Atlantic Puffin

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Chordate Bibliography

References Amos, Ilona. “Rare Images Show Baby Puffin Taking First Steps Outside in the Scottish Highlands | The Scotsman.” Home | The Scot

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This is our colony :) The one with the red hat is my cousin Todd 🙄We usually hangout on these rocky shores and have our nests in burrows. We mostly keep to ourselves with not very many other species around us maybe some grass and wildflowers but that’s about it ! That’s the end of my posts for this breeding season since I won’t have wifi in the Atlantic Ocean. Bye bye ☺️

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Ugh my mom is trying to give me a history lesson. She keeps saying that we’re the the Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Chordata, Class Aves, Order Charadriiformes, Family Alcidae and Genus Fratercula.

Apparently puffins are a type of Auk, maybe we descend from them 👁👄👁 and since we’re birds we probably came from dinosaurs. Hehe 🦖

She also keeps going on and on about how I need to be careful since it’s hunting season and some humans might catch me while I’m flying since puffins are kinda clumsy out of the water. And that once I have my first chick I should be careful since other birds might come and eat them 🙄

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This is where my friend has her nest during breeding season ! It’s in Newfoundland us puffins are all over the Atlantic coasts. I was just passing by as puffins typically spend their time in the ocean instead of on land when it’s not breeding season. Isn’t the Atlantic Ocean so nice ! Her chick last year was so cute. I’m super excited to meet the one chick that she’ll have this year. See puffins only lay one egg every season so I’m always excited for all the little pufflings.

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Look it’s my parents when they first met ! Aren’t they super cute? They both have short necks, a big head (don’t tell my mom I said that 👁👄👁) and of course that large beak which is super cute ! ☺️ It was breeding season during this picture so my parents have a brighter white face instead of a dark gray and like always they have that nice black and white colouring on their body. My parents have been together since their first mating season since puffins are usually monogamous.

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I was hanging out with my cousin Samantha when she told me that we were the smallest puffin species apparently our third cousins the horned puffin and the tufted puffin are a bit larger than us. We weigh an average of 17.5 ounces and are about 10 inches. The horned puffin looks pretty similar to us but they have mostly yellows beaks whilst ours are pretty orange and they have black horn like shaped colouring around the eyes. Then our other cousins really look a lot different from us they have feathers that look like blonde eyebrows. 🐣🐥🐧🐧🌊🌊

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Omg I just found this picture of me and my uncle from when I was a juvenile and he was coming by for a quick visit. My uncle flew and swam all the way over here. Us puffins are much better swimmers than we are flyers. With our webbed orange feet we can steer and spend most of our time in the water except for during breeding season. Although we do use our strong wings to swim most often, we can also fly. To fly we might flap our wings 400 times a minute and can reach speeds of 55 mph.

Can you see my tiny lashes and the beret? 👀 I’ve definitely grown since my juvenile stage. Instead of grey feet, face and beak I’ve got some nice colour now and bigger lashes.

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This is my favourite bubble tea! Instead of pearls I got herring! I would’ve totally loved to have some capelin or cod or even spray but they didn’t have any today 🙃 Oh well I guess I’ll just have to dive for some later. Ugh I hope the ocean is cooperative today so I can just dive down about 200 feet and grab a handful of fish without any issues. Since I have a raspy tongue I can hold about 10- 12 fish in my mouth so I should be able to catch enough to fill me up. ☺️

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Wasn’t I such a cute baby? That’s me and my mom 4 years ago when I just hatched and my mom was 10. She named me Fratercula 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢. But I usually just go by Atlantic Puffin these days. It’s crazy how I’ll probably have my own puffling soon. I mean most puffins start breeding around 3-6 years old. To think I’ve already gone from a little baby puffling to a juvenile and now to an adult. It’s really crazy to think of everything that could happen by the end of my 30 year lifespan. Well happy birthday to me I’m officially four. ✨🎉🛍🎁🎊

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Throwback to the beginning of spring when I got this cute coral orange for my beak! This colour matches the season way better than that grey I had for the winter. 💫🎀💄💋

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Me and my bestie chilling in some Scottish Thrift flowers. We just love to get away from our colony and their nests to have some girl time. Here on the rocky cliff tops of Scotland we have a great view of the ocean and can dive down into the water for fish at anytime. ✨💐🌊🐟