Tufted Puffin

The Tufted Puffin is a relatively abundant medium-sized pelagic seabird in the auk family found throughout the North Pacific Ocean. It is one of three species of puffin that make up the Fratercula genus and is easily recognizable by its thick red bill and yellow tufts.

The Tufted Puffin is classified as Least Concern. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

Tufted Puffin Released on Cannon Beach Following Eight Weeks in Rehab - Posted by pelicanpublisher under Bird Watching, Cannon Beach, Nature At 6:30am this morning, a small group of volunteers with a pet carrier entered the protected Marine Garden at the base of Haystack Rock and climbed into the lower area of the National Wildlife Refuge with special permission from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. More

Distribution of the Tufted Puffin in North America and easternmost Russia. Figure 4. Native American (Tlingit) dance apron, fringed with Tufted Puffin bills. Tufted Puffins are cool. Unlike their familiar brethren—Horned (Fratercula corniculata) and Atlantic (F. arctica) puffins, whose appearances convey comic charm and innocence—Tufted Puffins exude stern confidence. More

species, the Tufted Puffin and Horned Puffin, are found in the North Pacific Ocean, while the best known species, the iconic Atlantic Puffin, is found in the North Atlantic Ocean. Iceland is the home to most of the Atlantic Puffins with about 10 million individuals. The largest single puffin colony in the world is in Westmann Isles, islands that belong to Iceland. In 2009, scientists estimated the number of nests to be 1.1 million, and number of individuals there is estimated to be up to 4.0 millions. More

The Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) is a relatively abundant medium-sized pelagic seabird in the auk (Alcidae) family found throughout the North Pacific Ocean. It is one of three species of puffin that make up the Fratercula genus and is easily recognizable by its thick red bill and yellow tufts. More

Tufted Puffins are found on the open waters, islands, and coastal cliffs of the North Pacific. Few seabirds breed over such a wide geographic and climatic range, from southern California west to eastern Russia and south to Japan. The birds range equally widely at sea, from the subtropical North Pacific to the icy Chukchi Sea, though most stay in the northern part of this range. A legend for the range map to the right can be found here. More

Tufted Puffin: Medium-sized seabird, black overall except for white face and glossy yellow plumes behind eyes. Bill is large, mostly bright red with yellow and sometimes green markings. Legs and feet are bright orange. Sexes are similar. Winter adult is duller with paler underparts, white eyebrows, no eye plumes, and smaller, dull orange bill with black base. Juvenile is similar to winter adult but has olive-brown bill, dark eye, and white or dark underparts. More

Tufted puffins are named for tufts of feathers that curl back from each side of the head. They have dark, black bodies and white faces. They have orange feet and their bills are red and yellow. Puffin bills are larger and more colorful in the summer nesting season than in winter. Both species shed the bill's outer layers in late summer, which leaves a smaller, drab-colored bill. Also, their bodies are not as distinctly marked with white but tend to be dusky gray. More

Tufted Puffins are named for tufts of feathers that curl back from each side of the head. They have dark, black bodies and white faces. They have orange feet,and their bills are red and yellow Life history Puffin photos The toes of their webbed feet have sharp claws that are used to scratch out burrows 3 to 4 feet deep into the steep hillsides of their nesting areas. © Patrick J. More

Tufted Puffins are found along the Pacific Rim, from Japan to mid-California. They over-winter individually or in pairs in the open ocean, south of the ice pack. Predators Bald eagles, gulls, ravens, snowy owls, arctic foxes, rats, and humans. Prey Silverside, herring, krill, zooplankton, squid, amphipods, crabs, and shrimp. Size Sexes look alike; average height of an adult is 15.5 in. More

Tufted Puffins, on the other hand, do not acquire the fleshy horn but rather "tufts" of feathers curl back from each side of the head. They have dark, black bodies and white faces. Like the Horned Puffin, they have orange feet, and their bills are red and yellow. Nesting ground for Puffins Puffin nesting ground, Bristol Bay Puffins generally arrive at Alaska waters and breeding rookeries during May (later for areas further north). More

The Tufted Puffin is a seabird of the open waters, islands, and coastal cliffs of the north Pacific. It is larger than other puffin species and distinctive in appearance, with a bold white "face-mask" and golden head plumes in the breeding season. More

The Tufted Puffin was first described in 1769 by German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas. Its generic name is derived from the Latin Fratercula 'little brother' and the specific epithet, cirrhata 'tufted'. Since it may be more closely related to the Rhinoceros Auklet than the other puffins it is sometimes placed in the genus Lunda. More

