Atlantic Puffin

Fratercula arcticaOrder: CHARADRIIFORMES Family: Auks, Murres and Puffins (Alcidae)

Codes: Common Name: ATPU Scientific Name: FRAARC ITIS Taxonomic No.: 177025

Atlantic Puffin Winter - The winter Atlantic Puffin lacks the eye markings and has a gray face and a duller bill.

Atlantic Puffin Juvenile - The juvenile Atlantic Puffin lacks the eye markings and has a gray face. The bill is much smaller and is dull dark gray and dusky orange.

Atlantic Puffin - The breeding adult Atlantic Puffin has black upperparts, white underparts, white face, and large, parrot-like, orange and gray bill. The eyes are surrounded by orange and black markings.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Atlantic Puffin

Atlantic Puffin: Medium seabird with black upperparts, white underparts, white face, and large, parrot-like, orange and gray bill. Eyes surrounded by orange and black markings; legs and feet are bright orange. The only puffin nesting on the Atlantic Coast. Swift direct flight.

● Song: "arrr-uh"

● Foraging & Feeding: Atlantic Puffin: Eats small fish, mollusks, and crustaceans; forages by diving from the surface and swimming underwater with wings.

● Breeding & nesting: Atlantic Puffin: One white round egg, sometimes with brown or lavender spots, is laid in a nest, usually in a burrow lined with grass, feathers, seaweed, and leaves, and built at top of a cliff or on an island. Incubation ranges from 39 to 45 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Atlantic Puffin: Razorbill has black bill, hood, legs, and feet, lacks black collar, and has white trailing edge on wings.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats, often close to water.

● Range & Habitat: Atlantic Puffin: Occurs in and around the north Atlantic. Disperse in winter over open ocean, reaching as far south as the Azores and Canary Islands. During summer, frequents rocky cliffs of the north Atlantic and northern Europe.

^BreedingMonogamous, Colonial

^PopulationCommon but local

^MigrationNonmigratory

^Weight13.4 Ounces

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Atlantic Puffin

Atlantic Puffin

Flight Pattern