7 Amazing Facts About Puffins

One of the main attractions of our tours is the opportunity to see the nesting puffins when visiting Fingal’s Cave. Puffins live most of their lives in the ocean, only migrating to coastal regions during breeding season.

7 Amazing Fact About Puffins

They usually arrive in the islands around April each year, and stay throughout the summer.

But before setting off puffin watching on one of our island tours you should arm yourself with these amazing puffin facts!

  1. There are 4 types of puffin; the Atlantic Puffin, the Tufted Puffin, the Horned Puffin and the Horn-billed Puffin.
  2. A puffin’s beak (or bill) changes colour during the year. In winter, the beak has a dull grey colour but in spring it is a bright orange colour. It is thought that the bright orange colour helps puffins assess potential mates.
  3. Puffins are excellent flyers, flapping their wings up to 400 times a minute and speed through the air at 88km an hour.
  4. Puffns lay just one egg a year. Like penguins, puffins mate for life  – and a couple will rarely lay more than a single egg a year.
  5. Puffins are silent at sea. When in large groups during the breeding season they remain completely silent.
  6. A puffin weighs about the same as a can of coke. Although they appear larger in photographs the average puffin is only around 30cm in height.
  7. Puffins can hold up to 12 fish in their mouths at once. This has played a key advantageous role in the survival of puffns because it allows them to regularly feed their young.

Puffins are beloved by nature enthusiasts everywhere, and are one of the most widely recognised birds of the northern hemisphere. Every year visitors flock to the west coast to catch a glimpse of the birds.

If you fancy doing a bit of nature spotting next summer then be sure to book one of our island tours, where you will be treated to even more puffin facts by one of our knowledgeable tour guides.