PUFFIN PARENTING HACKS
Did you already know the following five facts about puffin parents?
1. Puffins are monogamous birds. Each year, couples re-unite upon arrival to their nesting grounds. During the winter months, however, they oftentimes get separated as they spread out on the North-Atlantic Ocean.
2. Puffins build burrows by using their beaks and feet to dig a hole in the ground. At the end of this tunnel is a room for their chick - the so-called puffling. At the entrance of the burrow, the parents establish a toilet area, which is cleaned out frequently. This ensures that the burrow and, most importantly, the chick's feathers stay clean while it doesn't have to leave its home at all for the first weeks of its life - not even when needing the loo.
3. A couple lays one single egg each year and hence has just one chick to raise.
4. Puffins co-parent, meaning both individuals take turns to watch their offspring while the other heads out at sea to fish.
5. Once the puffling is about 6 weeks old, it will leave the burrow and nesting ground behind. From now on, the chick is on its own. The parents won't even show their young one where to go for the winter months - or how to get back to their birth place once grown up.
- Sarah
