Places to See Atlantic Puffins

It's Hard to See Atlantic Puffins but There are a Few Good Places

Sep 3, 2006

You don't see an Atlantic Puffin every day for several reasons, but there are some places you can go where you're almost guaranteed a good view of these charming birds.

The Atlantic Puffin is one of the Auks (family Alcidae). It is a bit reminiscent of a penguin, with a black back and white breast. Atlantic Puffins are accomplished swimmers as well but, unlike Penguins, they are good flyers. In the summer, the puffin has a prominent brightly coloured bill; in winter the bill is smaller and less colourful, and the face is grey. The range of Atlantic Puffins is confined to the northern Atlantic - they nest in numerous northern coastal Atlantic locations in North America, Greenland, Iceland, and on the west coast of northern Europe.

Many people long to see Atlantic Puffins because of their charming appearance and entertaining behavior, and possibly because it takes a special effort - you will not see puffins on a beach walk or even a casual boating trip. If you don't ordinarily spend time in boats in the appropriate places it requires a special trip to add this bird to your life list. It's difficult to see Atlantic Puffins because:

They spend most of the year far out at sea, only returning to the shore to breed in spring. The breeding season is from May to August, so this time period is the window of opportunity for bird watchers.
They nest on offshore islands - you'll need to take a boat to get to an Atlantic Puffin breeding colony, and in most cases, you will have to sign up for some type of tour.
Where the ground is soft enough, they nest in borrows two to four feet deep. When an Atlantic Puffin is in its nest, you may hear it murmuring if you are close enough, but you will not see it. On islands off the coast of North America, where the ground is rocky and the birds cannot dig burrows, they nest among the rocks, so it is easier to view the nesting birds in these locations although you may not be able to get very close.
They are quite small, only about ten inches long, so it's difficult to get a good look at them from a distance - binoculars are a must if you are going to view them from a boat.

Still determined to see Atlantic Puffins? Start planning your vacation for the next puffin breeding season. Here are four great places to visit:

Northeast Maine, U.S.: more than 6000 puffins nest on offshore islands, along with other seabirds. Machias Seal Island hosts about half of the Maine population. Tours are available to Machias Seal Island and some operators have landing permits so you can get quite close to the birds. You can also take a short boat tour to circle Eastern Egg Rock with an Audubon naturalist.
The islands of St Kilda off the Scottish Hebrides: these are rocky islands hosting a variety of seabirds, and home to 250,000 Atlantic Puffins during the breeding season. St Kilda was once the home of a small human community, but today it is uninhabited and managed by the National Trust for Scotland. Boating, landing, and camping are permitted, and eager birdwatchers can join tours from the Hebrides.
Witless Bay, Newfoundland, Canada: about 225,000 pairs of puffins nest on offshore islands in the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve each year. Tours are available but few people are permitted to land on the islands. The reserve is home to numerous other bird species as well, and is a favorite destination for serious birdwatchers.
Iceland: there are 6 million breeding puffins in Iceland in the spring and summer. If you simply have to see an Atlantic Puffin, you cannot fail to see one here: some of the colonies are located quite near to Reykjavik. In Iceland, the puffins are able to dig in the soft earth with their beaks and nest in tunnels.