Puffins through the year
Puffins spend most of the year at sea, returning in April to breed. They raise a single chick, feeding it multiple times daily.
Spring In The Puffin Colony
After winter at sea, puffins return in brighter breeding plumage.
Colour changes are caused by carotenoids in their fish diet.
Eggs and chicks
Lay one egg (6cm), may lay a second if the first is lost.
Incubation: 5–7 weeks by both parents.
Pufflings
Covered in soft black down.
Stay in the burrow, dependent on parents.
Fishing
Parents bring sand eels and small fish to feed the chicks.
Summer In The Puffin Colony
Burrows are lined with grass and twigs.
Adults may linger after chicks fledge.
Autumn And The Return To The Sea
In July, pufflings begin to fledge, leaving burrows at night.
They stay at sea for 2–3 years before returning to breed.
Puffins are monogamous.
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