Another Cool Critter from Oregon (And Alaska)
By Clint Perry
@cperry2 (5608)
Newport, Oregon
April 22, 2020 10:35pm CST
This handsome fellow is one of my favorite birds. It is a tufted puffin and lives here in Oregon and up in Alaska. They are mostly a sea bird but must come to land to nest. They are great swimmers, and if you ever see one walking around in an aquarium or zoo, you will see that they have quite an attitude about how good looking they are.
One interesting thing about them is how they raise their chicks. They either dig a hole in the ground or take over an existing one. These burrows are generally on small islands and the nests are up high. They lay their egg inside and mom and dad share duties from there until it is time to fledge. Then, both mom and dad abandon the chick. It is on its own to climb out of the burrow and jump off the cliff, and fly to the ocean where it must learn how to fish for its meals.
Is it any wonder why this bird might be endangered?
Seems to me, life in the wild can be pretty cruel.
9 people like this
8 responses
@DocAndersen (54402)
• United States
23 Apr 20
an author on another site did a wonderful series on the puffin. they are the most amazing birds!
1 person likes this
@DocAndersen (54402)
• United States
23 Apr 20
@cperry2 i can't because it is on Virily and you can't post those links here.
1 person likes this
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
25 Apr 20
How beautiful is that he looks gorgeous there.
If I was his Mom I would not leave him until the time was right.
1 person likes this
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
25 Apr 20
@cperry2
I guess like the baby turtle is left on its own to make its way into the ocean when the egg hatches.
I suppose its not ours to reason why things are like that.
1 person likes this
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
25 Apr 20
@lovinangelsinstead21 Nature does a pretty good job. Although we humans do tend to get in the way sometimes. I visited Padre Island (South Texas, US.) one year and we happened to hit there when they were planning a release of turtle babies. They had robbed the nests of their eggs, incubated them, and hatched them. Then one morning, they brought them out in big tubs. We witnesses lined up on either side of a path We helped hold a mesh screen above the path and then watched as about a hundred ridley turtles made the mad rush from the bucket to the water. According to the experts, if the turtles were left on their own, the gulls would most likely have taken eighty percent of them or more.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342145)
• Rockingham, Australia
23 Apr 20
Goodness, I wonder if there are many that do this? I know our mallee fowl lay their eggs in a huge mound of dirt which incubates the egg. When the eggs hatch, they have to dig themselves out of the mound and, from that point, they're on their own.
1 person likes this
@VivaLaDani13 (60794)
• Perth, Australia
4 May 20
@cperry2 Puffins are so cute! Again, unfortunately I've only ever seen them on TV. I just watched a quick video of a dude putting his arm into a hole and he got a baby puffin out but I didn't know the rest of the story that I've just read from you ( I had it on mute so I didn't hear what this dude on YouTube was saying ).
That is quite harsh poor little darlings!
1 person likes this
@VivaLaDani13 (60794)
• Perth, Australia
5 May 20
@cperry2 oh yes that is true. I remember learning about that when I was little. Even then it made me feel awkward.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
23 Apr 20
It's beautiful, mother nature is really good at selecting and combining colors
1 person likes this
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
23 Apr 20
Watching one walk very much accentuates that attitude. We have a nesting area for these birds, well, it's about sixty miles north of where I live, But every year they return to this huge rock sitting about twenty yards out from the shore. With a telescope you can watch them. They don't seem to fly very well. Their wings are very short but that makes them strong swimmers.
