![]() They Swim with a Flying MotionĪs seabirds which feed on small fish and zooplankton, it’s essential that puffins are able to swim so that they can catch their prey. Therefore, being able to collect many fish in one go saves them from having to make lots of trips back and forth to feed them. Unlike many other birds, puffins don’t regurgitate food for their babies, preferring instead to feed them with freshly caught prey. However, having the ability to carry so many fish is actually really important for a puffin because it’s how they take food back to their chicks. Of course, they’re only able to carry so many because they only catch small fish such as sand eels and herring. This helps them to both hold the fish in place and push them back against the upper part of their bill at the same time. Puffins have a really coarse section on the end of their tongue. They are able to do this because of a clever little feature on their tongue. Yet did you know that they can hold and carry several fish in it at once? That’s right, puffins can carry up to a seriously impressive twelve fish crossways in their mouth. We’ve already established that puffins have really large and unique bills. Many small fish can fit into the large, colorful beak of a puffin. Then the following spring it becomes bright again ready for the mating season. The remaining bill is a lot smaller and a much duller color (usually grey). This is because they shed the outer layer of it just before winter every year. However, it is actually only bright for the duration of the breeding season. One of the most distinctive features of a puffin is their brightly colored bill. They Shed the Colorful Part of their Bill ![]() Their dark upper color hides them from aerial predators as they blend in with the dark ocean, while their light underside makes them difficult to spot from underneath as they blend in with the light shining from above. They are also virtually silent when at sea too, yet are incredibly vocal when they are on land during the breeding season.Īlthough it would be easy to assume that they are a sitting target for predators when on the water, their appearance provides them with great camouflage. Although they nest in colonies on the land, puffins are actually solitary birds when they are at sea. They spend around eight months in total at sea and only return to land to nest in the spring, returning to the sea again in the summer after the chicks have fledged. Puffins actually spend the vast majority of their lives at sea where they sit bobbing up and down on the waves. 4,711 People Couldn't Ace This Quiz Think You Can? Take Our Brand New A-Z-Animals Birds Quiz 2.
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