Atlantic Puffin

choi

Discovery of a Maine Puffin's Winter Home! Tiny tracking devices reveal surprising journey at sea. Project Puffin, Feb 8, 2012.
http://projectpuffin.org/wanderingpuffins.html

Quote:

"Puffins, who can live 30 or more years, return each year to the island where they previously nested. They usually appear in early spring and each pair lays their single egg in a deep rock crevice. After an incubation period of about six weeks, the egg hatches and parents tend the chick for the next six weeks.

"The tiny, capsule-shaped tracking devices measure light intensity and time of day to estimate day length and plot the puffins’ locations (+/- 115 miles). Unlike satellite transmitters that are attached to larger animals, these geolocators store information until the animal is re-captured and the device is removed to retrieve the data.

"While soaring seabirds such as albatross and shearwaters are known to fly much further than puffins, Cabot’s flight is all the more amazing for the energy expended. Puffins typically fly by rapid flapping, in which they reach speeds of up to 50 mph, beating their wings 300-400 beats per minute.

Note:
(a) Project Puffin, National Audubon Society, undated.
http://projectpuffin.org/
(History: "The National Audubon Society started Project Puffin in 1973 in an effort to learn how to restore puffins to historic nesting islands in the Gulf of Maine")
(b) Rockland, Maine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockland,_Maine
(c) Gulf of Maine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Maine
(d) Gulf of Saint Lawrence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Saint_Lawrence

(e) John Cabot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cabot
(f) Atlantic puffin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Puffin
(sexually mature at the age of 4–5 years; the species is monogamous and gives biparental care)

(i) Bird. YouTube.com, uploaded by TheBrocollie on Jul 30, 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s ... =PL72883E31F99BD0C8
(view only the first two segments titled Puffin Flying and Puffin Diving @ NC Zoo, respectively)

(ii) Slow Motion of Puffins Swimming Underwater at Living Coasts Torquay. YouTube.com, uploaded by steve903 on Mar 28, 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q ... =PL4B2459D174B02F8A

Torquay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torquay