We here at DoA HQ are taking a small small break from misnomered April because it is Puffin Day and puffins are STINKING ADORABLE. (We shall lean on the fact that they’re nicknamed sea parrots or clowns of the sea and they are neither parrots nor clowns. That’s enough, right?)
Every time I see a puffin (and I have been honored to see them in person! From a safe and appropriate distance! See the photos in this post), I am pretty sure they are computer generated and not real. Are we sure that I didn’t just AI in the birds below? I took the picture and I’m still not positive.
I saw the little puffins along the coast of Newfoundland, part of the 10 percent that don’t roost in Europe. Puffin Day originated in and is mostly celebrated in Norway which — along with Iceland — is where 80 percent of puffins spend their summers, and they start showing up there around now. They consider this to be the unofficial start of summer which lol okay there’s a high of 48 there today and similar for the foreseeable future.
If you see a puffin looking ~* fabulous *~ with a bright orange beak, they are dressed to impress potential mates (during the winter, their beaks are much less vibrant) (is that cheeto dust, or are you just happy to see me?). And, considering that they’re generally monogamous and breed with the same partner each year, they know that a committed relationship is no reason to let yourself go.
Despite their cuteness and overall apparent affability, they are also incredible multi-sport athletes: they flap their wings up to 400 times a minute (hummingbirds scoff), fly up to 55 miles per hour, and dive up to 60 meters in the water (this is not as deep as the human free dive record but extremely not recommended to try at home). However, they do not win any gracefulness awards, as they land on the water like a tank.
And there are reports of a puffin holding 83 sandeels (their favorite snack) in its beak at once (question: how did they count??). Joey Chestnut could never.
