet. The young are fed small fish that are carried in the adults beaks three or four at a time. The Tufted Puffin molts the top layer its colorful beak every summer after chicks have fledged marking the end of the breeding season. Tufted Puffins winter at sea and are rarely seen from land during that time. The Tufted Puffin’s longevity record is six years. A good location for viewing these birds is Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach.

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.

I never would have guessed that the three puffins were so different in size. It helped to see the difference in size—so I decided to make the graphic below so you could see for yourself.

Atlantic Puffins are about 10 to 11 1/2 inches (25-29 cm)

Horned Puffins are bigger by 5 inches — 15 inches tall (38 cm)

And the Tufted Puffins are the biggest puffins at 16 inches tall (44 cm)

Tufted Puffins (IMG_0272)

Originally uploaded by S_w_i_d_e_r_s_k_i

The first of the portly, colorful seagoing birds showed up the first week of April after eight months floating and diving on open seas, said Nala Cardillo, the coordinator of the Haystack Rock Awareness Program.They nest and raise their chicks each spring and summer at Haystack Rock.

read more | digg story

2009 Schedule

Puffin Cruises
Glacier Spirit

Saturdays, 6 to 9 pm

July 11, 18, 25 and August 1 & 8, 2009

Protection Island, at the mouth of Discovery Bay, is a very special; place in the summer. Dry, brown and lonely, it looks like a most inhospitable place. But it is alive with thousands of nesting birds – rhinocerous auklets, glaucous-winged gulls, pigeon guillemots, double-crested and pelagic cormorants, black oystercatchers, and even a few pairs of tufted puffins. It is for a glimpse of the elusive tufted puffin that many visitors make the trip. As every birder knows, no guarantee can be made that they will be sighted on every outing, but chances are very good that they will be spotted especially on the south side of the island. Like rhinocerous auklets, for which Protection Island is the major nesting site, the puffin use burrows in the cliffs and uplands to raise one or sometimes two chicks. The chance to see them carrying many small fish at one time in their bills, or even swimming, flying, or diving, is exciting.

Reservations: Tickets are $55 per person ($50 for PTMSC, Audubon, Burke Museum or Washington Ornithological Society members) and child or group rates may be arranged. Proceeds go to support educational programs at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center.

Protection Island Cruises are offered in collaboration with Puget Sound Express.
For reservations: (800) 566-3932 ~ (360) 385-5582 ~ e-mail: cruises@ptmsc.org