Puffins!!!

[CJ Swartz]

This U.K. wildlife photographer has some wonderful images, and some of them are Puffins... I LOVE Puffins!!! They just make me smile to see them. If you also Love Puffins, click on the link and search under "Gallery" for either "latest images" or "birds" or "A-Z" for several different sets of puffin images. Puffins are listed under "Auks" on some pages.

Sorry, his website doesn't seem to allow direct links to image webpages.

http://www.smartimages.co.uk/welcome.htm

Okay, if any other Puffin Lovers visit this thread, they ought to get more than just a few puffins for their trouble, so I'm adding some links to PBase albums of MORE PUFFINS!


http://www.pbase.com/jerryfenner/puffins (Some great shots -- have to look through his copyright stamp because he knows they are great shots)

http://www.pbase.com/abwhitt/skomer_puffins

http://www.pbase.com/imigart/puffins

http://www.pbase.com/juninho03/13_jun_05 gallery includes other images but also one extra nice image of a Puffin pair --DSCF2705.jpg.

[Marthig]

Thanks CJ for the links,

I can't imagine anyone looking at them and not smiling, they are really cute.

I remember them (though didn't know their English name) from a book about
birds my Dad gave me when very (very) young, their special looks and also something interesting about their laying eggs of a sort of conical shape. The explanation was that since they nest on high places and or plain rock surfaces the eggs' special shape prevented their rolling off the nest. Marvelous Nature

Thanks again - Martha

[Gary Richardson]

Puffins live in burrows, usually old rabbit burrows, the puffins turf out the rabbits (that bill is a pretty good weapon). So they have pretty normal eggs.

However, the rest of the Auk family, (Guillemots, Razorbills, Little Auks) are all ledge nesters, and have the pointed eggs you refer to.

[Marthig]

Hi Gary !

Probably the ones I remember from that old book are the ones of the other Auk family, but are so alike them, at least in the link I visited, the images show them near the sea and appear to be nesting on some rocks (?) guess that's what lead me to believe they were the same type of birds.

See HERE

Sorry for the wrong info and thanks for the new "input" on these beautiful and cute birds.

Regards - Martha

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Martha,

Nice shot of Puffins in full breeding plumage, (the beak is sheathed with a colourful outer surface in the breeding season, out of season it sheds the outer sheath, and its beak is much smaller and duller).

About my earlier post, when I say they nest in burrows, that is of course here in the UK. Could be that where you are in Argentina they do indeed nest on ledges.

[CJ Swartz]

Originally Posted by Marthig

Thanks CJ for the links, ... I can't imagine anyone looking at them and not smiling, they are really cute.

That's just the way I feel about them also -- so glad you enjoy them!

There are a few shots of their burrows in the Skomer Puffin link.

[Gary Richardson]

Thanks for the links CJ, I'm a Puffin lover too (you might have noticed).

Have seen them at Skomer, which is a small island off the coast of Wales, close to Milford Haven (there's an oil refinery there, and I used to be a Deck Officer working on oil tankers).

The whole island is riddled with their burrows, and those of the Manx Shearwater, which also has a large colony there.

[Marthig]

Hi again Gary and CJ!

There is a confusion here, I wish I could have the skill to get such a lovely picture! I copy below the main title of the link, which is one of those originally provided by CJ (http://www.pbase.com/imigart/puffins)

"... I don't know anyone who isn't charmed by these funny little birds. All of these shots were taken on Farne Islands, Northumbria in the UK. "

Will search for the name of those birds in Spanish and find out whether we do have some in Argentina though

This is very nice and enlightening !

Regards - Martha

[chris h]

I've been to the Farne islands off Northumberland and those puffins don't hang about when aloft they are like guided missiles.

[CJ Swartz]

Originally Posted by chris h

I've been to the Farne islands off Northumberland and those puffins don't hang about when aloft they are like guided missiles.

What are they guiding towards -- their nests, on-lookers, or what? I was surprised to see photos of them flying -- somehow they seemed more like walkers to me...

[chris h]

I think its a non stop progression between catching fish and feeding young on the nest.