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[Lani]

Atlantic Puffin Burrow cam

Welcome Millie and Willie's new puffling Ama! 
The name Ama honors a longtime puffin cam viewer from Norway who passed away in November 2023.




Good night little Puffling! 

[Lani]

Willie and puffling Ama

[Lani]

The distinctive appearance of the razorbill (Alca torda)

https://x.com/i/status/1801562354812858486

[Lani]

Atlantic Puffins, Seal Island, Maine, USA, explore.org 2024/06/18
 "Millie says NoNoNo to the intruder"
Well-behaved Ama nicely tucked into the corner.  video by bozena Isia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMSPdxSApaE

Ama 

[Lani]

Puffin Ama gets fluffier by the day! 
https://x.com/i/status/1804190277449465920

[Lani]

Social hour Puffin style! 

https://x.com/i/status/1804674825698627965

[Lani]

From Atlantic Puffin cam

Ama is growing so big and strong, thanks to Millie and Willie, who bring plenty of forage fish back for baby Ama. It’s time for Fish Facts!

A puffin brings back a huge catch! Photo: Jean Hall


Puffins hunt small forage fish such as herring, hake, sand lance (sand eel), and capelin, but their diet varies from colony to colony based on the diversity of fish. You may also see them bringing back the occasional butterfish. Millie and Willie, as well as other puffin parents, bring beakfuls of fish in their bills to feed to their chick. Thanks to the explore.org cams, we can get pretty clear observations of each feeding, which occurs several times a day!


‍Ama’s fish feedings on Thursday, June 20. Photo: Snapshots by viewer puffin123!



Millie is the primary fish-hunter, carrying several fish back to the burrow at a time by using her raspy tongue to hold them up to her spiny palate (roof of the mouth). On average, they catch 10 fish but the observed record is a British puffin with a shocking 62 fish in one trip! Puffins can dive up to 200ft (60 m) under the water and hold their breath for over a minute, but the average dive is usually 20 to 30 seconds. These dedicated parents may travel 20-30 miles (30-50 km) in search of fish.

These forage fish are crucial to seabird survival, as puffins and other seabirds rely on this prey for them & their young. These birds, whose bodies are often small and compact, must conserve their energy to fly miles and miles to catch fish for their young. We can get monitoring information on forage fish populations and climate change by identifying fish that puffins bring back for their chicks. The Seabird Institute's work has even led to federal protection policies for these fish!

[Lani]

Razorbill.. 😎

https://x.com/i/status/1805629108199579886

[Lani]

Little Ama looking for dropped fish, while parent is dealing with intruder.

[Lani]

Puffin Nesting Habits

Ama is already almost 2 weeks old! Pufflings will be cared for by their parents in the burrow for around 6 weeks, or 40 days, before taking flight in the dead of the night. This means that Ama’s expected fledge date will be around July 22-23!

In the meantime, we can admire Willie and Millie’s amazing burrow defense skills! During this time, there are a lot of wandering puffins who are exploring potential burrows for upcoming nesting seasons. If you’re the puffin parents already occupying the burrow, defending becomes an even bigger challenge because of your little chick inside.

You can see an intruder puffin poke its head in. After the classic "no-no" head shakes to ward the stranger off, Millie then leaped at the entrance to scare it away! Millie was very on guard today, accidentally attacking Willie as well, who was busy bringing back fish for Ama.

Millie shows off her burrow defense skills! Photo: explore.org


Millie protecting Ama, even from poor dad Willie bringing fish for Ama


Ama showing off by practicing some “wingers”. Too cute! Photo: explore.org

[Lani]

Just puffins!  video by Brian Matthews!

https://x.com/i/status/1806735797313229173

[Lani]

June 27, which means... Happy International Guillemot Appreciation Day (IGAD)! 🎉 This tradition was started in 1992 on Matinicus Rock, one of the Seabird Institute’s seven research islands, to show some love to Black Guillemots (Cepphus grylle). These charming little black-and-white alcids are often overshadowed by their more popular puffin parientes. Join us in celebrating these wonderful birds today by showing off your guillie love!

On Seal Island, when they're not tucked away in their burrows, black guillemots can be found bobbing on the crashing waves or splashing around in the Guillie Pool. Did you know we have a Guillemot Burrow cam too?



These adorably squeaky seabirds are called “Guillemots” from the diminutive of Guillaume (William), a common French name, for reasons that are lost to history. There are three species of “true” guillemots (Genus Cepphus): black guillemot or tystie, pigeon guillemot, and spectacled guillemot.

Guillemot Fun Facts:

The black guillemot is the only one of the three guillemot species found in the Atlantic Ocean!
The pigeon guillemot looks almost identical to the black guillemot, but they are actually more closely related to the spectacled guillemot.
There are at least FIVE distinct subspecies of black guillemot! The Maine population is a part of the Cepphus grylle arcticus subspecies.
In Europe, what we call “murres” are called “guillemots” too! Common murre = Common guillemot; Thick-billed murre = Brünnich's guillemot.

Find out more about these adorable birds on the Guillemot Burrow cam! The pair is currently sitting on one egg. Viewers have also seen househunting puffins and a very bold tern chick!

Guillemot cam Live
https://explore.org/livecams/national-audubon-society/guillemot-cam

[Lani]

Puffin pics on The Daily Puffin! 

[Lani]

Good night from Puffin land!

[Lani]

Good night from Puffin Land



Millie and Ama  [/size]