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Tufted Puffin

Fratercula cirrhataOrder: CHARADRIIFORMESFamily: Auks, Murres and Puffins (Alcidae)

Tufted Puffin Portrait_2
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General

Tufted Puffin: Medium-sized seabird, black overall except for white face and glossy yellow plumes behind eyes. Bill is large, mostly bright red with yellow and sometimes green markings. Legs and feet are bright orange. Sexes are similar. Winter adult is duller with paler underparts, white eyebrows, no eye plumes, and smaller, dull orange bill with black base. Juvenile is similar to winter adult but has olive-brown bill, dark eye, and white or dark underparts.

Range and Habitat

Tufted Puffin: Breeds from northern Alaska south to northern California and spends winters at sea off breeding grounds; also winters in Asia.

Voice Text

Generally silent

Interesting Facts

  • Tufted Puffins are the size of pigeons, but weigh nearly twice as much.
  • When taking food to their young, they usually hold about 10 fish in their mouths while returning to the nest, but they have been observed carrying up to 60 fish in their bills at one time.
  • They were historically hunted for food. In the past, skins were used to make tough parkas worn feather side in.
  • A group of puffins has many collective nouns, including a "burrow", "circus", "colony", "improbability", and "puffinry" of puffins.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Tufted Puffin
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Family
Species Fratercula cirrhata
Length15.5 Inches
Wingspan23.5 Inches

Tufted Puffin

Tufted Puffin: Medium-sized seabird, black overall except for white face and glossy yellow plumes behind eyes. Large bill, mostly bright red with yellow and sometimes green markings. Legs and feet are bright orange. Feeds on fish, crustaceans, mollusks, squid and algae. Strong direct flight.

● Song: Generally silent

● Foraging & Feeding: Tufted Puffin: Feeds on anchovies, other small fish, squid, octopus, crabs, zooplankton, and jellyfish; forages by diving from the surface, usually far from shore.

● Breeding & nesting: Tufted Puffin: One white or blue egg, often spotted, is laid in a burrow on an island or coastal cliff. Egg is incubated for approximately 41 days by both parents.

● Similar species: Tufted Puffin: Rhinoceros Auklet resembles juvenile, but has much thinner bill.

Flight Pattern

Strong, purposeful direct flight with rapid beats.
Tufted Puffin Body Illustration_2
● Range & Habitat: Tufted Puffin: Breeds from northern Alaska south to northern California and spends winters at sea off breeding grounds; also winters in Asia.
BreedingMonogamous, Colonial
PopulationCommon to abundant
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight27.2 Ounces