Hey ! Yo ! Viella Lreuvar is back .
Now i wanna share some information about ....ATLANTIC
PUFFIN
one of the CUTE animal in this world .
cc : wikipedia
The Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) is a seabird species in the auk family. It is a pelagic bird that feeds primarily by diving for fish, but also
eats other sea creatures, such as squid and crustaceans. Its most
obvious characteristic during the breeding season is its brightly coloured
bill. Also known as the Common Puffin, it is the only puffin species which is found in the Atlantic Ocean. The
curious appearance of the bird, with its large colourful bill and its striking
piebald plumage, has given rise to nicknames such as '"clown of the
ocean" and "sea parrot". The Atlantic Puffin is the provincial
bird for the Canadian province of Newfoundland and
Labrador.
Description :
The Atlantic Puffin is
26–29 centimetres (10–11 in) in length (bill 3–4 cm),
with a 47–63 centimetres (19–25 in) wingspan. The male is generally
slightly larger than the female, but they are coloured alike. This bird is
mainly black above and white below, with grey to white cheeks and red-orange
legs. The bill is large and triangular and during the breeding season is bright
orange with a patch of blue bordered by yellow at the rear.The characteristic
bright orange bill plates grow before the breeding season and are shed after
breeding. The bills are used in courtship rituals, such as the pair tapping
their bills together.During flight, it appears to have grey round underwings
and a white body; it has a direct flight low over the water. The related Horned Puffin (Fratercula
corniculata) from the North Pacific looks very similar
but has slightly different head ornaments.
The Atlantic Puffin is
typically silent at sea, except for soft purring sounds it sometimes makes in
flight. At the breeding colonies, its
commonest call is a trisyllabic kaa-aar-aar, while the birds make a
short growl when startled.
Distribution and ecology
This species breeds on the
coasts of northern Europe, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and eastern North America, from well within the Arctic Circle to northern France and Maine. The winter months are
spent at sea far from land - in Europe as far south as the Mediterranean, and
in North America to North Carolina.
About 95% of the Atlantic
puffins in North America breed around Newfoundland's coastlines. The largest
puffin colony in the western Atlantic (estimated at more than 260,000 pairs)
can be found at the Witless Bay
Ecological Reserve, south of St. John's,
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Puffin viewing has also
started to become popular in Elliston Newfoundland, previously named Bird
Island Cove, located near Trinity. Here, puffins have been known to be tame
enough to get even 2 or 3 feet away from them.
Predators of the Atlantic
Puffin include the Great Black-backed
Gull (Larus marinus), the Great Skua (Stercorarius skua),
and similar-sized species, which can catch a puffin in flight, or pick off one
separated from the colony. Smaller gull species like the Herring Gull (L.
argentatus) which are hardly able to bring down a healthy adult puffin,
take eggs or recently hatched chicks, and will also steal fish.
Reproduction
The Atlantic Puffin is sexually
mature at the age of 4–5 years; the species is monogamous and gives biparental care. They are colonial nesters,
excavating burrows on grassy cliffs – they will also nest amongst rocks
and scree. The species can face competition from other burrow nesting animals
such as Rabbits, Manx Shearwaters and occasionally Razorbills. Male
puffins perform most of the work of excavating or clearing out the nest area,
which is sometimes lined with plants, feathers or seaweed. The only time spent
on land is to nest; mates are found prior to arriving at the colonies, and
mating takes place at sea. The breeding season for Atlantic puffins is normally
in the summer, with eggs laid in June and July.
A single-egg clutch is
produced each year, and incubation responsibilities are shared between both
parents. Total incubation time is around 39–45 days, and the chick takes about
49 days to fledge. At fledging, the chick leaves the burrow unaccompanied,
usually during the evening, and flies or swims out to sea. Contrary to popular
belief, young puffins are not abandoned by their parents (although this does
occur in some other seabirds, such as shearwaters). Synchronous laying of eggs
is found in Atlantic Puffins in adjacent burrows.
The eyes and beak of the
male have a special appearance, acquired in the spring, during the breeding
season. At the close of the breeding season, these special coatings and
appendages drop off in a molt.
This some
pictures from Atlantic puffin :
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