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The tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata), also known as crested puffin, is a relatively abundant medium-sized pelagic seabird in the auk family (Alcidae) found throughout the North Pacific Ocean. It is one of three species of puffin that make up the genus Fratercula and is easily recognizable by its thick red bill and yellow tufts.
The English name "puffin" – puffed in the sense of swollen – was originally applied to the fatty, salted meat of young birds of the unrelated Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus), formerly known as the "Manks puffin". [2] Puffin is an Anglo-Norman word (Middle English pophyn or poffin) for the cured carcasses of nestling Manx shearwaters. [3]
Techniques used for restoring the birds, such as playing recordings of puffin calls, were mostly effective. [2] [5] With the help of fish delivered to Eastern Egg Rock, [5] 69 percent of Maine's roseate terns were nesting there by 2004. [6] Now the island is the southern limit of puffin habitat in North America. [4]
The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica), also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean ; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin being found in the northeastern Pacific .
Auks or alcids are birds of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. [1] The alcid family includes the murres, guillemots, auklets, puffins, and murrelets.The family contains 25 extant or recently extinct species that are divided into 11 genera.
The scientific name of this species records a name shift: Manx shearwaters were called Manks puffins in the 17th century. Puffin is an Anglo-Norman word (Middle English pophyn) for the cured carcasses of nestling shearwaters. The Atlantic puffin acquired the name much later, possibly because of its similar nesting habits.
Puffinus is a Neo-Latin loanword based on the English "puffin". The original Latin term for shearwaters was usually the catchall name for sea-birds, mergus . [ 8 ] " Puffin" and its variants, such as poffin, pophyn and puffing, [ 9 ] referred to the cured carcass of the fat nestling of the shearwater, a former delicacy. [ 10 ]
The puffin's bill has fluorescent properties that are also used to attract a partner. Puffins can see ultraviolet rays, allowing them to spot luminescence on the bills of other puffins during the courtship display. [8] The horned puffin chick has smoky-gray cheeks and a fine, black triangular-shaped beak. The feet are pinkish or greyish.