Tufted Puffin

Fratercula cirrhata

US Geological Survey
  • ALCIDAE
  • Auks, Murres, Puffins, Guillemots
  • Charadriiformes
  • Macareux huppé
Introduction

Largest among puffins, the Tufted Puffin may be spotted hopping easily over rocky ledges along the northern Pacific coast, sitting solitary on the sea, paddling along the surface before taking off, or flying just above the sea with strong, rapid wing beats. The Tufted Puffin's name arises from the golden plumes of feathers adorning its head.

Appearance Description
Tufted Puffins weigh about 1.7 pounds (780 grams), and measure about 15 inches in length, with a wingspan of 25 inches. Sexes look similar, with a stocky football-shaped black body, large rounded head, rounded wings, white face, and orange legs and bill. Long golden plumes running along the back of the head and nape of the neck are present primarily during the breeding season.
Range Map
Courtesy Kenn Kaufman
Range Map Legend
Range Distribution
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.
Habitat
Tufted Puffins range widely at sea as they forage for food. They nest on offshore islands where they excavate underground burrows or tunnel under boulders and piles of rocks. Burrows can be up to seven feet long. The birds prefer treeless islands with sea cliffs or grassy slopes; the elevation may help the birds take flight. They winter at sea.
Feeding
Tufted Puffins are a highly pelagic species; spending most of their lives far from land. They dive deep with wings folded to capture small fish, especially sand lance, juvenile pollock, capelin, sometimes squid, saury, rockfish, smelt, euphausiids and other crustaceans, mollusks, and sea urchins. Wings are used to "fly" underwater in pursuit of prey, with the tail and feet spread to aid steering. Parent puffins hold many small fish crosswise in their bills. After collecting 5 to 20 small fish at a time, they fly home to their burrow to deliver the fish to their chick. Adults consume their own prey under water.
Reproduction
Tufted Puffins are less social and more dispersed at sea than other puffins. They may nest solitarily, as well as in large mono- and multi-species island colonies. Courtship begins upon arrival at their breeding colonies, and includes billing and strutting about with nest materials. Bowed-head displays are common prior to entering the burrow. Mating occurs primarily on the water. The birds are usually monogamous. The nest chamber at the end of the burrow may be lined with grass or feathers. Both sexes dig the burrow, incubate the egg, and care for the chick. Tufted Puffins lay one white or bluish egg, spotted with brown, and raise one chick per pair per year. The chick hatches after about 40 days and feeds on fish delivered by the parents. As parents forage, a day or two may pass between feedings. The young fledge by jumping into the sea at about 6 to 7 weeks of age.
Migration
Juvenile Tufted Puffins migrate south to the Central North Pacific after fledging and may not return to coastal breeding areas for several years. Where they go in the interim is not well known. They leave northern breeding colonies in winter, where surrounding seas freeze, heading far offshore, where they are seldom seen.
  • 2,400,000
  • 2,400,000
  • no current conservation concerns
Population Status Trends
In Alaska, populations appear to be increasing everywhere except in the southeast. Populations in Japan are nearly extinct, and those in California, Oregon, and Washington are declining; Island populations are threatened by introduced foxes and rats.
Conservation Issues
Historically, Tufted Puffins were harvested by coastal Native American groups. Numerous puffin bills were commonly used to make rattles for use in dance ceremonies. Later, tens of thousands of Tufted Puffins were caught and killed each year as "bycatch" in drift-nets on the high seas prior to 1990, when the practice was eliminated in many areas. However, bycatch in coastal gill nets in Alaska, Russia, and Japan still kills puffins.
 
Nesting Tufted Puffins, vulnerable in their burrows, were devastated by mammalian predators, including red and arctic foxes, Norway rats, and ground squirrels, that were introduced to many Alaskan seabird colonies in the 1800s and early 1900s. Programs to remove introduced species have led to increased puffin populations.
 
Oil spills also threaten Tufted Puffins. An estimated 13,000 were killed following the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. Oil spills have also been implicated in long-term population declines in California. Human disturbance during incubation or hatching may cause Tufted Puffins to desert their eggs or chicks.
 
Currently, all large colonies in the U.S. are protected within U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Wildlife Refuges—in particular, the Alaska Maritime NWR. Declining populations may benefit from conservation efforts, including the reduction of predators, campaigns to prevent introduced predators, long-term monitoring of key colonies, and adult survival studies.
What You Can Do
Don't dump garbage or fishing bait off boats; this feeds competing gulls.
 
Join beach cleanups in your area. Properly discarding of debris, particularly plastic, reduces the possibility of puffins and other seabirds choking on it.
 
Never let balloons drift off; puffins can become entangled in the strings and other marine animals may swallow the balloons, mistaking them for food.
 
Don't discard used oil into city sewers or municipal water supplies. It can end up in the ocean where puffins rest and feed; if their feathers become oiled, the birds are no longer waterproof and cannot survive.
 
Don't disturb nesting puffin colonies when hiking or boating; prevent dogs and children from disturbing them.
 
Make environmentally-friendly seafood choices, which helps protect fish that Tufted Puffins and other seabirds depend upon. Learn more at http://seafood.audubon.org/ or http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp
 
For actions you can take, including Audubon activities, please visit our resources page.
More Information
Learn about ocean conservation at: http://www.livingoceans.org/index.shtml
 
Learn about seabird restoration and Audubon's Project Puffin at http://www.projectpuffin.org
 
Visit our resources page for more information about this species.
Natural History References
Piatt, J. F., and A. S. Kitaysky. 2002. Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata). In The Birds of North America, No. 708 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.
 
Sibley, David Allen. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 2000
 
Kaufman, Kenn. Lives of North American Birds. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 1996
 
Conservation Status References
Piatt, J. F., and A. S. Kitaysky. 2002. Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata). In The Birds of North America, No. 708 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.
 
Sibley, David Allen. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 2000
 
Kaufman, Kenn. Lives of North American Birds. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 1996