Beaks, bills, bird noses—whatever you wish to call them—they are important to every bird.¹ They are full of live tissues, regenerating after billing (a puffin’s form of kissing / affection where they rub bills together), bill-wiping (to clean their bills—typically on rocks or hard surfaces), eating, and defending their young.  The tips of bird beaks grow constantly due to continual wear and tear. Some bird’s beaks even grow longer according to the season. The beak of the Puffin is one example of seasonal change. While it does not change in size, it changes in color. Puffins molt the the colorful outer sheath of their bills after breeding (seasonally).  Their beaks brighten or fade in color when the old skin is worn down and the new layers are revealed depending on which season it happens to be. Maybe they do not need the extra attention they receive with their bright colorful beaks after they have wooed their loves and mated for the season. Perhaps it becomes a liability—making them more susceptible to predators.

Nares (nostrils) are often on the upper part of the beak. These can vary depending on the bird and its needs. For example, some birds have a protective flap, the operculum, covering part of the nostrils. This is helpful in keeping debris out.² To each bird their own beak.

Most birds have black beaks and bills. There are some birds who have colorful beaks such as the Common Merganser, the Ruddy Duck or the choughs from the Corvid Family of birds. Besides the Toucan, no other birds compare to the magnificently colorful beaked Puffins.

Beak of the Puffin

References

Podulka, Sandy, Ronald W. Rohrbaugh, Jr., and Rick Bonney, Editors. Handbook of Bird Biology. 2nd edition. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2004.

1. FYI: The visible portion of the bill is called the rhamphotheca. The bill actually does extend inside the face. [↩]
2. Podulka, Sandy, Ronald W. Rohrbaugh, Jr., and Rick Bonney, Editors. Handbook of Bird Biology. 2nd edition. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2004. [↩]

Sharing is Sweet – Puffins in Love

Originally uploaded by idg

Puffin love is enduring and everlasting.

Puffin couple stay together for life. They start having puffin babies (breeding) when they are about five years old. There is no definitive lifespan for the puffin. Some still breed at 10 years old and some have been known to live almost 40 years. So, these couples really are in it for a lifetime.

Puffins share. They share food. They take turns digging and protecting their burrows and they even share the duties of caring for their children. Both the male and the female help to incubate the eggs by taking turns holding them tight under their wing, where there are small patches of bare-skin with lots of blood supply. Once the baby pufflings are born the parents also share the work in feeding them. One keeps it warm and protects and the other collects its food. They do everything together.

When puffins fly out to sea, if they cannot find their mate, they will meet back at the burrow and fly back to sea together to breed. To show affection they often rub their beaks together, commonly known as “billing”. They also have been heard cooing at one another. How cute is that?

Puffins are romantic birds, aren’t they?

Sources:
Angel, Heather. Puffins. New York: Evans Mitchell Books, 2007.

http://www.alaskastock.com/Puffin_Photos.asp

http://www.audubon.org/bird/puffin/puffins.html