My dearest friends went to the Point Defiance Zoo again today and spent a lot of time with the puffins! They had so much fun. Apparently, the little puffins were very friendly today. One came right up to the barrier, so close they could have picked it up! They did not though because that would set a bad example and could harm the little bird. The puffins at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, Washington are Tufted Puffins. And they are adorable! The gave these pictures and videos to me so I can share with all of you!
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…
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.
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
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.
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.
While researching the Tufted Puffin I came across these wonderful Tufted Puffin photographs taken on Carroll Island, Washington State in June of 1907. This is an island in Clallam County. These photographs are part of the University of Washington archive. Sources cited below.12
This photograph was taken by Chuqui on flickr at the , Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon.
The Rhinoceros Auklet is not very well known but it is considered, by some, to be part of the puffin family. They are debating on whether they should rename it the Rhinoceros Puffin since it is so closely related to the puffin family.
Is a puffin a puffin by any other name?
Apparently. This puffin has many names: Cerorhinca monocerata, the Rhino Auklet, the Horn-billed Puffin or the Unicorn Puffin. (I think I prefer the latter but I’ll try to use all of them to get us accustomed to them all.) This cute little bird gets its name because of the horn-like extension on its beak but they only get this fancy beak when they are ready to breed. And it, like all puffin’s bills, sheds it sheath every year.
The Unicorn Puffin lives in colonies on the ocean shores much like the three other puffins. They prefer the North Pacific Ocean breading all along it from California to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. They can also be found in Japan, North Korea and Sakhalin Island in Asia. They spend their winters in the water and their summers breeding near the water.
They like to eat small fish, krill and squid. According to Wikipedia,
“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.” Interesting swimmer fishing.
The Cerorhincas evolved in the Miocene period, some 23.03 to 5.33 million years ago. That is a long time. This is an old species. There once was at least 3 other varieties of the cerorhincas (the Dubious Auklet — wonder what he was dubious about, perhaps the fishers that made him disappear?, the Cerorhinca minor and the Cerorhinca reai) but they have all disappeared now and only the Rhino Auk are left.
But it still has the other 3 puffins out there. I hope we can ensure they all survive for a very, very, very long time.
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. =)
INTERESTING FACT
It was onced believed that a Puffin was a fish as well as a bird. People thought it was born from rotting piece of wood floating in the sea, instead of hatching out from an egg as we know it does today.
