{"id":24,"date":"2011-04-12T10:03:26","date_gmt":"2011-04-12T14:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/puffin.jacobtanenbaum.com\/?page_id=24"},"modified":"2011-04-14T08:27:34","modified_gmt":"2011-04-14T12:27:34","slug":"about-puffins","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/puffin.jacobtanenbaum.com\/?page_id=24","title":{"rendered":"About Puffins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Puffins are fascinating, colorful birds that live in the northern parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.\u00a0 There are three kinds of puffins, Tufted Puffins, Horned Puffins and Atlantic Puffins.\u00a0 The first two are found only in the Pacific Ocean (I saw lots of\u00a0both kinds\u00a0while traveling on the Bering Sea in Alaska).\u00a0 On the coast of Maine, we find only the Atlantic Puffin.<\/p>\n

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An Atlantic Puffin with a Beak Full of Fish<\/p><\/div>\n

Puffins live mostly at sea and\u00a0are known for their colorful beaks.\u00a0 They only have the colorful part of their beaks during their mating season, and they only come on shore during their mating season.\u00a0 At other times of the year, they shed the color from their beaks and live at sea, feeding on fish and squid.\u00a0 They use their wings to both fly and swim.\u00a0 They can dive over 100 feet down into the water in\u00a0order\u00a0catch fish, and can hold up to 12 fish in their beaks as they swim.\u00a0 On land, they nest in colonies along the shore.\u00a0 Atlantic Puffins burrow into the ground and line their burrows with soft material to make a comfortable nest.<\/p>\n

The Atlantic puffin lives in the far north and colonies were found as far south as Maine.\u00a0 The southern colonies disappeared as humans hunted the birds for meat, eggs and feathers.\u00a0 Project puffin<\/a> has succesfully reestablished colonies of puffins on several islands off the coast of Maine, including Matinicus Rock<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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