Species Fact Profile: Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata)

                                                                      Tufted Puffin

Fratercula cirrhata (Pallas, 1769)

Range: Coastal Northern Pacific Ocean, from Japan through Northeastern Asia to Alaska and Canada

Habitat: Coastlines, Islands

Diet: Primarily fish, also squid, octopus, crabs, jellyfish, sea urchins, and algae

Social Grouping: Large breeding colonies 

Reproduction:  Breed from March through May, forming large colonies.  Nest in burrows on slopes of cliffs.  Single off-white egg with some blue or brown markings incubated by both parents for 40-53 days.  Chicks remain in burrow until they fledge at 45-55 days, then head out to sea.  Sexually mature at 3-4 years old.

Lifespan: 20 Years

      Conservation Status: IUCN Least Concern

•       Largest of the puffins.  Body length 36-40 centimeters; wingspan about the same.  Weight 520-1000 grams.  Birds in the western Pacific tend to be large from birds in the east.  Males tend to be slightly larger than females
• A stocky, large-headed seabird.  Adult breeding plumage is primarily black except for the face, which is white, and the long blonde plumes that curl over the head down the neck (sometimes called the crested puffin).  The large bill is red and orange with a bright yellow plate at the base, the feet and legs are bright red.  Non-breeding adults and juveniles have a gray face, no head plumes, and no bill plate, duller feet.  Eyes are yellow in adults, dusky in juveniles
• Feed by flying low over the water then diving after prey, swimming underwater using their wings.  They use their tongues to hold fish against the spiny palates of their mouths, which enables them to hold up to 60 (but usually 10) fish in their bills at a time, helpful for bringing food back to the young.  They are capable of staying underwater for up to 30 seconds
• Sometimes has difficulty taking flight from the water, must thrash along the surface to get airborne.   Incapable of gliding.  Breast muscles are rich in myoglobin, which allows them to beat their wings for long periods of time.  When nesting, seems to prefer higher sites which make it easier to get airborne.
• Predators include sharks, arctic foxes, and raptors, such as bald eagles and snowy owls, as well as gulls and ravens.  Puffins try to select for nest sites that are inaccessible to terrestrial predators.    Rats and foxes have been introduced to some islands where they nest.
•       Latin name: Fratercula comes from the medieval Latin for “Friar” (the plumage was thought to resemble monastic robes), the species name is Latin for “curly-headed,” referencing the tufts
•       Historically (and to a lesser extent still) puffins were hunted for food, as well as for their skins, which can be used to make parkas.  Today, puffin colonies are popular tourist destinations
•       Major threat to some colonies was drift-netting, which killed large numbers of birds.  Use of the drift-nets on the high seas has largely ended, but some are still used in coastal areas, impacting puffin colonies.  Die-offs in some areas have been attributed to ecological changes caused by climate change.  Numbers have declined in some areas due to pollution and a decrease in food supply.  Nesting colonies are easily disturbed and may abandon a site if humans make them feel unsafe