Birds that navigate both the sky and the sea are remarkable. They can propel themselves gracefully through the air, then plunge into the ocean and “fly” just as effectively underwater. This dual mastery showcases highly specialized avian adaptations.
Meet the Atlantic Puffin
This extraordinary bird is the Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica). It is a stout seabird, approximately 28 to 30 centimeters (11 to 12 inches) long with a wingspan of 47 to 63 centimeters (19 to 25 inches). During the breeding season, its appearance is striking, featuring a large, boldly colored beak with vibrant red, yellow, and black markings. These contrast with its black upperparts and white underparts. Its face is grayish-white, and it has bright orange webbed feet, earning it nicknames like “sea parrot” or “clown of the sea”.
Ingenious Adaptations for Dual Flight
Atlantic Puffins “fly” efficiently in both air and water due to specific anatomical features. Its short, strong wings, while appearing small for aerial flight, are powerfully built for rapid propulsion. In the air, puffins beat their wings at an astonishing rate, 300 to 400 times per minute, to stay airborne and can reach speeds of up to 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour). Underwater, these same wings function like flippers, enabling the bird to push through dense water with a flying motion.
Their bones are relatively dense, contributing to less buoyancy underwater, aiding in diving. The puffin’s dense, waterproof plumage, coated with oil from a preen gland, is crucial for insulation and streamlining. This feather structure traps air, providing an insulating layer that helps maintain body heat in cold ocean waters and assists with buoyancy control. Their webbed feet, positioned far back, act as rudders for steering and maneuvering while submerged.
Life in the North Atlantic
Atlantic Puffins primarily inhabit the colder waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, with breeding colonies on coastal cliffs and remote islands across northwest Europe, Iceland, Greenland, and eastern North America. Outside the breeding season, they spend most of their time on the open ocean, leading solitary lives. They return to land only to breed, often in the same colonies and burrows year after year.
During the breeding season, puffins form large, social colonies, digging burrows in grassy slopes or utilizing rock crevices for nesting. They lay a single egg; both parents share incubation and feeding the chick. Their diet consists primarily of small fish, such as sand eels, herring, capelin, and hake, caught during underwater foraging dives. A unique feature is their ability to hold multiple small fish crosswise in their beak, aided by backward-pointing spines on their tongue and roof of their mouth.
Conservation Status
Despite widespread distribution, the Atlantic Puffin population has declined rapidly in some areas. In 2015, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) upgraded its status from “least concern” to “vulnerable” due to significant population decrease, particularly in its European range. The global population in 2018 was estimated at 12–14 million adult individuals, but the European population decreased by 68% over 50 years.
Several factors contribute to these challenges. Climate change is a primary concern, as warming ocean waters impact main food source availability, like sand eels, leading to food shortages for chicks. Other threats include overfishing, which competes for food resources, and plastic pollution, with puffins sometimes feeding plastic debris to their young. Oil spills also pose a danger, as exposure can contaminate plumage and affect their ability to fly and regulate body temperature. Conservation efforts include establishing protected sanctuaries, monitoring populations, and initiatives like Project Puffin, which aims to restore colonies.