Status and conservation ,
County Kerry, Ireland, a dedicated puffin conservation area The Atlantic puffin has an extensive range that covers over and Europe, which holds more than 90% of the global population, is home to 4,770,000–5,780,000 pairs (equalling 9,550,000–11,600,000 adults). In 2015, the International Union for Conservation of Nature upgraded its status from "least concern" to "vulnerable". This was caused by a review that revealed a rapid and ongoing population decline in its European range. On the island of
Lundy, the number of puffins decreased from 3,500 pairs in 1939 to 10 pairs in 2000. This was mainly due to the rats that had proliferated on the island and were eating eggs and young chicks. Following the elimination of the rats, populations were expected to recover, and in 2005, a juvenile was seen, believed to be the first chick raised on the island for 30 years. In 2018,
BirdLife International reported that the Atlantic puffin was threatened with extinction. Puffin numbers increased considerably in the late 20th century in the North Sea, including on the Isle of May and the
Farne Islands, where numbers increased by about 10% per year. In the 2013 breeding season, nearly 40,000 pairs were recorded on the Farne Islands, a slight increase on the 2008 census and on the previous year's poor season, when some of the burrows flooded. This number is dwarfed by the Icelandic colonies with five million pairs breeding, the Atlantic puffin being the most populous bird on the island. In the
Westman Islands, where about half Iceland's puffins breed, the birds were almost driven to extinction by overharvesting around 1900 and a 30-year ban on hunting was put in place. When stocks recovered, a different method of harvesting was used, and now hunting is maintained at a sustainable level. Since 2000, a sharp population decline has been seen in Iceland, Norway, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland. Another conservation measure undertaken by the centre is to encourage motorists to check under their cars in late summer before driving off, as young puffins, disoriented by the street lights, may land in the town and take shelter underneath the vehicles.
Project Puffin is an effort initiated in 1973 by Stephen W. Kress of the
National Audubon Society to restore Atlantic puffins to nesting islands in the
Gulf of Maine. Eastern Egg Rock Island in
Muscongus Bay, about from
Pemaquid Point, had been occupied by nesting puffins until 1885, when the birds disappeared because of overhunting. Counting on the fact that young puffins usually return to breed on the same island where they fledged, a team of biologists and volunteers translocated 10– to 14-day-old nestlings from
Great Island in Newfoundland to Eastern Egg Rock. The young were placed into artificial sod burrows and fed with vitamin-fortified fish daily for about one month. Such yearly translocations took place until 1986, with 954 young puffins being moved in total. Each year before fledging, the young were individually tagged. The first adults returned to the island by 1977. Puffin decoys had been installed on the island to fool the puffins into thinking they were part of an established colony. This did not catch on at first, but in 1981, four pairs nested on the island. In 2014, 148 nesting pairs were counted on the island. In addition to demonstrating the feasibility of re-establishing a seabird colony, the project showed the usefulness of using decoys and, eventually, call recordings and mirrors to facilitate such re-establishment.
Pollution Since the Atlantic puffin spends its winters on the open ocean, it is susceptible to human actions and catastrophes such as oil spills. Oiled plumage has a reduced ability to insulate and makes the bird more vulnerable to temperature fluctuations and less buoyant in the water. Many birds die, and others, while attempting to remove the oil by preening, ingest and inhale toxins. This leads to inflammation of the airways and gut and, in the longer term, damage to the liver and kidneys. This trauma can contribute to a loss of reproductive success and harm to developing embryos. After the oil tanker shipwreck and oil spill in 1967, few dead puffins were recovered, but the number of puffins breeding in France the following year was reduced to 16% of its previous level. The Atlantic puffin and other pelagic birds are excellent
bioindicators of the environment, as they occupy a high
trophic level.
Heavy metals and other pollutants are concentrated through the
food chain, and as fish are the primary food source for Atlantic puffins, the potential is great for them to
bioaccumulate heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic. Measurements can be made on eggs, feathers, or internal organs, and beached bird surveys, accompanied by chemical analysis of feathers, can be effective indicators of
marine pollution by
lipophilic substances, as well as metals. In fact, these surveys can be used to provide evidence of the adverse effects of a particular pollutant, using
fingerprinting techniques to provide evidence suitable for the prosecution of offenders.