Tufted Puffins are around 35 cm (15 in) in length with a similar wingspan and weigh about three quarters of a kilogram (1.6 lbs). Birds from the western Pacific population are somewhat larger than those from the eastern Pacific, and male birds tend to be slightly larger than females. More

Tufted Puffin determination Similar species Alcidae Ancient Murrelet | Atlantic Puffin | Black Guillemot | Great Auk | Guillemot | Little Auk | Parakeet Auklet | Razorbill | Thick-Billed Murre | Tufted Puffin | source: Josep del Hoyo Links to European databases Tufted Puffin EU report (PDF) Birdlife factsheet of Tufted More

Tufted Puffin has a white mask across its face, ending in a tuft of blonde feathers sweeping back from above the ear. The orange beak is very bright and accented with yellow at the base. Like other puffins, this species has a large, laterally compressed bill. The Tufted Puffin can be distinguished from other puffins by its dark belly. More

Tufted Puffins are most often encountered when they are at their breeding colonies, but these colonies are almost all on islands that are all but inaccessible, on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), and on Vancouver Island's west coast. The largest colony is on Triangle Island, off Cape Scott on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Here each pair raises a single young in a burrow, dug in soft soil or between rocks on the island slopes. More

Tufted Puffins are one of the more heavy-set members of the Alcid family, which makes walking on land clumsy and necessitates a slope to give them enough lift to take off into the air. But, underwater they are truely in their element. They appear to "fly" through the ocean with their strong, pointed wings as they chase after their next meal. More

tufted puffins on Farallon National Wildlife Refuge. They are surprised to hear that a colony of tufted puffins (Fratercula cirrhata) exists just 25 miles out to sea from the Golden Gate. The second question is usually accompanied by knitted brows, "What exactly is a puffin? Are they like penguins?" I stack my hands about 15 inches apart saying, "They’re about so tall." Then I spread my hands apart to indicate a chunky bird. More

pointed, and the Tufted Puffin has a much larger and more bulbous head. In flight, the Tufted Puffin also has more rounded wingtips and rather darker under wings than the Rhinoceros Auklet. In addition, it lacks a white trailing edge to the wing which separates it from the guillemots, while the reddish feet are rather conspicuous. Being a plump species with short wings, it seems to require a good run before it can take off from the water. More

Tufted Puffins breed on islands and rocky cliffs in the arctic waters of the North Pacific, which includes the Arctic, Bering, and Okhotsk seas. They are most commonly seen flying near land, coming or leaving the breeding colonies to feed their young. Tufted Puffins are the size of pigeons, but weigh nearly twice as much (1 kg, 2 lbs)! In flight they look like flying cigars, moving very quickly close to water. More

A splendid Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) in breeding condition. Common throughout the Aleutians, tens of thousands were present in the Umnak Channel. Photograph copyright of Angus Wilson More

The Tufted Puffin has the long eyebrows (really they are feathers but they look like long eyebrows or a slick hairdo). It is found on the West coast of the U.S. and Canada, from California up to B.C. up to Alaska. It can also be found in the Aleutian Islands, Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and throughout the Sea of Okhotsk. You can tell the Tufted Puffin from other puffins not only by the long feathers on its head but also by its dark belly. More

Tufted Puffins return to the Bandon Dunes in Oregon - If you visit the Bandon Dunes along Oregon’s rocky coastline you will see the puffin adorning signs and entrances because puffins once crowded these shore cliffs. For awhile the tufted puffin population suffered and the birds were not as plentiful but as of late the vast numbers of Puffins on the Bandon Dunes have been growing again. More

TUFTED PUFFIN (Fratercula cirrhata), a 15-inch long pelagic seabird in the auk (Alcidae) family living about six years Habitat: The Tufted Puffin is found along the Pacific coast from Alaska to southern California. They nest along the entire Oregon coast on coastal rocks where soil topped islands exist. Two-thirds of the puffins in Oregon nest at Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge. More

The Tufted Puffin is the largest in size of all the puffins. Its most distinctive feature, other than its colorful bill, is the very noticeable tan-colored feathers that extend from above and behind its eyes down to the nape of its neck. These tufts are what give this puffin its name. Its body is dark-colored, with a white face during the summer breeding season. More

A Tufted Puffin in the Penguin and Puffin Coast at the St. Louis Zoo (Mar 9, 2007) A Tufted Puffin in the Penguin... * tufted puffin tufted puffin * P1030170 1tufted puffin, Chiswell Islands, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska P1030170 1tufted puffin, Chisw... * 102.... More