Puffins of Iceland

Six hours on a non-stop flight, 400 kilometers of driving the Icelandic countryside, and an hour-long boat ride. It was all worth it just to feel the cool north Atlantic breeze. I was standing atop Heimay, a volcanic island off the coast of southern Iceland. And it was even more spectacular than I could have imagined.

Grassy meadows covered the hillsides - a vibrant green paradise punctuated with white and yellow flowers. The hills ended abruptly at vertical cliffs. These rock walls plunged headlong into the waves below. From my elevated perch, I could see stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean and mountainous glaciers of the Icelandic mainland. I smelled salt on the breeze and felt a chill in the air, the kind unique to these northern latitudes. The tiny town of Heimay was directly below us. Its houses lined a small bay. This harbor was hemmed in on either side by those steep vertical cliffs - like two massive towers that protected the entrance. It was easy to get distracted by the views on the horizon, but I was after the tiny little birds that pockmarked this immense landscape.

The Vestmanneyjar Islands are a well-known nesting-site for puffin colonies. Several thousand puffins arrive each summer, as the snow and ice melt to reveal the lush meadows I gazed on today. The birds burrow several feet below ground, lay their eggs, and rear their children in the nearly endless summer light.

These puffins are especially wary of visitors near their underground homes and skittish to any approach. They kept their heads on a swivel, acutely aware of our presence. Like clockwork, they would shift their gaze in short bursts, continually giving us the side-eye while still facing forward. Some puffins would launch themselves into the air with rapid wing beats when our foot steps drew too close, others just waddled by, keeping an eye on our movements. And still more would hide themselves within their little burrows in the mountainsides.

All these movements are especially adorable given their stature and color scheme. Puffins are smaller than you’d think, 10 inches tall and a little more than a pound. On the ground, they waddle around clumsily. And struggle to get moving in their air at all! They take an awkward running start, beating their wings furiously to get moving. But once they do, they are on a mission - zipping from point-to-point on the cliffsides with rapid wingbeats of 300-400 times per minute! All of this is so because puffins are not built for land or long flights - they spend most of their lives at open sea, resting on waves when not swimming below the water’s surface. They are known for their poor landing skills - puffins will sometimes crash into a wave or roll into the grass, even tumbling into other puffins!

And meanwhile, you’re looking at a bird that appears surreal. Almost a real life companion of Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny! A puffin’s glossy black-and-white tuxedo contrasts their colorful orange, red, and yellow beaks. The stark difference of black-and-white with their colorful beak becomes a blur of color when they zip by at speeds as fast as 55mph.

I watched several puffins circle the cliffs below. Energetic and colorful, these beautiful creatures were a lot of fun to watch, popping in and out of their little homes. I was loathe to leave my new friends behind - but the Ring Road called! Onward to circumnavigate the island in an unforgettable week-and-a-half journey by car.

More fun facts about puffins:

• 60% of all puffins breed in Iceland. The Icelandic word for puffin is lundi. The island nation is one of the world’s most important ecosystems for this bird.

• Puffins mate for life. They’ve been known to stick with their same partner for more than 20 years!

• Puffin pairs raise a single chick each year, which is known as a “puffling”. A puffling spends its first 45 days in a burrow. Once they leave land, they won’t return for another 3-5 years!

• Puffin parents return back to their same burrow year after year. They dig and maintain these burrows using their beaks and feet, up to a meter deep into the earth!

• Puffins can swim down to almost 200 feet below the ocean’s surface.

• A puffin’s beak is only as colorful during the warm months. In the winter, a puffin’s beak fades to gray.

• Despite being only 10 inches tall and weighing a pound, they can hold up to 10 fish in their beak at a time!

• Learn more by reading, The Secret Lives of Puffins!

While there are 6 million puffins worldwide, most puffin colonies are on the decline. Recent human developments are a problem for puffins that return to their same burrow, year after year. But their greatest threat is over-harvesting by humans, which causes shortage of herring and sand eels (primary puffin food). Awareness of our neighbors needs are important. Humans have lived alongside puffins for thousands of years . And I hope we strive to share our planet together for many thousand more.

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