Climate change Climate change may well affect populations of seabirds in the northern Atlantic. The most important demographic may be an increase in the sea surface temperature, which may have benefits for some northern Atlantic puffin colonies. Breeding success depends on ample supplies of food at the time of maximum demand, as the chick grows. In northern Norway, the main food item fed to the chick is the young herring. The success of the newly hatched fish larvae during the previous year was governed by the water temperature, which controlled plankton abundance, and this, in turn, influenced the growth and survival of the first-year herring. The breeding success of Atlantic puffin colonies has been found to correlate in this way with the water surface temperatures of the previous year. In Maine, on the other side of the Atlantic, shifting fish populations due to changes in sea temperature are being blamed for the lack of availability of the herring, which is the staple diet of the puffins in the area. Some adult birds have become emaciated and died. Others have been provisioning the nest with
butterfish (
Peprilus triacanthus), but these are often too large and deep-bodied for the chick to swallow, causing it to die from starvation. Maine is on the southerly edge of the bird's breeding range, and with changing weather patterns, this may be set to contract northwards.
Tourism Breeding colonies of Atlantic puffins provide an interesting spectacle for bird watchers and tourists. For example, 4000 puffins nest each year on islands off the coast of Maine, and visitors can view them from tour boats that operate during the summer. The Project Puffin Visitor Center in
Rockland provides information on the birds and their lives, and on the other conservation projects being undertaken by the National Audubon Society, which runs the center. Views of the colony on
Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge can be viewed via live cams during the breeding season. Similar tours operate in
Iceland, the
Hebrides, and
Newfoundland.
Hunting Historically, Atlantic puffins were caught and eaten fresh, salted in brine, or smoked and dried. Their feathers were used in bedding, and their eggs were eaten, but not to the same extent as those of some other seabirds, being more difficult to extract from the nest. In most countries, Atlantic puffins are now protected by legislation, and in the countries where hunting is still permitted, strict laws prevent
overexploitation. Although calls have been made for an outright ban on hunting puffins in Iceland because of concern over the dwindling number of birds successfully raising chicks, they are still caught and eaten there and on the Faroe Islands. Traditional means of capture varied across the birds' range, and nets and rods were used in various ingenious ways. In the Faroe Islands, the method of choice was
fleyg, with the use of a
fleygingarstong, a 3.6-m-long pole with a small net at the end suspended between two rods, somewhat like a very long
lacrosse stick. A few dead puffins were strewn around to entice incoming birds to land, and the net was flicked upwards to scoop a bird from the air as it slowed before alighting. Hunters often positioned themselves on cliff tops in stone seats built in small depressions to conceal themselves from puffins flying overhead. Most of the birds caught were subadults, and a skilled hunter could gather 200–300 in a day. Another method of capture, used in
St Kilda, involved the use of a flexible pole with a noose on the end. This was pushed along the ground towards the intended target, which advanced to inspect the noose as its curiosity overcame its caution. A flick of the wrist would flip the noose over the victim's head, and it was promptly killed before its struggles could alarm other birds nearby. In August 2007, the Atlantic puffin was unsuccessfully proposed as the official symbol of the
Liberal Party of Canada by its deputy leader
Michael Ignatieff, after he observed a colony of these birds and became fascinated by their behaviour.
Værøy Municipality in
Norway has an Atlantic puffin as its
coat of arms. Puffins have been given several informal names including "clowns of the sea" and "sea parrots", and juvenile puffins may be called "pufflings". Several islands have been named after the bird. The island of Lundy in the United Kingdom is reputed to derive its name from the
Norse lund-ey or "puffin island". An alternative explanation has been suggested connected with another meaning of the word "lund" referring to a copse or wooded area. The
Vikings might have found the island a useful refuge and restocking point after their depredations on the mainland. The island issued its own
coins, and in 1929, its own
stamps with denominations in "puffins". Other countries and dependencies that have depicted Atlantic puffins on their stamps include
Alderney, Canada, the Faroe Islands, France,
Gibraltar,
Guernsey, Iceland, Ireland, the
Isle of Man,
Jersey, Norway,
Portugal, Russia,
Slovenia,
St Pierre et Miquelon, and the United Kingdom. The publisher of
paperbacks,
Penguin Books, introduced a range of books for children under the
Puffin Books brand in 1939. At first, these were nonfiction titles, but they were soon followed by a fiction list of well-known authors. The demand was so great that Puffin Book Clubs were introduced in schools to encourage reading, and a children's magazine called
Puffin Post was established. A tradition exists on the Icelandic island of
Heimaey for the children to rescue young puffins, a fact recorded in
Bruce McMillan's photo-illustrated children's book
Nights of the Pufflings (1995). The fledglings emerge from the nest and try to make their way to the sea, but sometimes get confused, perhaps by the street lighting, and end up landing in the village. The children collect them and liberate them to the safety of the sea. Due to being a protected species on
Skellig Michael, the production team for the
Star Wars sequel trilogy resorted to digitally dressing the puffins (and practically and digitally recreating them for other scenes), resulting in the creation of
porgs. == See also ==