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

Predators are a natural part of life. And while uber adorable puffins also have predators. Each puffin has its own set of predators.

What are the puffin predators? What preys on Puffins?

Predators of the Atlantic puffin include people; gulls and skuas including the Great Black-backed Gull, the Great Skua, the Herring Gull amongst others; rats; cats; dogs; and foxes. Puffins are also vulnerable to pollution, fishing nets, declining fish populations, and global warming.

Predators of the Tufted Puffins include people, unfortunately. Tufted Puffins have three major predators the Snowy Owl, Bald Eagles and Arctic Foxes. They are also vulnerable due to decreasing fish population, ocean pollution and oil spills.

Predators of the Horned Puffin include people as well. Horned Puffins also are preyed upon by gulls, foxes, larger predatory birds and rats. Traffic, oil spills, ocean pollution, over-fishing and the resulting declining fish population as well as global warming are also affecting their survival rate.

Puffins do have some unique abilities to protect themselves from predators. Their bill is very hard and colorful to warn other animals of the pain it can cause. For predators flying above puffins blend into the water while swimming which they do more often than not. This is due to their black backs, heads and sides. Underwater, the puffin also has an advantage. The underwater predators are fooled by the puffin’s white bellies mistaking them for glimpses of the sun.

After my find yesterday in the University of Washington archives—I did a search for more old puffin photographs. I found some! YAY! =) I love history and puffins and puffin history.

A Tufted Puffin guarding its egg at Three Arch Rocks while Finley and Bohlman capture the shot during a 1903 photography trip to the area.¹

Tufted Puffin at Three Arch Rocks -- 1903

Close up shot of a Tufted puffin at Three Arch Rocks, 1903. Hand painted glass slide by Finley and Bohlman.²

Close up shot of a Tufted puffin at Three Arch Rocks, 1903. Hand painted glass slide by Finley and Bohlman.

A hand painted glass slide of Tufted Puffins at Three Arch Rocks in 1903 by Finley and Bohlman.

((http://digitalrepository.fws.gov/u?/nctcdiglib,744))

A hand painted glass slide of Tufted Puffins at Three Arch Rocks in 1903 by Finley and Bohlman.

A hand painted glass slide of a tufted puffin taken by Finley and Bohlman at Three Arch Rocks during a 1903 vist. Three Arch Rocks would later become the west coast first bird refuge in 1907.³

A hand painted glass slide of a tufted puffin taken by Finley and Bohlman at Three Arch Rocks during a 1903 vist. Three Arch Rocks would later become the west coast first bird refuge in 1907.

A hand painted glass slide of a tufted puffin taken by Finley and Bohlman at Three Arch Rocks during a 1903 vist. Three Arch Rocks would later become the west coast first bird refuge in 1907. Under the Model Bird Law Finley was able to end sea bird shooting parties to the area in 1904.⁴

Tufted Puffin 1903 Finley and Bohlman b

A Tufted puffin guarding its egg at Three Arch Rocks, 1903. A hand painted glass slide by Finley and Bohlman. Thier photographs of Three Arch Rocks in 1903 would later help the area become a bird refuge in 1907.⁵

A Tufted puffin guarding its egg at Three Arch Rocks, 1903. A hand painted glass slide by Finley and Bohlman. Thier photographs of Three Arch Rocks in 1903 would later help the area become a bird refuge in 1907.

1. http://digitalrepository.fws.gov/u?/nctcdiglib,829 [↩]
2. http://digitalrepository.fws.gov/u?/nctcdiglib,742 [↩]
3. http://digitalrepository.fws.gov/u?/nctcdiglib,745 [↩]
4. http://digitalrepository.fws.gov/u?/nctcdiglib,746 [↩]
5. http://digitalrepository.fws.gov/u?/nctcdiglib,743 [↩]

Tufted Puffin

Originally uploaded by ap.

The Tufted Puffin has the long eyebrows (really they are feathers but they look like long eyebrows or a slick hairdo). It is found on the West coast of the U.S. and Canada, from California up to B.C. up to Alaska. It can also be found in the Aleutian Islands, Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and throughout the Sea of Okhotsk.

You can tell the Tufted Puffin from other puffins not only by the long feathers on its head but also by its dark belly.

This is a beautiful bird and happens to live off the coast of my state. However, going to see them is no easy task. They are well protected. This is a good thing for them. =)

This is an excellent blog article all about puffins. It goes into detail about each of the four in this family. It has pictures, information and explanations on how we must work together to save these (and all) birds.

read more | digg story

While doing a search on google for puffins, I came across “The Puffin Lady“! How fun! She loves puffins and has been collecting puffin stuff for over 27 years. Her site has pictures of her puffin-stuff, her holding puffins, and various sites. She was the reason I started to paint the puffin today. I wanted to make a graphic for her and got carried away.

Here is the graphic:

If you would like to go see her page, please follow the link in the right column or above.

I am working on a puffin finder page. I should be finished within the week. It will have both the natural habitats and the zoos, sanctuaries, aquariums etc. where you can find puffins.

YAY!!! If you know of a place that is NOT listed that has puffins, please email me.

Thank you and enjoy.