If you visit a puffin colony on your journey around Iceland, you'll probably notice quite quickly how clean the nesting grounds are compared to those of other birds.

Puffins are extremely clean birds and make sure to keep their homes tidy. Unlike other birds, they don't build nests on the surface, but dig burrows into the ground. These burrows, much looking like a tunnel, have a separate toilet area, often near the entrance or around a bend. The parents will regularly clean out the burrow, using their beaks, feet and even wooden sticks to dig out the dirt. Keeping the burrow and nesting grounds tidy ensures that their feathers stay clean, especially those of the chicks, which are growing up inside these tunnels. Dirty feathers would make it impossible for them to learn to fly - but even worse, they'd loose their waterproof protection, which is essential when having to survive the harsh winter out at the open sea.

If you stand by a puffin colony for a little while, you're likely to see the parents walk away from their burrow, oftentimes all the way to the edge of the colony, to do their business into the sea.

Apart from keeping their colony clean as hard as they can, puffins have also been observed to use wooden sticks as tools to scratch or groom themselves and to possibly even dislodge ticks.

Where have you seen puffins while travelling around Iceland?

- Sarah