Atlantic puffinpuffin
Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Alcidae
Genus: Fratercula
Brisson, 1760
horned puffinSpecies:
Atlantic Puffin, Fratercula arctica
Horned Puffin, Fratercula corniculata
Tufted Puffin, Fratercula cirrhata
tifted puffinCharacteristics:
rapid, whirring wing beat
comes to land only to breed
Food: crustaceans, small fish, worms, and mollusks
The latin name of this bird is fratercula (frater means brother in Latin). As the puffin waddles along on its orange, blue-toed feet, clothed in black-and-white plumage, it looks like a young monk out for a walk. But the large, triangular beak, striped with blue, yellow, and red, reminds one of a clown's false nose; because of the beak the puffin has been called either a sea parrot or the clown of the seas. The bright-colored horny plates of the beak fall off after the mating season. The beak, which was used in mating rituals and battles, is then used just to catch fish.
The nest is a burrow with a small room at the end. Whenever possible, puffins will drive rabbits out of their homes and take them over. The chick is born at the bottom of the hole. When it is six weeks old, the parents go back to sea, where they spend the cold, stormy winter. When the abandoned chick is hungry enough, it comes out of its hole, gets to the water as best it can, and fishes for its food.
