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Atlantic Puffins

Atlantic Puffins . Classification. Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriformes Family: Alcidae Genus: Fratercula. Habitat.

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Atlantic Puffins

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  1. Atlantic Puffins

  2. Classification • Kingdom: Animalia • Phylum: Chordata • Class: Aves • Order: Charadriformes • Family: Alcidae • Genus: Fratercula

  3. Habitat • Puffins land on North Atlantic seacoasts and islands to form breeding colonies each spring and summer. Iceland is the breeding home of over 60 percent of the world's Atlantic puffins.

  4. Atlantic Puffin Distribution For most of the year, Atlantic puffins live on the open ocean, with a range spanning from the eastern coast of Canada and the northern United States to the western coast of Europe and northern Russia.

  5. What do they eat? • Puffins mainly eat small fish including sand eels, herring, hake, and capelin. • During the winter puffins also eat crustaceans, although they prefer to eat fish.

  6. Life Statistics • Average lifespan in the wild: 20 years or more • Size: 12.5 inches • Weight: 13 ounces • Has nicknames such as “sea parrot” or “sea clown” because of their colorful beaks

  7. Sea Parrot • In the winter, their beaks fade to gray and blooms with color again in the spring. • This is a way they attract potential mates during mating season.

  8. Breeding • Puffins nest underground. They generally arrive at breeding colonies in May but arrive later in northern areas due to the lateness of spring. • The toes of their webbed feet have sharp claws that are used to scratch out burrows 3 to 4 feet deep into the steep hillsides of their nesting areas. At rockier sites where soil is nonexistent, puffins nest in rocky slopes or cliff faces. • Puffins lay their eggs and each parent takes turns incubating the eggs for 42-47 days.

  9. The chick is hatched in July or early August, and for the next 45-55 days until it is fledged, it remains in the burrow while its parents take turns feeding it and standing watch. • After five days the chick can keep itself warm and both adults leave to gather food for the chick. • Young puffins remain on the open sea during the summer of their first year. When they are 2 years old they visit the colony during the summer.

  10. Characteristics • Puffins are stocky, short-winged and short-tailed birds, with black upperparts and white or brownish-grey under parts. • The head has a black cap, the face is mainly white, and the feet are orange-red. The bill appears large and colorful during the breeding season. The colorful outer part of the bill is shed after the breeding season, revealing a smaller and duller true bill beneath.

  11. Flying and Swimming • A puffin can dive for up to a minute but most dives usually last 20 to 30 seconds. While underwater, the puffin swims by using its wings to push it along under the water almost as if it were flying, while using its feet as a rudder. • They can fly 48 to 55 mph. It beats its wings rapidly to achieve this speed reaching up to 400 beats a minute.

  12. Endangered? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5O5ofHrXXk&feature=fvsr

  13. Types of Puffins • Atlantic Puffin 29 cm (10 in) in length 53 cm (21 in) wingspan weight 380 g (13 oz) • Tufted Puffin 38 cm (15 in) in length 63.5 cm (25 in) wingspan weight 780 g (1.7 lb) • Horned Puffin 38 cm (15 in) in length 63.5 cm (25 in) wingspan weight 780 g (1.7 lb)

  14. Bibliography • The Atlantic Puffin. (n.d.). Wildlife Britain - Guide to British / UK Wildlife & Conservation. Retrieved December 3, 2009, from http://www.wildlifebritain.com/puffins.php • Taylor, K. (1999). Puffins (Worldlife Library). Stillwater: Voyageur Press. • Maine Birding. (n.d.). Atlantic Puffins. Retrieved December 8, 2009, from www.mainebirding.net/puffin/ • Kress, S. W. (1999). Project Puffin: How We Brought Puffins Back to Egg Rock. Gardiner: Tilbury House Publishers. • Atlantic Puffins, Atlantic Puffin Pictures, Atlantic Puffin Facts - National Geographic. (n.d.). Animals, Animal Pictures, Wild Animal Facts - National Geographic. Retrieved December 2, 2009, from http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/atlantic-puffin.html • Atlantic Puffins - Common Puffin - Auks - Birds. (n.d.). Animals-Wildlife-Atlantic Puffins. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from http://www.animalfactguide.com/animalfacts/atlantic-puffin/ • Atlantic Puffin, Identification, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology . (n.d.). All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology . Retrieved December 2, 2009, from http://www.allaboutbirds.org/gude/atlantic_puffin/id • Martin, L. (1976). Puffin, bird of the open seas. New York, N.Y.: Morrow.

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