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By Robin Street and Ann Emily
Geographic Range
Greenland and Northern Canada, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Nova Scotia, Iceland, Northern Scandinavia, Northern Russia, Ireland, and NW coast of France.
Biogeographic Regions:
nearctic 
(native ); palearctic (native ).
Habitat
During the summer, common puffins reside on rocky cliffs of the North Atlantic and northern Europe. They winter far at sea on deep, icy water and are seldom seen within sight of land until March.
Aquatic Biomes:
coastal .
Physical Description
Sexes are alike--11 1/2 to 13 1/2 inches long with a wingspread of 21-24 inches. These puffins are short, stocky with upper parts black and undersides white. Their cheeks are white. They have large parrotlike, triangular shaped bills, which in the breeding season are bright orange with a yellow-bordered patch of blue at the rear half. After the breeding season, they lose some of their horny bill plates and molt as well. Winter plumage is similar but faces are largely dark.
Some key physical features:
endothermic ; bilateral symmetry .
Reproduction
During courtship, mates fight on the water, pairs bill and by fighting attract other pairs until the whole ceremony tapers off. They copulate on the water. Puffins nest in colonies and construct nests by burrowing into loose soil 2-4 feet deep at tops of cliffs or on islands. The males do most of the burrow digging, using their beaks and webbed feet. Males stay with the females through the breeding season, and the pairs often sit outside the burrow. Eggs are laid between June and July, and usually only one egg is laid per pair. Eggs are round, white, and often spotted with brown. Both parents incubate by tucking the egg under one wing and leaning their body against it. Incubation lasts around 42 days. The newly hatched are fed very small fish. About 40 days after the chicks have hatched, they are abandoned by the parents, who go to sea; the chicks fast for a week and then jump into the sea at dusk or night, diving for their own food until they can fly at about 49 days old.
Key reproductive features:
iteroparous ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous .
Behavior
Puffins walk erect, live in colonies and are very curious and tame. They are often attacked and killed by great black-backed gulls, rats, cats, dogs, and foxes, and are easily shot for food; thus populations near civilizations soon disappear. They utter low, purring noises in flight, low grunts and groans while nesting. They ride high on the water like ducks and must run across the surface of the water to become airborne.
Key behaviors:
flies; motile .
Food Habits
Common puffins dive from the air or surface and use their wings to swim underwater where they catch small fish, mollusks, and crustaceans. They swallow their catch underwater unless they're feeding their young, at which time they can carry back as many as 30 fish at a time in their bills .
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
Each year, half a million common puffins are netted for food and their feathers in Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
Conservation Status
---.
For More Information
Find Fratercula arctica information at
Contributors
Robin Street (author), University of Michigan. Ann Emily (author).
