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The Atlantic puffin is a bird of the colder waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. It breeds on the coasts of northwest Europe, the Arctic fringes, and eastern North America. More than 90% of the global population is found in Europe (4,770,000–5,780,000 pairs, equalling 9,550,000–11,600,000 adults) [ 1 ] and colonies in Iceland alone are home ...
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]
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]
It wouldn't be a list of the best states in the USA for bird watching without including Alabama. Alabama's coast is known for being one of the top birding spots in the Southeast.
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 total number of horned puffins is estimated at 1,200,000. 300,000 are located in Asia, [15] while the other 900,000 are located in North America, with a high concentration in the Alaska Peninsula numbering 760,000. [18] In Alaska, nearly 250,000 puffins [18] are distributed in 608 different colonies, the largest being on Suklik Island.
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.
However, razorbills are slightly more agile. In North America it is a largely migratory seabird, as during the colder months, it leaves land and spends the entire winter in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, [34] though western European birds often remain close to their breeding sites. During breeding, both males and females protect the nest.